The technical sessions were held in the Chemical Laboratory Lecture Theatre, Cambridge University, and accommodation was provided in two nearby colleges. There was an exhibition of equipment and instrumentation in the University Engineering Laboratories. Technical visits to local companies were organised and a special “Ladies Programme” included visits to some “stately homes” and a sightseeing / shopping trip to London. The conference fee was £ 20 (30 euros) and delegates were provided with pre-prints of the papers before the conference.
The conference proceedings, published in 1971 by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and edited by Professor M.L.Meyer, were a model of completeness, with the full texts of the 42 papers (including discussion contributions and authors’ replies), details of an informal session on The Teaching of Experimental Stress Analysis, a list of the 334 delegates, an author index and subject indices in the three conference languages, English, French and German. (Simultaneous translation facilities were provided in the lecture theatre.) The proceedings volume (576 pages) could be purchased separately at a price of £ 9 (13.5 euros).
As at Delft in 1959, photoelastic analysis (17 papers) and electrical resistance strain gauge work (10 papers) featured prominently in the papers presented. Model studies using, for example, polythene, rubber or micro-concrete were also described. Two papers dealt with brittle coatings and three were devoted to applications of various moiré techniques. Holographic interferometry featured in just two papers and, additionally, its potential was mentioned in one of the three papers from the USSR. Rather surprisingly only one paper dealt with the assessment of residual stresses. Noteworthy amongst the papers on advanced techniques was that by H. Aben on magnetophotoelasticity, the start of an impressive series. A particularly interesting paper from Belgium described the use of several different techniques (including numerical (FE) work) in three civil engineering design studies.
The conference attracted papers from 17 countries, a considerable increase relative to the Delft conference. The “catchment area” had expanded both to the east and to the west with 11 papers from Eastern Europe (including 3 from the USSR) and 5 from the USA and Canada. There was one paper from Australia but none from the Far East. Not all PCSA member countries were represented (eg. there were no papers from Israel, Italy or Spain, and only one from the Scandanavian countries) but the international status of the conference was now clearly established.