19th International Conference on Composite Structures (ICCS19)

Composite materials have aroused a great interest over the last few decades, as proven by the huge number of scientific papers and industrial progress. Nowadays, it is quite easy to see various applications of fibrous composites, functionally graded materials, laminated composite, nano-structured reinforcement, morphing composites, in many engineering fields, such as aerospace, mechanical, naval and civil engineering. The increase in the use of composite structures in different engineering practices justify the present international meeting where researches from every part of the globe can share and discuss the recent advancements regarding the use of standard structural components within advanced applications such as buckling, vibrations, repair, reinforcements, concrete, composite laminated materials and more recent metamaterials. In particular, the computational and experimental methods for shells, plates, beams and arches are the general topics of this conference. The importance of the present topics is justified also by the number of journal papers and technical notes that have been published extensively over the last seventy years in international scientific journals of different engineering fields. This fact attests that there has been a major effort to develop experimental and theoretical models for the study of shells, plates and beams systems in engineering. Studies about shells, plates and beams are truly multidisciplinary and the given contributions can help other researches and professional engineers in their own field. This Conference is suitable as a reference for engineers and scientists working in the professional field, in the industry and the academia and it gives the possibility to share recent advancements in different engineering practices to the outside world. This book aims to collect selected plenary and key-note lectures of this International Conference. For this reason, the establishment of this 19th edition of International Conference on Composite Structures has appeared appropriate to continue what has been begun during the previous editions. ICCS wants to be an occasion for many researchers from each part of the globe to meet and discuss about the recent advancements regarding the use of composite structures, sandwich panels, nanotechnology, bio-composites, delamination and fracture, experimental methods, manufacturing and other countless topics that have filled many sessions during this conference. As a proof of this event, which has taken place in Porto (Portugal), selected plenary and key-note lectures have been collected in the present book. The conference attracted 250+ delegates from around the world of composites. The plenary lectures were given by Stefanie Reese (RWTH Aachen University, Germany), Thomas Keller (EPFL, Switzerland), Holm Altenbach (OVGU, Germany), Giangiacomo Minak (University of Bologna, Italy), Anthony Waas (University of Washington, USA). The Conference Chair: Antonio J.M. Ferreira (University of Porto, Portugal). The Local Organizing Committee: Ana M.A. Neves (University of Porto, Portugal), Francesco Tornabene and Nicholas Fantuzzi (University of Bologna, Italy)