The numerical treatment of partial differential equations with particle methods and meshfree discretization techniques is a very active research field both in the mathematics and engineering community. Due to their independence of a mesh, particle schemes and meshfree methods can deal with large geometric changes of the domain more easily than classical discretization techniques. Furthermore, meshfree methods offer a promising approach for the coupling of particle models to continuous models. This volume of LNCSE is a collection of the proceedings papers of the Fourth International Workshop on Meshfree Methods held in September 2007 in Bonn. The articles address the different meshfree methods (SPH, PUM, GFEM, EFGM, RKPM, etc.) and their application in applied mathematics, physics and engineering. The volume is intended to foster this very active and exciting area of interdisciplinary research and to present recent advances and results in this field.
