HPSM/OPTI 2014 Post Conference Report

 Overview

The 7^th International Conference on High Performance and
Optimum Design of Structures and Materials (HPSM) recently took place in
Ostend, Belgium. The meeting incorporated the seminar on Optimum Design
in Engineering (OPTI) and was organised by the University of Brussels,
the University of La Coruña and the Wessex Institute.



Some 125 years ago, the Paris World Exhibition of 1889, commemorating
the anniversary of the French Revolution, unveiled the Eiffel Tower,
proof of the new possibilities offered by improved performances of
construction materials and the “natural design” methodology introduced
by Gustave Eiffel. The latter profited from a then dramatic development
of the “mechanics of materials and structures”, as a consequence of new
needs introduced by the industrial revolution. As this change in the
city landscape was obvious in Europe, most towns saw an explosive growth
of its cities; the famous “skyscraper”, so celebrated by Louis
Sullivan, compensated by the lack of space in the cities, was developed
as an answer to “new challenges”, ie the construction in the vertical
direction, and also in the circulation, the latter being solved with the
invention of the elevator by Elisha Otis.



More recently, during the nineties and with the coming change of the
century, the “Millennium” obsession set in, again not in the least in
the world of structural engineering; every significant town in the world
wanted its own landmark construction, commemorating the symbolic date
of 2000.



Those were the years of great creativity and those constructions now
stand as witness of civil and structural engineering skills. They
benefited from an improved technical collaboration between the
designers, the engineers and the constructors, principally due to the
developments in the field of calculation and construction tools, but
also due to the possibility of creating lightweight, high rise and long
span structures.



Another reason for the dramatic changes taking place during the last
twenty years is the evolution in technical awareness, the building team
in its entirety is nowadays convinced that they should be accountable
for the totality of the “design, build, operate, maintain and
permanently recycle components and materials” process in which they
participate.



The construction industry is one of the most significant contributors
to greenhouse gas production, energy consumption – including embedded
energy – and also in waste production. These should be compensated by a
constant search for durability of adapted solutions through the
development of “sustainable design”.



During the whole design and build process, a continuous need is felt
to “optimise” the construction and this process is today present at the
first stage of conceptual design. Important efforts are thus made to
include optimisation techniques during the preliminary design phase.
Additionally, modern tools nowadays also allow for the simulation of the
whole life cycle of a construction.



The HPSM series of conferences originated in Seville in 2002 and
continued in Ancona (2004), Ostend (2006), The Algarve (2008), Tallinn
(2010) and the New Forest, home of the Wessex Institute in 2012. The
Computer Aided Optimum Design in Engineering (OPTI) seminars have an
even older trajectory, they started in Southampton in 1989 and
reconvened thereafter in Boston (1991); Zaragoza (1993); Miami (1995);
Rome (1997); Orlando (1999); Bologna (2001); Detroit (2003); Skiathos
(2005); Myrtle Beach (2007); The Algarve (2009) and the New Forest
(2012).



It was felt appropriate to bring together these two prestigious
meetings to stress the importance of design optimisation to achieve the
best performance of structures and material systems. The first
conference brought together people from academia and industry involved
with design, manufacture, testing and optimisation of challenging
structures and innovative materials using the most up to date
technologies.

 Opening of the Conference

The Conference was opened by Prof Carlos A Brebbia who referred to
the core objective of the Wessex Institute, to act as a link for
transfer of scientific information at an international level.



Carlos explained that evolution of the original research on boundary
elements originated at the Institute, converting the technique into a
tool for industrial use. The resulting computer programmes continue to
be developed as a result of the research being carried out by WIT from
its New Forest campus. This research has led to a series of Boundary
Element Software systems now being applied in the energy and aerospace
industries, amongst others.



The success of WIT industrial R & D activities is matched by the
rapid growth of WIT Press, the publishing arm of the Institute. It
publishes a substantial number of books each year, including those of
the WIT Transactions. In addition, WIT Press has launched five journals
and is planning to increase the number in the near future.



Carlos stressed the importance of the conference programme in terms
of interaction and developing joint research projects. Conference
participants also provide important feedback to WIT which helps to put
together an ever evolving conference programme.



Finally, Carlos mentioned the importance of the Prigogine Medal,
which is given every year to an important scientist whose work has been
influenced by Ilya Prigogine, Nobel Prize Winner for Chemistry.
Prigogine, although born in Russia, was educated and lived all his life
in Belgium. His evolutionary systems theory has profound influence in a
wide variety of sciences, including ecology and many others. He was an
Honorary Chairman of one of WIT’s conferences and upon his death, WIT in
association with the University of Siena, established a medal in his
honour. This year the award will take place at the University of Siena,
honouring a researcher who has been actively involved in studies related
to the nature of water.



Following Carlos’ remarks, Prof Patrick De Wilde, Co-Chairman of the
conference, welcomed the delegates to Ostend, his home town. The town is
renowned for its sandy beaches and attractive buildings developed at
the time of Leopold II who made it his summer holiday location.



Finally, Santiago Hernandez, also Co-Chair of the conference,
explained the importance of the meeting and talked about its history,
particularly that of the OPTI seminars, now incorporated into the HPSM
conference.

 Invited Presentations

A series of invited presentations enhanced the conference series:

• “The application of differential evolution of HVAC optimization”, by Robert Derksen, University of Manitoba, Canada.
• “Atypical design optimisation of structures: case studies”, by Alireza Maheri, Northumbria University, UK.
• “Optimization of steel penstock in a bored tunnel”, by Stojan Kravanja, University of Maribor, Slovenia.
• “Heat transfer analyses of natural fibre composites”, by Hitoshi Takagi, University of Tokushima, Japan.
• “The effect of crystallinity on the mechanical properties of plain
  woven carbon reinforced composites using polypropylene”, by Kenichi
  Takemura, Kanagawa University, Japan.
• “Synergy between structural and architectural engineering: the point
  of view of the structural engineer”, by Patrick De Wilde, Free
  University of Brussels, Belgium.
• “Lightweight transformable structures: materialising the synergy
  between architectural and structural engineering”, by Niels De
  Temmerman, Free University of Brussels, Belgium.
• “Generalization of Michel’s solution of plane problem theory of
  elasticity in polar coordinates in the event of a radially inhomogenous
  body”, by Vladimir Andreev.

 

 Special Seminars

There were two special seminars organised for the conference. The
first of them by Prof Hitoshi Takagi and Tsutao Katayama, the former
from the University of Tokushima and the latter from Doshisha University
in Japan. In addition to Takagi’s paper on “Heat transfer analyses of
natural fibre composites”, the other presentations included:

• Fabrication and material characterisation of carbon nanotube verified polylactides
• Heating of carbon film reinforced thermolistic CRRTP dies using high frequency currents.

The other special session, organised by Kenichi Takemura of Kanagawa
University and Kazuto Tanaka of Doshisha University, Japan, consisted of
a substantial number of papers in addition to Takemura’s own
contribution on the mechanical properties of carbon reinforced
composites. The papers covered the following topics:

• “FEM analysis of a temperature distribution of CFRTP pipe mold with direct resistance heating”
• “CFRTP molding method of the three-dimensional shape by using direct resistance heating to carbon fiber”
• “Effect of the molecular weight of polycarbonate on the impact
  resistance of continuous carbon fiber reinforced polycarbonate
  composites”
• “Evaluation of the interfacial and interlaminar shear strength of
  carbon fiber reinforced polycarbonate made by a unidirectional sheet”
• “High-speed compression molding of continuous carbon fiber reinforced polypropylene”
• “Formability evaluation of carbon fiber NCF by a non-contact 3D
  strain measurement system and the effects of blank folder force on its
  formability”
• “The mode I interlaminar fracture toughness of carbon fiber/epoxy resin composite with freezing after water absorption”

 

 Conference Topics

The rest of the papers were classified into the following topics:

• Material characterisation
• Experiments and numerical analysis
• Composite materials and structures
• Green composites
• Components for automotive applications
• Structural optimisation
• Optimisation problems
• Steel structures
• Timber structures
• Corrosion problems
• Surface modification
• Innovative techniques
• Heritage construction
• Sustainable solutions

 

 Special Seminar

A special feature of the conference was the special seminar arranged
on Wednesday morning with another WIT conference called Mobile,
Adaptable and Rapidly Assembled Structures (MARAS) which highlighted
some of the presentations of interest to both audiences.



Prof Patrick de Wilde introduced the two keynote addresses in this
special session dedicated to bringing together natural and structural
scientists and architects, stressing the importance of interaction and
collaboration.



The first of the talks was given by Prof Lincy Pyl, from the
Department of Mechanics and Material Construction, at the Free
University of Brussels. She is a specialist in numerical modelling and
steel structures. Her talk dealt with the synergy between structural and
architectural engineering from the point of view of the structural
engineer.



Lincy discussed the requirements that both professions ought to
consider for the conceptual design of any building in order to achieve
the best design in terms not only of strength but also the typology most
appropriate to the problem. Lincy showed a number of case studies where
the importance of the collaboration between the structural engineer and
the architect was clearly shown.



The other keynote address was given by Prof Niels De Temmerman, also
from the Free University of Brussels, who also spoke of the need to
collaborate closely across different types of engineering (civil,
structural, mechanical, electrical etc) and the architect. He
particularly referred to the case of transformable structures. There
should be a few component types and sets of mechanics that allow them to
be rapidly deployed. He presented several case studies including some
scissor type structures developed and built by his research group.

 ISAC Dinner

The International Scientific Advisory Committee (ISAC) of the
conference met over dinner to discuss how the meeting can be improved
when it is reconvened in 2016. The dinner took place in a restaurant
offering outstanding Flemish cuisine. The discussion concentrated on new
topics for inclusion in the Call for Papers, in order for the
conference to continue evolving and attracting original contributions. A
few nominations were discussed for new members of the Board, as well as
where to hold the 2016 meeting.



Following the ISAC meeting, Carlos asked for any comments or
suggestions on how to promote the new International Journal of
Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements. The publication
launched in 2013 continues to attract excellent papers and is well
suited as a venue for publication of extended versions of the papers
published at the meeting.

 Social Occasions

The Conference offered many opportunities for delegates to interact
with each other in a fresh environment, including lunches taken
together, in addition to coffee breaks. The location of the hotel facing
the sea on the long Ostend promenade was conducive to strolling
together in a very relaxed manner, characteristic of Ostend. The
excellent quality of the restaurants added to the pleasure and success
of the conference.



Before the Conference banquet, Patrick de Wilde gave a short talk
regarding the history of Ostend, which started as a small fishing
village but rapidly grew in importance because of its excellent port
facilities. Trading was for a long time the main strength of its
economy, which grew to compete with that of the Dutch East India
Company. The highlight of the city’s history was a three years’ long
siege by Spanish forces. Although the city was eventually taken, its
heroic resistance became part of the local folklore. The city suffered
during the two World Wars, due to its strategic importance as a port.
Ostend is now a vibrant seaside resort with many cultural events as well
as renowned beaches. The reputation of Ostend as a holiday resort was
started by Leopold II, King of Belgium and Congo, who built the
promenade, hotel, racecourse and numerous parks during another golden
period of the town’s history. Nowadays, Ostend is once again associated
with charming and relaxing seaside holidays.



The Conference banquet took place in a fort built by Napoleon to
control access to the port of Ostend. The fort has been renovated and
comprises an excellent restaurant with terrace from which it is possible
to have a panoramic view of Ostend. The delegates were welcomed with a
glass of spumante and a taste of the local beer, including the famous
Koite beer originated during the siege of Ostend, when the city was
surrounded by the strong army. The food – as usual in Ostend – was
excellent and accompanied by good wines, resulting in a most happy and
friendly evening. On their way to the Fort and back Anne Marie de Wilde,
Patrick’s wife, described the different sights and some of the local
history.

 Closing of the Conference

The Conference was closed by Carlos who, after thanking the delegates
for having come, expressed his wish that they will continue to
collaborate with WIT in the future and consider visiting the Institute
next time they are in the region. This will allow them to appreciate
better the work carried out by WIT.

 

 Conference Proceedings

The proceedings HPSM 2014 – High Performance and Optimum Design of
Structures and Materials, 704pp (Print ISBN: 978-1-84564-774-2; eISBN:
978-1-84564-775-9) are available from WIT Press. Orders can be placed on
the WIT Press web site at www.witpress.com or by email:
marketing@witpress.com, telephone: +44 (0) 238 029 3223 or fax: +44 (0) 238 029 2853.



Papers from the conference will also be hosted online at the WIT
eLibrary as Volume 137 of WIT Transactions on the Built Environment
(ISSN: 1746-4498, Digital ISSN 1743-3509). For more details visit the
WIT eLibrary at http://library.witpress.com