The fifth conference took place at the Instituto Tecnico Malignani in the delightful city of Udine, close to Venice and Trieste in north-eastern Italy. The format followed that of the previous conference in Cambridge with pre-prints for delegates, an exhibition, simultaneous translation facilities, a “Round Table” session on “The Teaching of Experimental Stress Analysis in View of Industrial Application” (with contributors from 8 countries), and a Social and Ladies programme with optional visits and tours to places of interest, including a trip to Venice. The organisers had also arranged that the maximum day-time temperature should not exceed 25°C. A bound volume of conference proceedings [5], complete with discussion contributions, authors’ replies and a full list of delegates, was distributed after the conference. Concurrently in Udine there was a IMEKO discussion meeting on “Recent Developments in Force Measuring Devices” for which joint registration was possible. Particularly memorable were the resourcefulness of the organisers in coping with the consequences of a nation-wide strike, the hospitality of the civic authorities and supporting organisations, and the opportunity to see the gorgeous work of Tiepolo and other masters in the city galleries.
The 54 papers were presented in 19 consecutive sessions through the four-day conference period. Needless to say, photoelasticity and strain gauge applications again featured prominently but there was clear evidence of important technological changes with 8 papers on finite element work and 4 on applications of holographic interferometry. Sessions were devoted to brittle fracture and crack propagation and to composite materials, and, most significantly, Stress Analysis in Biomechanics appeared as a major heading which covered stress studies in the human body, the mechanical behaviour of joints, and fracture and crack propagation in bones, using experimental and numerical techniques. The conference also included interesting papers on dynamic stress studies but there was little (one paper each) on moiré applications and residual stresses.
The papers originated from 16 countries. There were 12 from the USA and Canada, and 10 from Eastern Europe including 2 from the USSR and 5 from the CSSR. Papers from India and Japan were particularly noteworthy.