A Brief History

The Spanish Conferences on Fracture are organized by the Grupo Español de Fractura (http://www.gef.es), and are held every year, whereas the Portuguese Conferences on Fracture are held every two years in the context of the Sociedade Portuguesa de Materiais – SPM (http://www.spmateriais.pt).

The last edition of the Portuguese Conference on Fracture (11st) took place in the Caparica campus of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa on February 13-15, 2008. At the same year the XXV Encuentro del Grupo Español de Fractura was held on March 5-7 at the Parador de Sigüenza. During those conferences the idea of a new joint event to be held in 2010 was discussed.

The agreement was achieved on October 2008, when it was decided to held a joint Iberian Conference on Fracture the 17-19 March 2010 at the campus of Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto - FEUP, in Porto, Portugal.

Previous Iberian Conferences on Fracture: Braga (1987), Mérida (1993) and Luso (1996)

Motivation and topics

The Spanish Conferences on Fracture are organized by the Grupo Español de Fractura, and are held every year, whereas the Portuguese Conferences on Fracture are held every two years in the context of the Sociedade Portuguesa de Materiais – SPM.

So far three joint Spanish-Portuguese events took place: Braga (1987), Mérida (1993) and Luso (1996). The last edition of the Portuguese Conference on Fracture (11st) took place in the Caparica campus of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa on February 13-15, 2008. At the same year the XXV Encuentro del Grupo Español de Fractura was held on March 5-7 at the Parador de Sigüenza. During those conferences the idea of a new joint event to be held in 2010 was discussed.

The agreement was achieved on October 2008, when it was decided to held a joint Iberian Conference on Fracture the 17-19 March 2010 at the campus of Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto - FEUP, in Porto, Portugal.

FEUP has a long tradition of organizing international scientific meetings. Porto airport has a wide range of international connections, the city is served by a large variety of hotels, and FEUP is reached easily by car or using the Porto metro.

• Analytical and numerical methods
• Case studies of fracture, fatigue and durability
• Durability of structures
• Experimental techniques
• Fatigue of materials and structures
• Fracture of materials (metallic alloys, ceramics, composites, polymeric and bio)
• Interaction with environment.

Organizing committee

Portuguese members

• José António Martins Ferreira (Universidade de Coimbra)
• Manuel José Moreira de Freitas (IST, Lisbon)
• Maria Manuela Bastos Oliveira (INETI, Lisbon)
• Paulo Manuel Salgado Tavares de Castro (FEUP), chairman of Organizing Committee
• Pedro Manuel Ponces Rodrigues de Castro Camanho (FEUP)

Spanish members

• Antonio Martín Meizoso (CEIT-Universidad de Navarra, San Sebastián)
• Gustavo V. Guinea (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid), coord. of Spanish participation
• Javier Belzunce (Universidad de Oviedo, Gijón)
• José Fernández Sáez (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Madrid)
• Marc Anglada (Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña, Barcelona)

Honorary members

• Carlos A. G. Moura Branco (IST, Lisbon)
• Manuel Elices (UPM, Madrid)
• Manuel Fuentes (CEIT-UN, San Sebastian)

Organization

• Professor Paulo M. S. Tavares de Castro,
  Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica e Gestão Industrial,
  Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto,
  Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200–465 Porto, Portugal
  Tel.: +351 22 508 1716 / 1714;
  Fax: +351 22 508 1445;
  Email: ptcastro@fe.up.pt

• Secretariat
  Ms. Fernanda Fonseca,
  Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica,
  Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto
  Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
  tel.: +351 22 508 1716
  fax; +351 22 508 1445
  email: ffonseca@fe.up.pt