Final report

Dates and location

5 September — 7 September 2018, Porto, Portugal

Chairperson

Pedro Ribeiro

Co-chairperson

Stefano Lenci and Sondipon Adhikari

Conference fees

Early Registration: 425.00 €
Late Registration: 500.00 €
PhD early registration: 350.00 €
PhD late registration: 400.00 €

What other funding was obtained?

Funding from program "Santander Universidades", a program of the Reitoria (Rectory) of the University of Porto and Santander Bank

What were the participants offered?

Attendance to all sessions, pen with proceedings, badge, paper, pen, bag, printed program, lunches, coffee breaks, welcome reception on the 5th September, colloquium dinner on the 6th September (not included in PhD student fee), boat cruise and visit to Port wine cellars on the 7th September afternoon. Accommodation in hotel Eurostars Oporto (http://www.eurostarsoporto.com/index.php) was provided for invited lectures.

Applicants (members)

Farbod Alijani
Jose Manoel Balthazar
Claudia Comi
Alberto Corigliano
Rob Fey
Slava Krylov
Emil Manoach
Stewart McWilliam
Pedro Ribeiro
Carla Roque
Oriel Shoshani
Olivier THOMAS

Applicants (non members)

Sondipon Adhikari
Hamed Akhavan
Nouha ALCHEIKH
Ayman Alneamy
Sébastien BAGUET
Pierpaolo Belardinelli
Sonali Biswas
Carlos Castro
Akshay Dahiya
Francisco José Galindo-Rosales
Reza Ghaffari
Oded Gottlieb
Clément Grenat
Stefanie Gutschmidt
Omer HaLevy
Saad Ilyas
Stefano Lenci
Miguel Matos
Ulrike Nabholz
Takumi Nakamura
Daniel Platz
Omid Rahmani
Tomás Rodrigues Pinto
Ulrich Schmid
Peter Steeneken
Andrzej Stefanski
Slaven Tepsic
Mat Tolladay
Angelo Marcelo Tusset
Gerard Verbiest
Mohammad Younis

Scientific report

Colloquium EUROMECH 603 was devoted to the discussion of the state of the art and future perspectives in the analysis, characterization, modelling, application and design of electromechanical dynamical systems with dimensions of a few micro or nanometres. This is a very relevant topic since, due to the recent progress in micro and nanotechnology, small-scale electromechanical systems are becoming increasingly common in various disciplines of engineering and applied science. Furthermore, micro and nano electromechanical systems open a number of exploratory research areas in science and engineering, due to the necessity of joining diverse fields of applied sciences or to consider issues that are not noticeable at macro scales. Applications of these small-scale systems often require the knowledge of their dynamic behaviour.

Forty seven researchers, from nineteen countries, participated in EUROMECH 603. Three invited lecturers and 41 regular communications were delivered. Analytical, numerical and experimental studies were presented and discussed. The following topics were addressed in the presentations:
• modelling of small-scale structures, from non-classical continuum theories to atomistic-based models;
• multi-field problems at small length scales, including the analysis of structural elements under piezoelectric or electrostatic sensing/actuation, subjected to thermal fields or interacting with fluids;
• linear and, chiefly, non-linear dynamics of diverse micro and nano electromechanical systems.
Presentations on related topics, as properties and failure of nanostructures and CNT reinforced composites, also took place.

There was time for discussions, namely after each presentation, during breaks, along the social program, and in the closing session. Some issues considered in these discussions are mentioned in the ensuing paragraphs, in a somewhat general overview. More detailed analysis can be found in the extended abstracts and short papers published in an electronic book of proceedings (ISBN 978-989-746-185-9). Papers based on some contributions presented at the colloquium will be published in a special issue of the International Journal for Non-linear Mechanics.

Many participants in the colloquium feel that non-linearities are not, as was considered for many years, something to avoid. Instead, non-linearities represent an opportunity to improve performances in existing devices and for the realisation of new ones. There appears to persist, nonetheless, some resistance from industry to adopt non-linear systems and non-linear analyses, possibly because industry is often averse to change and gives emphasis to reliability. On the other hand, maybe the research community should look more often into practical outcomes of non-linear dynamics. The importance of bringing the Mechanics and Physics communities in touch was also highlighted.

Still in connection with non-linear behaviour, the importance of dynamical integrity was stressed in discussions. The fact that theoretical predictions, as saddle node bifurcation, cannot exactly be reached in practical experiments should be taken into account in identification algorithms.

The relevance of damping, how to model it and, in particular, if non-linear effects ought or not to be included in damping models, were other points discussed.

The topic of non-classical continuum theories for small scale structures was an issue of contention. Some researchers believe that these theories are sound, theoretically, under the hypothesis they are based upon, but depend on parameters that are not easy to identify. Others think that there are so many uncertainties at small scales, that it is not very useful to implement these theories.

It appears to the organisers that a colloquium on this or a closely related topic would be appropriate within two years.

As a closure, the organisers would like to gratefully thank EUROMECH, FEUP, the University of Porto and Santander Bank, the secretariat, the authors, the participants, the scientific committee and the reviewers for their contribution to the success of this meeting.

Number of participants from each country

Country	Participants
Portugal	6
United Kingdom	4
Netherlands	4
Israel	4
Saudi Arabia	3
France	3
Italy	3
Germany	3
Brazil	2
Austria	2
Canada	1
India	1
United States	1
New Zealand	1
Bulgaria	1
Japan	1
Iran	1
Poland	1
Spain	1
Total	43