Citation
Castro, P.M.S.T.d. and Tavares, S.M.O. (2013), "Special issue: 1st International Conference of the IJSI, Porto, Portugal, June 25-28, 2012", International Journal of Structural Integrity, Vol. 4 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSI-06-2013-0010
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Special issue: 1st International Conference of the IJSI, Porto, Portugal, June 25-28, 2012
Article Type: Guest editorial From: International Journal of Structural Integrity, Volume 4, Issue 4
The International Journal of Structural Integrity (IJSI) was launched in 2010 and is published in partnership with the European Aeronautics Science Network (EASN). The IJSI aims at a broad coverage of structural integrity issues, including material characterizations from the fracture and fatigue points to view, numerical modeling of those phenomena in materials and real structures, failure analysis methodologies and structural integrity evaluation criteria. The journal provides a forum for the key players in this broad area of science and technology, as universities, research institutes, manufacturing industries, legislative bodies and government agencies, SMEs, consultancy and maintenance companies.
The 1st International Conference organized by the journal took place at the Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto (FEUP), Porto, Portugal, on the June 25-28, 2012, and was a forum for discussion of current trends of research in structural integrity, in aeronautics and space, but also in other sectors of engineering where structural integrity is a key concern.
Plate 1 Claudio Dalle Donne
Plate 2 Jerzy Komorowski, Paulo de Castro, Wyman Zhuang, Chris Rodopoulos and Janardhana Madabhushi
Four plenary lectures were delivered by distinguished researchers:
1. Jerzy Komorowski and co-author Nicholas C. Bellinger, from the Institute for Aerospace Research of the National Research Council Canada, on “The age for reason.
2. Claudio Dalle Donne, with co-authors Jon Meyer, Frank Palm, Erhard Brandl, Laetitia Kirschner and Katja Schmidtke, from EADS Innovation Works, “Lighter, faster, greener – additive layer manufacturing for aerospace structures (Plate 1).
3. Chris Rodopoulos, the Journal Editor in Chief, from Monash University, spoke on “Fatigue damage discrepancies and the multiple stages of the similitude concept (Plate 2).
4. Mário A.P. Vaz, of the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, dealt with “Experimental techniques for stress/strain assessment and structural monitoring.
The electronic proceedings consist of a 414 pages file, containing the contributed communications – 64 oral presentations and four posters. As appropriate for an event organized by an international journal, the event attracted participants from several continents and countries, including: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the USA.
After the event, some authors were invited to submit extended versions of their communications for possible publication in a special issue of the IJSI. The proposed manuscripts were the object of the usual refereeing process of the journal, and the result is now published, giving a permanent record of some of the topics discussed at the event. The topics included in this special issue are quite diverse, suggesting the wide scope of the conference: structural integrity assessment procedures (Matvienko), fatigue modelling of aluminium plates reinforced with bonded fibre metal laminates (Doucet et al.), controlling fatigue crack path (Schnubel et al.), finite element crack propagation analysis of shear loaded buckling panels (Bierbaum et al.), initial flaws in 2024 sheets (Zhuang et al.), buckling of composite structures (Shamsudin et al.), wheel/rail contact (Peixoto et al.), and a case study of a real structural failure, by Cernescu et al.
One of the papers included in this selection, by Schnubel et al., won the “Best Paper award presented by the organization of the conference.
Plate 3 Visit to INEGI and IDMEC (part of the group)
Plate 4 One of the groups for the Northern Portugal tour, in Bom Jesus do Monte (Braga)
Further to technical presentations and discussions, a visit to the relevant laboratories of the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, and of its associated R&D institutes INEGI and IDMEC was organized (Plate 3). The event included also social opportunities as a tour of the Minho region of Northern Portugal and a conference dinner at one of the Port wine cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia (Plate 4). The photos show some of the moments of the event. It is the intention of the IJSI editor in chief, and of the journals editorial board, that this first meeting should be followed by further initiatives, concentrating on a specific aspect within the journals fields, or with multiple topics related to structural integrity.
Finally, thanks are due to the referees that reviewed the manuscripts, to Harry Colson and Nikki Chapman for support with the production of this special issue at Emerald, to the event sponsors and to all the participants.
P.M.S.T. de Castro, Sérgio M.O. Tavares
Guest Editors