1st invitation to VAL 2015 conference discussing effects of variable amplitude loading

Dear iMechanicians,

Let me invite you the 3rd International Conference on Material and Component Performance under Variable Amplitude Loading (VAL 2015) taking place in Prague, Czech Republic in March 23-26, 2015. See the details on its website http://www.val-conf.org.

The conference will discuss among others these primary questions:

1. Which load assumptions and standardized load sequences can be used to develop a particular machine?
2. What are the particular materials and manufacturing technologies and
   their impact on the final fatigue life under variable amplitude loading?
3. How can we calculate, evaluate and process the local stress and strain characteristics?
4. Which external effects on the final lifetime should we anticipate and
   take into account (environment, special events, spectrum shape,
   multiaxiality) when assessing the fatigue life or preparing fatigue
   tests?
5. How can we perform the testing and measurements, either in laboratory
   conditions or in-field (load control, damage detection, time reduction,
   active systems, etc.)?
6. How can we model variable amplitude fatigue with regard to crack nucleation or initiation and propagation?
7. Which design and analysis methods and tools can help us in the analyses?
8. How strong are the links between numerical assessments and
   experimental verification? Are there any benchmark studies for
   particular damaging models? Is it worth implementing the model or invest
   in buying the solution?
9. How might the reliability concepts be applied?
10. Are there any good / bad practice examples of industrial applications and may we draw any lessons from those case studies?

At this moment, the deadline for input of the abstract is set to June 2, 2014. We will let you know about the start of the registration, once it is ready.

Thank you for forwarding this information to anybody, who could be interested.

Best regards,

Jan Papuga and Milan Růžička

Chairmen of VAL 2015