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Engineering Structures, Vol. 19, No. 5, pp. 343-344, 1997

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Editorial

Stabil i ty of structures

Buckling of metallic columns is a familiar and well understood phenomenon and plays a central role in their design. In framed systems as well as in stiffened structures, buckling phenomena tend to be more complex and buckling occurs in a variety of modes - global, pervasively 'local' or localized. The increasing use of high strength materials such as cold-formed steel, high strength alumi- num alloys and advanced composites in engineered structures has propelled the discipline of buckling and structural instability to one of pivotal importance in structural design. The new high strength materials make it possible to replace earlier, heavier, structural components with light, slender and thin-walled ones. Buckling in any form either precipitates or hastens the collapse of these struc- tures. Any attempt at optimization of these structural elements and systems must necessarily invoke the criteria of buckling, postbuck- ling resistance and imperfection sensitivity. Thus the subject of structural instability continues to be fascinating and of consider- able practical interest.

Despite the explosive growth of published literature in the area over recent decades, there remain a number of problems which have not been satisfactorily resolved. Apart from the currently popular - and yet from the point of view of the engineer in the field somewhat esoteric - issues of optimization, active control, structural reliability under random loading and imperfections, the crying need is for the development of effective methods of design which will encapsulate in themselves the up-to-date knowledge and experience in the field.

It is in this context that the International Conference on Stabil i ty of Structures was organized by the Department of Civil Engineer- ing, P.S.G. College of Technology, Coimbatore, India in collabor- ation with the Department of Civil Engineering, Washington Uni- versity in St. Louis, USA on 7-9 June 1995. The main objective of the conference was to review the current state of knowledge in various aspects of structural stability and identify key issues for future research. The conference was sponsored by many leading international professional bodies such as the American Society of Civil Engineers, Structural Stability Research Council, (USA), the Institution of Engineers and the Ministry of Human Resource Devel- opment, India, and numerous academic and research institutions, construction firms and private bodies around the world.

The conference attracted over 90 papers which included seven keynote and 14 other invited presentations. The conference was inaugurated by Professor D. W. Murray, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada and the keynote address was delivered by Pro- fessor P. L. Gould, Washington University in St. Louis, USA. The keynote papers in plenary sessions were presented by S. Yamada (Japan), D. W. Murray (Canada), N. S. Trahair (Australia), B. Geier (Germany), J. F. Julien (France) and C. P. Vendhan (India). The

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invited papers in three parallel sessions were presented by J. Lindner (Germany), N. G. R. lyengar (India), R. K. Kapania (USA), R. Krishnan (USA), F. Fujii (Japan), Z. Manko (Poland), E. Cziesielski (Germany), T. E. Boothby (USA), P. Osterreider (Germany), S. Srid- haran (USA), N. E. Shanmugam (Singapore) and M. Mukopadhyay (India). Together, the invited and contributed presentations covered all aspects of engineering, namely, analysis, design and construction of structures prone to instability and a variety of top- ics, such as beams, beam-columns, frames, plates, shells, stiffened structures, composite structures, numerical methods and dynamic instability. The conference received an enthusiastic response from the structural engineering community, with 150 delegates from within India and 30 overseas delegates participating. The confer- ence concluded with a valedictory function which was presided over by Dr. T. V. S. R. Appa Rao, Director, Structural Engineering Research Center, Madras, India. The valedictory address was given by Dr. P. Dayaratnam, Vice-Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru Univer- sity, Hyderabad, India. Many delegates who spoke were highly appreciative of the excellence of the organization and the wonder- ful spirit of mutual goodwill the conference engendered.

In this special issue dedicated to the conference, we feature some papers which we hope are of enduring value and capture the flav- our of the conference. The first paper deals with stability of masonry arches, the next four deal with design of metal structures and the last one is on computational techniques.

Srinivasan Sridharan Washington University, St Louis, USA

and Sundaramoorthy Rajasekaran

P. S. G. College of Technology, Coimbatore, India Guest Editors