CMEM 2011

15th International Conference on Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements

31 May - 2nd June 2011
New Forest, UK

 Overview

The 15th International Conference on Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements took place in the New Forest, UK, chaired by Professor Giovanni Carlomagno from the University of Naples Federico II and Professor Carlos Brebbia of the Wessex Institute of Technology (WIT), UK.  The meeting was organised by WIT, whose headquarters are in the New Forest.

The conference, which is reconvened every couple of years, started in Washington DC in 1981 and since then it has taken place in many different locations around the world.  The objective of the conference is to offer the scientific and technical community an international forum to analyse the interaction between computational methods and experimental measurements and all associated topics with special consideration to their mutual benefits.

The constant development of numerical procedures and computer efficiency, coupled with their decreasing costs, have generated an ever increasing growth of computational methods which are currently exploited both in a permanently expanding variety of science and technology subjects, as well as in daily life.  As these procedures continue to grow in size and complexity, it is essential to ensure their reliability.  This can only be achieved by performing dedicated and accurate experiments. At the same time current experimental techniques have become more complex and elaborate and require the use of computers for running tests and processing the resulting data.

 Opening Address by Professor Carlos Brebbia

The meeting was opened by Professor Brebbia who explained the aims of WIT in terms of acting as a focus for transfer of knowledge through as series of different activities.  The Institute carries out research in a variety of topics covering state-of-the-art computational methods, particularly boundary elements, the technique developed by Professor Brebbia and his research group over a long period.  This research is carried out at Master and PhD level as well as through international research projects such as those supported by the EU.  In all cases, the research is focused towards practical applications and includes comparison of computer results with experiments and prototype measurements.

Professor Brebbia also pointed out that the publishing arm of the Institute, WIT Press, produces paper and digital versions of the proceedings of all meetings, which give the widest dissemination to the work presented at conferences such as CMEM.  In addition, all papers are archived in WIT eLibrary (http://library.witpress.com) where they are permanently available to the community.  Furthermore, participants at WIT conferences are given the opportunity to submit a paper for publication in some of the Journals published by WIT Press.  This includes the new International Journal of Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements, which was launched in response to the success of this conference.

Professor Brebbia stated that WIT conferences have a more permanent character than other meetings.  Not only are the papers always available to the international scientific community, but authors are encouraged to develop their work further by publishing extended versions of their research in one of WIT Press’s Journals.  The conferences are not an end in themselves but the way to establish links and networks that will continue to produce results for a long time after the meetings have taken place.  This is very much the function of WIT.

Professor Brebbia ended by explaining the way in which WIT collaborates with other institutions around the world in training and research contacts.  He also referred to the different prizes and medals established by the Institute, the most prestigious of these being the Prigogine Award, established in 2004 in conjunction with the University of Siena to honour the memory of the Nobel Prize winner Professor Ilya Prigogine.  His work is of primary importance in the study of a wide variety of evolving systems, including those in ecology, biophysics but also has spread to disciplines as varied as communications and economics.  Professor Prigogine, who was Honorary Chairman of one of the WIT conferences, passed away in 2003 and since then the medal has been awarded to well-known scientists whose research has continued the work of the Nobel Prize winner.

 Keynote Address by Giovanni Carlomagno

Professor Giovanni Carlomagno of the University of Naples Federico II, Co-Chairman of the meeting also welcomed the delegates and explained some of the history and composition of his Institution.  He proceeded to give the Keynote Address of the meeting on the topic of ‘Flow field and heat transfer in a rotating U channel’ in which he described some of the most recent work carried out by his research group.

 Invited Presentations

There were other important invited presentations at the meeting;

‘The exponentially weighted moving average applied to the control and monitoring of varying sample sizes’
by Jim Everett, University of Western Australia

‘Experimental and analytical study on high-speed fracture phenomena and mechanism of glass’
by Hidetoshi Sakamoto, Kumamoto University, Japan

‘Advances in low cost marine technologies’
by Giuseppi Zappalà, University of Tuscia, Italy

Another interesting keynote address was delivered by Dr Zhiyiu Yang of the Loughborough University, UK, on the topic of ‘Large eddy simulation of a transition process in separated-reattached flows’.

 Conference Topics

The papers in the book were grouped under the following section headings;

• Computational and Experimental methods
• Fluid Flow
• Heat Transfer and Thermal Processes
• Stress Analysis
• Computational Methods
• Detection and Signal Processing
• Advances in Measurements and Data Acquisition
• Multiscale Modelling
• Ballistics
• Railway Transport

 Social Occassions and Excursions

The delegates had many occasions to meet and discuss topics of common interest outside the normal conference sessions.  In addition to coffee breaks and lunches, they were offered a barbeque at the end of the first day at the campus of the Wessex Institute.

The barbeque consisted of grilled lamb with vegetables and salads, plus good wines and other drinks.  The delegates were given a guided tour of the Lodge’s facilities.  The weather, until then uncertain, improved for the occasion with a clear sky and a perfect summer night.  The visitors were impressed by the facilities on campus and by its atmosphere so conducive to research.

The participants took part in a lunchtime excursion to a historical place in the New Forest, Bucklers Hard, a small port on the Beaulieu River where a shipyard existed at the time when sailing vessels were built using oak from the Forest.  The place now contains a nicely laid out and informative museum and a few old houses still remaining from when the shipyard was in operation.  Many historical naval vessels were built at Bucklers Hard, including some that took part in the battle of Trafalgar.  The site is now a major tourist attraction, including a nice hotel and an equally well-reputed pub.  The delegates found the visit most interesting and enjoyed the opportunity to socialise.

 Conference Dinner

The conference dinner took place in another landmark of the New Forest, the Rhinefield House Hotel, an impressive building that was built in the 1890’s on the site of one of the ancient Lodge’s of the Forest.  The building, once a private property of a wealthy mining family from the north of England, resembles a Scottish castle and has some unique rooms.  The most impressive of these is the Great Hall, whose roof is a reproduction of the beam and hammer type found in the Palace of Westminster.  The dinner took place in the so called King’s room, where excellent food and good wines were served.  Before dinner, Professor Brebbia conducted a short tour of Rhinefield gardens, one of the most beautiful sights of the property.   There they could see the open air amphitheatre, the maze and the two fountains and ponds, as well as being able to have a better view of the architecture of the large building.

The conference was very successful and will be reconvened again in 2013 in a location and at a date to be announced shortly.

 Publication of Papers

The proceedings of Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements XV, 736pp (Print ISBN: 978-1-84564-540-3; Online ISSN: 1743-355X) are available in paper and digital format from WIT Press priced at £316/US$632/€442. Orders can be placed on the WIT Press web site at www.witpress.com or by email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 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 51 of WIT Transactions on Modelling and Simulation (Online ISSN: 1743-355X). For more details visit the WIT eLibrary at http://library.witpress.com