Citation
Savage, K. and Hutton, D.M. (1999), "Conferences and Seminars", Kybernetes, Vol. 28 No. 9. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.1999.06728iab.006
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 1999, MCB UP Limited
Conferences and Seminars
1. Advanced Computer Software Seminar, Buenos Aires, 1999
An important Seminar took place in the City of Buenos Aires to present the results of an INCO project that is supported by the European Union. The subject was on the development of advanced computer software which is to be used for boundary elements and with special reference to fracture mechanics and crack propagation problems.
Summary of Seminar discussions and presentations
The international research group was led by the Wessex Institute of Technology, a research institute based near Southampton in the UK, dedicated to working with industry to solve engineering problems through the use of computational methods in boundary element analysis. Partners included the University of Mar del Plata in Argentina, the Centre for Supercomputing of Galida in Santiago de Compostela and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
The Seminar took place under the sponsorship of the first Tecnologico Polo in Argentina named Polo Constituyentes. The National Institute for Industrial Technology (INTI), the National Commission of Atomic Energy (CNEA), and the Geological Mining Service, the National University of San Martin and the Institute of Cientifica and Technological Research of the Armed Forces (CITEFA) helped fund the Seminar.
The Meeting attracted a substantial number of participants from industry and research institutions. The Director of Wessex Institute of Technology, Professor Carlos Brebbia, opened the Meeting highlighting the objectives of the project along with the goals of the European Union, in particular its initiatives to transfer technology between Europe and Latin America.
The INCO project is of particular importance as it has instigated better tools for fracture mechanics and crack growth. These developments are now being incorporated into BEASY, a design and analysis system based on the boundary element method used by engineers to simulate the behaviour of products or systems. These advances in the BEASY code, developed at the Wessex Institute of Technology, will have a rapid impact on industry (see www.beasy.com).
Professor Brebbia gave several lectures throughout the Seminar, explaining the foundations of the boundary element method and the advantages of the technique versus other existing methods such as finite differences and finite elements. This prompted lively discussions on the different applications available.
Dr Pablo Rey, from the Centre for Supercomputing of Galicia (CESGA), described how boundary element meshes can be produced and in particular the different approaches needed for the discretisation of fracture mechanics problems. Dr Rey is a Mathematics graduate from the University of Santiago de Compostela and has written a PhD thesis on Mesh Generators for Boundary Elements partly as a result of the work carried out under the EU project.
Other lectures were given by Jose Luis Otegui from the INTEMA (Institute of National Technology) based at the University of Mar del Plata. This dealt with the modelling of fatigue problems and the comparison between experimental and theoretical results. Following on from this Dr Adrian Cisilino, from the same Institution, gave a presentation on the Numerical Simulation of Multiple Cracks using BEM. Dr Cisilino obtained a PhD at the Wessex Institute of Technology in 1998.
The last day of the Seminar was dedicated to the demonstration of the computer code developed under the project and the resulting BEASY modules, which can solve fatigue and fracture mechanics problems as well as crack propagation.
For further information on the Wessex Institute of Technology or BEASY visit: www.wessex.ac.uk or www.beasy.com
Karen Savage
2. 6th European Ecology of Work Conference, 1999
The 6th European Ecology of Work Conference was held on 17-20 May in the Gustav-Stressmann-Institut in Bonn.
The Foundation and Ecology of Work Inc. (USA) organised the conference which was attended by world-wide practitioners who presented case studies on different approaches to work organisation.
Kevin P. O'Kelly, conference organiser and research manager at the Foundation, said both contributors and participants had shared and gained valuable insights into the practical realities – the challenges, the obstacles and the benefits of innovative work organisation from the conference. Presentations made in different enterprise sectors included, for example, telecommunications with Telecom Eireann (Ireland), Telstra (Australia) and US West, and air travel with Air France and Aer Rianta. Application sessions, presented by consultants in the field, demonstrated the necessary changes that are required within enterprises committed to effective work organisation; changing attitudes to work and the structure in the workplace by introducing participation in management, group work and other innovative initiatives. A general overview was given by Nancy Mills from the Centre for Workplace Democracy, AFL-CIO, USA, reporting on the current situation in North America, and by Richard Meads, Business Decisions, UK, who commented on the European situation.
D.M. Hutton