30th International Conference on Boundary Elements and Other Mesh Reduction Methods

7 - 9 July 2008
Maribor, Slovenia

 Overview

The 30th International Conference on Boundary Element Methods and other Mesh Reduction Methods (BEM/MRM) took place recently in Slovenia, co-organised by the University of Maribor and the Wessex Institute of Technology.

The Dean of Engineering at the University of Maribor, Professor Niko Samec, opened the meeting by welcoming the delegates to the event and explaining that his Institute was pleased to host such an important event.

Professor Leopold Skerget, Co-Chairman of the Meeting referred to the history of Boundary Elements and the role that his group has played in developing the technique.  His group at the School of Engineering continues to work in transport phenomena, predominantly in fluids.  He explained that scientists can now solve BEM problems that we were, until recently, only able to dream about.  The number of nodes is now in the thousands rather than the hundreds.  The quest, Professor Skerget said, still continues and the goal is still far off as some questions remain unanswered.  In the field of fluid dynamics, problems such as turbulence are still difficult to solve as not all problems can be transported to the boundary.  Computers have however become faster and cheaper but Professor Skerget warned the participants that ‘brute’ force is not always the best approach.  Sometimes it pays to step back and think about the problems to be solved.

Professor Carlos Brebbia, Co-Chairman of the Meeting then explained the work done at the Wessex Institute of Technology and in particular referred to their long-standing links with Maribor.  Professor Brebbia explained that the work of WIT is to act as a link between different institutions in academia, research and industry.  This is achieved through the work carried out in the different divisions of WIT and through the organisation of Courses and Conferences, together with the publication of books and journals.  An essential part of WIT is its Industrial Research Division that ensures that the work of the Institute is of practical, as well as theoretical interest.  He referred to the success of BEM for the solution of a wide range of problems, in particular those which require accurate stress results, such as fracture mechanics and for electric and electromagnetic field simulation.

Professor Brebbia also explained how WIT operates and what the work of each division is.  Most of the research projects involved different partners with a wide range of expertise while WIT contributes its unique experience in the field of computer modelling.

 Keynote Address

Professor Brebbia then introduced the keynote speaker, his Co-Chairman, Professor Leopold Skerget.  He explained the importance of Profesor Skerget’s work for the University of Maribor and the international scientific community.  He created a research group involved in the solution of fluid dynamic problems using boundary elements.

Professor Skerget obtained his Mechanical Engineering degree at the University of Ljubljana, from where he also received a Master degree.  After spending two years at the Wessex Institute of Technology, he was awarded his PhD at the soon-to-be University of Maribor, where he is now a full Professor.  Prior to this, he worked for some years at the renowned Josef Stefan Institute.

Professor Skerget is now Head of his Laboratory for transport of solids and fluids and a member of the Academic Senate at the University of Maribor.

He has received several important awards and two prestigious fellowships.  The first, by the International Atomic Energy Authority, allowed him to study at the Wessex Institute of Technology, while a second award by the Humboldt Foundation supported another two years of study at the University Erlangen in Germany, a well known centre for boundary elements.

Professor Skerget is now a member of the Slovenian Society of Mechanics where he served as President for four years.  He is a member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements and served on the Board of the Advances in Fluid Mechanics book series.

His most outstanding achievement has been the creation of his laboratory, which founded a whole new generation of Slovenian researchers in the development and applications of boundary elements for fluid dynamics.

Because of all these achievements and the outstanding quality of his work, Professor Brebbia proceeded to award Professor Skerget the Eminent Scientist Medal of Wessex Institute.  This award, given to some of the most outstanding scientists in the world, is a fitting tribute by the scientific community to the many achievements of Professor Skerget.  Professor Brebbia presented the medal and diploma and expressed the gratitude of the community for his work in the field of boundary elements and engineering sciences in general.

Professor Skerget then proceeded to explain in more detail the work of his laboratory in a special keynote address entitled “Review of boundary element methods in fluid mechanics research”.

 Conference Sessions

Other presentations at the Conference were grouped in the following sessions:

• Fluid flow
• Damage mechanics and fracture
• Mesh reduction techniques
• Advanced computational techniques
• Electrical engineering and electromagnetic
• Advances in boundary elements

 Conference Sessions

• “Simulation of thin film flow around a cylinder on an inclined plane”, by H Power,  University of Nottingham, UK
• “Interfacial debonding and damage progression in particle-reinforced composites”, by MS Ingber, University of New Mexico, USA
• “Trefftz-type approach for 2D fracture problems”, by A N Galybin, Wessex Institute, UK
• “Comparison of two solvers for the extended method of fundamental solutions”, by V Popov, Wessex Institute, UK
• “Desingularised method of double layer fundamental solutions for potential flow problems”, by B Sarler, University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia
• “SHP solution of effect of elevated temperature on tunnel lining”, by P Prochazka, Czech Technical University of Prague, Czech Republic

 Excursions

 EABE Meeting

 Publication of Papers

The proceedings of Boundary Elements and other Mesh Reduction Methods XXX, 288pp (ISBN: 1-84564-121-4) are available in hard back from WIT Press priced at £95/US$190/€142.50. Orders can be placed by telephone: +44 (0) 238 029 3223, fax: +44 (0) 238 029 2853, e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or via the WIT Press web site at: www.witpress.com

Papers from the conference will also be hosted online at the WIT eLibrary as Volume 47 of WIT Transactions on Modelling and Simulation (ISSN: 1743-355X). For more details visit the WIT eLibrary at: library.witpress.com