Thematic Symposia

Please check the symposia list below and choose one of the presented subjects to present your work. You can also contact the symposium organizer in case you wish to clarify anything or simply coordinate your submission with him.

Symposium A - Fatigue and Fracture in Metal Additive Manufacturing. Please contact Prof. Meysam Haghshenas, Prof. Nima Shamsaei, or Prof. Stefano Beretta. For more details please check this link.

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is revolutionizing the design and production of complex, high performance components across aerospace, medical, automotive, energy, and other advanced engineering sectors. However, its broader adoption in fatigue- and fracture-critical applications is hindered by the presence of inherent surface and volumetric anomalies, such as porosity, lack of fusion, and surface roughness, originating from its layer-by-layer deposition process and the very rapid solidification dynamics. This symposium aims to advance our understanding of fatigue and fracture behaviour including low cycle, high cycle, and very high cycle, and fracture behaviour in AM-produced materials and structures under a broad range of loading and environmental conditions.

Symposium B - Advances in Offshore Renewable Energy Please contact Dr. Mário Alberto Vieira, Prof. Ricardo Pereira,or Prof. José Correia (Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Portugal). For more details please check this link.

The expansion of offshore renewable energy is pushing the limits of structural engineering in marine environments. This symposium will explore recent advances and research challenges related to the structural performance of floating platforms for offshore renewable applications. The scope will encompass hydrodynamic behavior, structural integrity and mooring performance.

Contributions are invited in the following areas, among others: structural analysis and design of offshore platforms (steel and concrete); fatigue and ultimate limit state assessments under environmental loading; hydrodynamic analysis for operational and transport phases; mooring systems—configuration, dynamic response, and load estimation; structural health monitoring and data-driven methods for lifecycle assessment; integration of experimental campaigns and numerical modeling; and applications of machine learning to condition monitoring and predictive maintenance.

The session also welcomes contributions presenting case studies, novel modeling approaches, and interdisciplinary research supporting the safe and cost-effective deployment of offshore renewable systems.

Symposium C - Research into the fatigue life of materials and components in cooperation between companies, research organisations and academia Please contact Assoc. Prof. Miloslav Kepka, Prof. Vladimir Chmelko, For more details please check this link.

Communication and cooperation between research organisations, technical universities and industrial enterprises are important for the development of knowledge and technical progress applied in practice. While research organisations and academia are more often engaged in fundamental research, enterprises need to solve specific problems both at the stage of designing new structures and components, and at the stage of their operation, or when solving and eliminating operational failures caused by time-varying loads. Contributions, ideally in the form of specific case studies, are welcome from all areas of industry. Contributions can be focused exclusively on calculations or experiments, but ideally, combine both approaches. It is expected (not mandatory) that industry representatives will be members of the author teams.

Symposium D - Laser Peening and Related Residual Stress Engineering Processes for Fatigue Improvement Please contact Dr. Nikolai Kashaev, Prof. Yuji Sano,or Dr. Domenico Furfari. For more details please check this link.

Load-bearing metallic structures and components subjected to cyclic loading often fail due to fatigue. Advanced residual stress engineering techniques, such as laser peening, have proven to be highly effective in suppressing fatigue crack initiation and growth, thereby significantly extending the service life of metallic structures. In addition to enhancing fatigue resistance, surface engineering techniques can also improve corrosion resistance and wear behavior. Achieving optimal application of these residual stress engineering techniques requires a comprehensive understanding across multiple stages — from process simulation and residual stress design to mechanical performance prediction considering the induced stress fields. This symposium focuses on recent advancements in the experimental, numerical, and industrial aspects of applying advanced residual stress engineering methods for extending the service life and reliability.

Symposium E - Very High Cycle Fatigue: Experimental methods, specimens and machines, and damage mechanisms Please contact Prof. Eberhard Kerscher, Prof. Herwig Mayer,or Prof. Luís Reis. Prof. Pedro Rodrigues da Costa. Prof. Thierry Palin-Luc. Prof. Ulrich Krupp. For more details please check this link.

Grasping the complex phenomenon associated with fatigue testing at extreme number of cycles is crucial for designing and ensuring the reliability of aerospace, automotive, and structural components. This session will address the advancements on Very High Cycle Fatigue (VHCF) regime through comprehensive experimental methodologies, innovative specimen design and modelling techniques, and detailed analysis of damage mechanisms and predictive models. The intricate nature of the required experimental and analytical approaches has significant challenges to accurately study a wide range of materials. By bridging High Cycle Fatigue (HCF) and VHCF, we can enhance our ability to characterize material behavior, predict and mitigate structural failure, and ultimately safeguard long-term integrity and durability of engineering systems.

Contributions are invited in (but not limited to) the following areas:

• Advanced testing methods and characterization techniques
• Damage mechanisms and predictive models
• Machine learning applications in VHCF
• Multiaxial HCF and VHCF
• Size and environmental effects

The session also welcomes contributions on novel modeling approaches, application case studies, and interdisciplinary research on the advance implementation of VHCF experimental and theoretical approaches.