The following mini-symposia will be organized at Eurodyn 2011. Authors submitting an abstract are asked to select one of these mini-symposia.

MS01 - Geotechnical earthquake engineering
Kyriazis Pitilakis, Roberto Paolucci, Dimitris Pitilakis

The aim of this mini-symposium is to present and discuss ongoing experimental and theoretical research issues to improve the performance-based seismic design of geotechnical structures. Emphasis is given to the role of dynamic soil-foundation-structure interaction, strong ground motion, site effects and near-source conditions, and the use of probabilistic along with deterministic methods in performance-based seismic design.

MS02 - Aseismic design of structures and lifelines
Manolis Papadrakakis, Michalis Fragiadakis

This mini-symposium will focus on innovations in the seismic design and protection of structures and lifelines. The objective is to provide a common ground of collaboration between the earthquake engineering and the computational mechanics communities in order to mitigate future earthquake losses. Emphasis will be given to recent advances in numerical methods such as finite element modeling, analysis/design procedures and modeling of uncertainty.

MS03 - Dynamic soil-structure interaction and wave propagation
Didier Clouteau, Jean-Francois Semblat

Dynamic interactions between structural vibrations and wave propagation in unbounded media are essential phenomena arising in earthquake and vibration engineering. Much scientific progress has been made during the last decades in the modeling and evaluation of these phenomena. Many challenges are still remaining in this field, such as the effect of large uncertainties on the data, the development of simplified models, the non-linear behavior of materials and interfaces, the multiple interaction between structures throughout the propagation medium, the multiple scattering of waves in strongly heterogeneous media, the identification of heterogeneities properties using ambient noise or forced vibrations, the 3D numerical modeling of wave propagation over several wavelengths, the development of radiative transfer or diffusive models, equivalent radiation conditions, modeling and accounting for the effects of incident fields on the structures, the effect and the modeling of damping... This mini-symposium aims to share recent developments on one of these subjects together with case studies and experimental evidence of these phenomena.

MS04 - Traffic induced vibrations
Geert Lombaert, Geert Degrande

Mini-symposium MS04 focuses on environmental vibrations due to road and railway traffic at grade and in tunnels. The aim of MS04 is to collect experimental as well as numerical studies dealing with excitation mechanisms of traffic induced vibrations, dynamic vehicle-track interaction, the transmission of vibrations into the free field, the response of nearby structures, and mitigation measures at the source or on the transmission path.

MS05 - Vibrations due to construction and industrial activities
Werner Rücker

Buildings in residential areas can be affected by vibrations produced by nearby construction work, industrial activities as well as road and railway traffic. This leads in general to restrictions on the safety, serviceability and lifetime of buildings. Furthermore the inhabitants of buildings are increasingly affected by vibrations which are not tolerable. The mini-symposium will describe the theory and present measurements of the emission, transmission and immission of excitations like (1) vibratory and impulse pile driving, (2) compaction work, (3) mass drop, (4) explosion and blasting, (5) all kind of industrial rotating and impacting machinery, (6) fluid excitation types. Case studies including applied measures for isolation and vibration reduction will also be presented.

MS06 - Human induced vibrations
Aleksandar Pavic, Elsa Caetano

The mini-symposium addresses developments regarding the characterization of human induced vibrations and their effects on different structures, namely floors, footbridges, staircases and stadia. Contributions dealing with the following topics are invited: (1) analytical, numerical or experimental laboratory studies, (2) reviews of pertinent design guidelines and (3) case studies of real-life applications dealing with human-induced vibrations including mitigation measures.

MS07 - Bridge dynamics (seismic loads, wind loads, moving loads, vehicle-bridge interaction)
Álvaro Cunha

This mini-symposium focuses on recent developments regarding the experimental and/or numerical assessment, monitoring and control of the behaviour of bridges under different types of dynamic loads (e.g. seismic loads, wind loads, moving loads, vehicle-bridge interaction), with special attention given to innovative procedures in real applications and the consideration of different phases of the life cycle of bridges.

MS08 - Wind induced vibrations of slender structures and fatigue
Rüdiger Höffer, Hans-Jürgen Niemann

The excitation mechanisms of structural vibrations in wind and in lateral directions - both turbulence and vortex excitations are included here - and especially the related cyclic response stresses together with its implications for structural fatigue and deterioration are still under intensive discussion, although calculations for the purpose of structural design are regulated in codes. There exist opinions that such regulations are not sufficient to cover all important design situations. Both loading and structural questions shall be treated in this mini-symposium.

MS09 - Active, semi-active, and passive vibration control
Fabio Casciati, Jose Rodellar

The possibility of monitoring civil structures using a large number of sensors is promising for the present and future of structural health monitoring (SHM). A major issue, however, is how to convert the information into reaction at the level of active structural control, semiactive structural control as well as in view of a self-healing performance. The main objective of this mini-symposium is to explore and compare different control strategies, including passive control solutions, and to provide a platform for critical discussion regarding the effectiveness and appropriateness of techniques commonly employed in civil engineering problems.

MS10 - Dynamic stability and post-critical states
Jirí Náprstek, Andrei Metrikine

New developments in the theory of stability and post-critical behavior of dynamical systems as well as applications in structural dynamics will constitute the core of this mini-symposium. Papers employing analytical, semi-analytical, or numerical approaches are welcome. It is expected that experimental studies as well as papers of multi-disciplinary nature will be presented.

MS11 - Experimental techniques
Wieslaw Ostachowicz, Arnaud Deraemaeker

This minisymposium is organized to review the progress in experimental investigation in dynamics (including laser vibrometry, thermography, wave propagation, acoustic emission, fibre optics, vibration based methods, determination of material properties based on dynamic responses, application to shock and impact, nondestructive testing evaluation and fault detection, etc.). The minisymposium is created as a platform for all researchers and scientists to share their latest findings, learn more about technological developments in the field, and cement friendships.

MS12 - System identification and structural health monitoring
Costas Papadimitriou, Lambros Katafygiotis

The mini-symposium covers theoretical, computational and experimental work on linear/nonlinear system identification and structural health monitoring with applications in structural dynamics, earthquake, civil, mechanical, aerospace or related engineering fields. Relevant topics include modal identification, model updating, damage identification, statistical methods, and stochastic simulation techniques for uncertainty quantification/propagation in model class selection, parameter and state estimation, damage prognosis, and reliability updating using measurements.

MS13 - Inverse problems
Marc Bonnet, Bojan Guzina

This mini-symposium addresses computational and mathematical methods to infer hidden quantities from model and observations, with applications in e.g. seismic inversion, nondestructive material characterization, biomedical imaging, damage characterization, and parameter identification.

MS14 - Modeling of uncertainties in structural dynamics and coupled systems
Christian Soize, Roger Ghanem, Gerhart Schuëller, Wing Kam Liu

Recent developments in structural dynamics and coupled systems allow us to better develop computational models accounting for uncertainties. In many problems of interest, a non-deterministic framework allows uncertainty modeling to be the best approach in permitting the description of uncertain parameters and modeling errors, as well as numerical approximation errors.

MS15 - Dynamic response of structures due to random excitation
Fabrice Poirion, Irmela Zentner

This mini-symposium will address recent developments in the modeling and computational methods for the analysis of dynamics of structures subjected to random loads. Among the topics to be considered (although not restricted to these) are the issues related to the determination of characteristic properties of dynamic response for high dimensional nonlinear structures subjected to stationary and nonstationary, Gaussian and nonGaussian excitation. The issues related to the construction of probabilistic models for real life excitation (earthquakes, wind, sea waves,...) will also be considered. Papers dealing with applications in aerospace, mechanical and civil engineering, biomechanics and other areas are invited.

MS16 - Stochastic dynamics and reliability analysis of structural and mechanical systems under environmental excitation
Marcello Vasta, Michele Barbato

The topics to be covered by this mini-symposium include, but are not limited to, the stochastic finite element method, random vibration theory, reliability analysis, probabilistic response analysis, and uncertainty characterization of environmental actions, with applications in earthquake, wind, tsunami, offshore, and/or hurricane engineering.

MS17 - Sensitivity and robustness of dynamical systems
Jim Beck, Hector Jensen, Gerhart Schuëller, Helmut Pradlwarter, Michael Beer

This mini-symposium focuses on methods for defining, calculating and utilizing sensitivity analyses and robust predictions for the performance of dynamical systems during uncertain operating environments. The goal is to include the effects of modeling uncertainties in addition to excitation uncertainties for system analysis and optimal performance-based design.

MS18 - Safety and reliability of dynamical systems
Hector Jensen, Jim Beck, Gerhart Schuëller, Helmut Pradlwarter

This mini-symposium focuses on methods for quantifying, analyzing and enhancing the safety and reliability of dynamical systems under uncertain conditions. Topics covered include uncertainty quantification, reliability estimation, reliability and performance-based design optimization, structural control, structural health monitoring, etc.

MS19 - Fuzzy sets and intervals - numerical methods and applications
Michael Beer, Michael Hanss, Hao Zhang, David Moens, Dirk Vandepitte

This mini-symposium aims at bundling the most recent developments involving fuzzy sets and intervals in engineering analyses. Contributions are invited with emphasis on theory, numerical methods and practical applications with a broad thematic spectrum.

MS20 - Fluid-structure interaction
Roger Ohayon

The aim of this mini-symposium is to gather researchers from academia, research centers, and industry on mechanical and numerical modeling of fluid-structure interactions problems (vibrations, transient responses) using computational methods such as finite elements, boundary elements, new techniques, reduced order models. Applications include structures containing liquids (incompressible hydroelasticity, sloshing, surface tension problems, compressibility effects - with or without flow) and aeroelasticity.

MS21 - Vibro-acoustics
Robin Langley, Wim Desmet, Bert Pluymers

This mini-symposium focuses on the development and the application of numerical methods for the analysis of acoustic, vibro-acoustic and structural dynamic problems in the mid and high frequency range. Whereas conventional deterministic element based techniques, such as the finite element method and the boundary element method, tend to loose their practical applicability, other methods only start to excel at higher frequencies. This mini-symposium aims to bring together papers discussing various mid and high frequency methods; enhanced deterministic and stochastic methods, as well as hybrid approaches.

MS22 - Constitutive behavior of construction materials
Christoph Butenweg

The focus of the mini-symposium is the presentation of constitutive models for building materials with special emphasis on their application to dynamic structural problems. We expect contributions for traditional building materials like masonry and concrete, as well as new composite materials. An important issue shall be the applicability of the models within numerical frameworks.

MS23 - Blast and accidental loads
Jaap Weerheijm, Werner Riedel

Urban infrastructure may be exposed to explosions and severe impact loadings due to accidents and terrorist attacks. The response of structures to impulsive loading is the subject of this mini-symposium. Authors are invited to contribute on response mechanisms, numerical modeling,
and experiments, and share their knowledge regarding the design of structures to resist blast and accidental loads.

MS24 - Offshore structures
Andrei Metrikine, Sveinung Løset

The focus of this mini-symposium is placed on the dynamics of offshore structures and structural elements. Especially welcome are papers on the dynamics of structures used in challenging environments such as deep-water, ice, strong wind and extreme waves. Of particular interest theoretically are the nonlinear phenomena such as the hydro- and aero-elastic synchronization and ice-structure interaction.

MS25 - (Off-shore) wind power plants
Yuri Petryna, Stavros Savidis, Werner Rücker

Contributions dealing with dynamic problems in design, construction, maintenance and monitoring of structural components and foundations are welcome both from science and industry. The topics of structural dynamics and hydrodynamics, fluid-structure and soil-structure interactions, damage mechanics and structural health monitoring will be discussed in the context of high-cycle loading and long-term response.

MS26 - Non-contact measurements
Carmelo Gentile

The development of non-contact systems for vibration measurement has recently drawn the attention of several researchers and examples of non- contact sensors include Laser Doppler Vibrometers (LDV), GPS, vision- based systems using digital image processing techniques and microwave interferometers. The mini-symposium is especially aimed at providing a state-of-the-art overview on the applicability and reliability of the available non-contact techniques in full-scale tests of large civil engineering structures and mechanical systems.

MS27 - Solar updraft towers
Claudio Borri, Reinhard Harte, Ruediger Hoeffer

Renewable and sustainable energy sources are nowadays considered to be a key element for sustainable development of the worldwide economy. A very challenging, not yet fully exploited, idea of combining both solar and wind renewable energy, is given by the Solar Updraft Power Plant technology(SUPP). This consists of: 1) a collector area to heat the air due to the wide-banded ultra-violet solar radiation, 2) the high-rise solar chimney to updraft the heated air to the atmosphere (up to 1000-1500m), and in between the power conversion unit. MS 27 will deal primarily with the structural dynamics problems related to this very innovative technology.