U.S.-Japan Joint Seminar: Advanced Sensors and Smart Structures Technology for Civil and Mechanical Systems

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0341903SpencerThis award supports the participation of American scientists in a U.S.-Japan joint seminar on advanced sensors and smart structures technology for civil and mechanical systems to be held in Yokohama, Japan from November 16-18, 2003. The co-organizers are Professor Bill F. Spencer at the University of Illinois at Urbana -Champaign and Professor Akira Mita at Keio University in Japan. In the last few years there has been significant progress in the areas of advanced sensors and smart structures technologies around the world, but particularly in the United States and Japan. Innovative concepts such as multifunctional smart materials, sensors and actuators integrated with informatics, intelligence software and algorithms, were proposed to develop the knowledge and technology base to enable realization of smart structures. There have also been several full-scale trial implementations of smart structures technologies, as well as case studies of large-scale structures such as buildings and bridges, both in Japan and the U.S. The seminar sessions will be devoted to four theme topics of 1) innovative sensing hardware, 2) advances in wireless technology, 3) damage detection/characterization and condition assessment methodology, and 4) case studies and experimental verification on international testbeds. The objectives will be to identify the outstanding research issues, and to formulate an action plan with recommendations for development and implementation through possible collaborative research projects and sharing of scientific data. The co-organizers have complementary scientific expertise in the field. This enables them to evaluate and attract the best engineers to participate. These new developments will revolutionize how civil and mechanical structural systems are built and maintained in the future to achieve ultra-high reliability/safety, superior performance, and minimal lifecycle costs. The seminar organizers have made a special effort to involve postdocs and graduate students as both participants and observers. The exchange of ideas and data with Japanese experts in the field will enable U.S. participants to advance their own work, and will set the stage for future collaborative projects. Following the seminar the organizers plan to establish a workshop web page. Conference proceedings will be published on this web site.