Call for Abstracts: Mini-Symposium “MS04 – Deployable and Sliding Flexible Structures” at SMART 2027 [Lisbon, Portugal | June 28–30, 2027]

The 12th ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Smart Structures and Materials – SMART 2027 will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, from June 28 to 30, 2027.

Within this conference, Jakob Scheidl (TU Wien, Austria), Alexander Humer (JKU Linz, Austria), and myself (University of Trento, Italy) are organizing the Mini-Symposium:

MS04 – Deployable and Sliding Flexible Structures

Deployable and sliding flexible structures are characterized by motion relative to their surroundings. The range of engineering applications involving such structures is broad and continues to grow, particularly due to recent advances in smart structures, soft robotics, biomechanics, and deployable actuators. These systems exhibit rich dynamics and multiple sources of nonlinearity, together with the additional complexity of structures moving through an open domain and interacting with stationary or moving boundaries.

The mini-symposium welcomes contributions from all engineering disciplines addressing the consistent mechanical modelling, formal analysis, numerical simulation, and experimental investigation of moving or deployable flexible structures. Relevant application areas include soft robotics, biomechanics, manufacturing, aerospace engineering, and process engineering.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Large deformations
• Variable-length structures
• Contact and friction
• Inelastic constitutive behaviour
• Buckling and dynamic stability
• Structural optimization and control
• Fluid–structure interaction
• Coupled-field problems

IMPORTANT DATES

• Abstract submission: January 31, 2027
• Abstract acceptance notification: February 26, 2027
• Full paper submission: March 31, 2027

Further information and abstract submission: https://smart2027.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/

We look forward to receiving your contributions and meeting you in Lisbon.

Mini-Symposium organizers:

Jakob Scheidl
Institute of Mechanics and Mechatronics, TU Wien, Austria

Alexander Humer
Institute of Technical Mechanics, JKU Linz, Austria

Francesco Dal Corso
Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Italy