Pan-American Congress on Applied Mechanics
(PACAM)
University of Chile
P.O.Box 1420, Santiago, Chile
Stanford University
Stanford, California, 94305, USA
The objective of PACAM is to bring together researchers, practicing engineers
and students from South, Central, and North America. However, a significant
number of participants have come from Asia, and Eastern and Western Europe. An
unusual opportunity is provided for personal interaction between workers from
different geographical areas and from different branches of mechanics. Papers
on all the usual, as well as unusual, topics of mechanics are welcome. Both
theoretical and design contributions are included.
The previous and planned PACAM's are: PACAM I Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL, 1989;
PACAM II, Valparaiso - CHILE, 1991; PACAM III São Paulo - BRAZIL, 1993; PACAM
IV Buenos Aires - ARGENTINA, 1995; PACAM V San Juan - PUERTO RICO, 1997; PACAM
VI Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL, 1999; PACAM VII Temuco, CHILE, 2002.
PACAM VIII
Havana, CUBA, 2004.
The idea for the Pan American Congress of Applied Mechanics originated with
Professor Arthur Leissa about 15 years ago, when he was president of the
American Academy of Mechanics (AAM). The general consensus was and is that
there are more than enough technical meetings. AAM is actually forbidden in its
constitution from organizing meetings in the US. Professor Leissa noticed that
AAM is not restricted from organizing a meeting in Latin America. Despite the
number of students in mechanics attending northern universities and the
importance of mechanics in the economic development in the southern lands, the
technical interaction is less than it should be. For comparison, consider the
to-and-fro flow of mechanics workers between US and Western Europe and parts of
Asia. Many of the workers in North America spent considerable time in Europe
and Asia while being totally ignorant of the neighbors to the south. Professor
Leissa saw the possibility of a positive step with PACAM.
Consequently, PACAM I was organized to be held in Rio de Janeiro. We
were rather apprehensive about the response, but the attendance was about 200,
as we had estimated. At that time, Brazil was suffering from run-away
inflation, high crime rate, massive poverty, and in Rio a strike of city
workers, meaning garbage was not collected. Despite all that, the PACAM
participants were enchanted with the city, the people, the beaches, and the
hotel breakfasts. Professor Marcelo Crespo da Silva working with Tourlite
spoiled us with the arrangements for low-cost travel and accommodations, with
extra tours and a feast added. One has not experienced the pleasure of life
without seeing Rio from Corcovado, attending a samba show and spending New
Year's Eve on Copacabana Beach. At this time, Latin America is in much better
condition, although massive problems remain. Who knows? If there had been more
cultural exchange, rather than raw business interest, for the past 100 years,
the US policy toward its southern neighbours may not have been so
short-sighted. It has certainly been a surprise for many of us, to experience at the PACAM's the
beauty, elegance, and hustle of these Latin American centers.
From the
technical aspect, a somewhat different cross section of the technical community
is present than at the usual meetings. Actually, the main disappointment with
the first PACAM's was a low Latin
American participation. Travel is difficult for many in South America.
Furthermore the tour package has sometimes made accommodations less expensive
for those from the north then elsewhere. The balance was better in San Juan,
where travel assistance was available for attendees from Latin America. For
PACAM VI, the meeting was held jointly with the Brazilian Conference on Dynamics, normally held later in
spring. So there were 330 participants with half from Latin America. PACAM VII
had a low attendance, around 80, probably because of the general decrease in
travel after 11 September 2001, and because North Americans have not heard as
much about the attractions of the Lake District of Chile. However, it was a very
positive meeting, with excellent arrangements by Professor Diaz and Professor
Inostroza. To show the truly international character, attendees at PACAM VII
were from Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Cuba, England, France,
Germany, Greece, India, Iran, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Portugal,
Russia, Singapore, Switzerland, Ukraine, United States, and Venezuela.
PACAM VIII will be held in Havana, Cuba, thanks to the invitation from
Professor Reinaldo Rodriguez. Relations between the US and Cuba have not been
warm. However, the cold war is over. Let us move forward and work for the
common good.
Typical PACAM Sessions are on the topics: Applications in Dynamics and
Acoustics; Biomechanics; Boundary Elements; Composite Materials; Control; Control
Applications; Fluid Mechanics; Fracture Mechanics; Identification, Cracks and
Damage; Mechanics of New Materials; Mechatronics; Monitoring and Diagnostics;
Multi Body Contacts & Mechanics History; Non Linear Dynamics; Non
Linearities in Mechanics; Numerical Methods; Optimization in Mechanics; Plates
and Shells; Solid Mechanics; Structure Dynamics; Structural Mechanics;
Stability, Bifurcation and Chaos; Thermal Sciences; Vibrations;
Publications.
1. Proceedings: A proceedings volume is prepared in time for the meeting.
This contains a four-page summary of each paper scheduled for presentation and
is given to each participant at the meeting.
2. Mechanics Pan America: In addition, the Advisory Board and
Session Chairpersons have the duty to designate as outstanding contributions
about 40 papers from those presented at the meeting. Each of the selected
authors is invited to prepare an extended version of the paper. The Editorial
Committee sends these through a peer review process for consideration for archival
publication. The papers found acceptable appear in Mechanics Pan America, which
was a special issue of Applied Mechanics Reviews through PACAM V. Since these
papers are research contributions and not review papers, it was preferable to
make the change to a research journal for the publication of Mechanics Pan
America. Therefore contributions from PACAM VI are in the International Journal
of Solids and Structures (IJSS), and PACAM VII is in progress for IJSS. Despite
the title, IJSS normally contains papers on fluid-solid interactions and
aspects of biomechanics, dynamics
and optimization. Consequently, papers on all topics at PACAM are welcome for
the special issue Mechanics Pan America.
The Seventh Pan American Congress of Applied Mechanics, PACAM VII was held from the 2nd to the 4th of January 2002, at the city of Temuco, Chile. The proceedings of the Congress included 167 papers written by some 400 authors, no only from the Americas but from other regions of the World as well, thus conferring to the event an international character. The Congress had an attendance of about 90 participants and 65 papers were presented to their consideration.
A total of 14 topics covering different areas of the
Mechanics were covered; i.e. Beams and Frames; Biomechanics; Composite
Materials; Contact Problems; Control; Dynamics; Elasticity, Plasticity and
Viscoelasticity; Fluid Mechanics; Fracture and Fracture Mechanics; Numerical
Methods; Optimization in Mechanics, Design and Energy; Solid Mechanics, Thermal
Sciences; and Vibration and Acoustic.
The wide range of topics discussed in the Congress
included those that could be considered as classics of Mechanics. But also
included topics in which intermingle in one hand the frontiers of Mechanics and
the Engineering of Materials, and on the other hand, the frontiers of Mechanics
and other branches of engineering.
The methodological tools used for the analysis and
solution of problems have experienced a growing evolution, with the interaction
of simulation, numerical methods and mathematical analysis, all of them backed
by computational technology.
The topics were approached not only from an applied
point of view, but also with a theoretical perspective, leading to an
explanation of the behavior of mechanical systems subject to the demand put
forward by problems of applied nature.
In general, the progress of science seeks for the
attainment of better living conditions by human beings. Indeed mechanics is not
an exception and is continuously working toward and searching for such end. A
good number of the studies that were presented in the Congress are already
contributing to the achievement of a better quality of life, and many others
are on their way to do so.
Finally, the interchange of knowledge, experiences,
and ways and methods of work have been again, one of the objectives best
achieved in this last version of PACAM.
All interested potential Participants, please, visit AAM web page:
http://www.aamech.org/. Inquires may also be directed to the Co-Chairmen:
Prof. Martin Ostoja-Starzewski; Prof. Reinaldo Rodriguez.
e-mail: martin.ostoja@mcgill.ca
Gerardo Diaz, Professor; University of Chile;
PACAM-VII Vice-Chairman.
Charles R.Steele, Professor; Stanford University;
Chairman, PACAM Advisory Committee.
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