Foreword
Modern science and technology is different from the artisanal technology that ruled until the happening of the scientific and industrial revolution. The use of mathematical and computational methods can now enlarge the range of scientific exploration to scales one cannot see or feel, even with the best instrumentation techniques available, and to realize engineering analysis and design tasks possible that cannot be managed by manual efforts. Thus, one can truly say that modern hi-tech is the one that is essentially technology backed by the most advanced mathematical and computational resources. Recent advances in the field of Computational Mechanics (CM) have generated considerable interest among researchers and practicing engineers to gain more knowledge and insight into the various aspects of modeling, analysis and design. The principles of CM can be effectively applied for rational design of engineering components under various hostile conditions. Within the aforementioned general framework, CM is currently being used in a broad range of applications including civil, offshore, aerospace, automotive, naval, bio-mechanics and nuclear structures.
To further the growth of CM in different disciplines, the first four International Congress on Computational Mechanics and Simulation (ICCMS) were held at IIT Kanpur (2004), IIT Guwahati (2006), IIT Bombay (2009) and IIT Hyderabad (2012). Now ICCMS has become an international event regularly convened every two years with participation of researchers and practitioners from in and around Asia and Pacific regions. Outcome of these conferences has led to fine tuning of policy changes, standards and engineering-related codes, and, as a whole, expanded the vistas of knowledge in the field of Computational Mechanics. The fifth ICCMS (ICCMS 2014) is organized by CSIR-Structural Engineering Research Centre (CSIR-SERC) in Chennai during December 10-13, 2014 in association with Indian Association for Computational Mechanics (IndACM), Mumbai, India. The congress is part of the golden jubilee celebrations of CSIR-SERC, Chennai.
CSIR-SERC is a constituent National Laboratory under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India. The Centre has established a state-of-the-art facility to carry out experiments as well as computational simulations. With respect to computational simulations, CSIR-SERC has built up considerable expertise in analysis and design of complex structures and also in development of software for general use as well as special applications. The laboratory has developed improved methodologies/algorithms and computational techniques for solving static, dynamic and nonlinear analysis by using the finite element method including error estimation and adaptive refinements. FINite element Engineering analysis using Adaptive Refinement Techniques (FINEART) is a state-of-the-art multi-physics computational analysis package developed and copyrighted by CSIR-SERC.
The major themes covered by the congress are Computational Solid and Structural Mechanics, Computational Techniques, Computational Simulations, Computational Fluid Dynamics and Computational Models for Evolving Materials. After critical review by a panel of experts in each of these themes, about 275 contributory papers from different countries have been selected for presentation and publication in the congress proceedings. There are 6 keynote lectures and about 25 invited lectures by experts in the field of Computational Mechanics. I wish to express my appreciation to all the reviewers and participating authors for their valuable contributions that makes this congress a successful event. I specially thank the keynote/invited speakers for sparing their precious time in preparing their papers and for presentation at the congress. I take this opportunity to thank all the sponsors for their active participation in the congress and financial support, in spite of global recession in engineering and service sectors. Cooperation from IndACM is sincerely acknowledged.
I appreciate the remarkable services rendered by the members of the International Scientific Advisory Committee, Local Organizing Committee and Internal Committees and the CSIR-SERC staff, who have contributed towards the smooth and successful conduct of this international event.
Seasons’ Greetings
Nagesh R. Iyer
Chairman, ICCMS-2014