COMPRAIL 2022 - Call for Papers

18th International Conference on Railway Engineering Design & Operation

21–23 September 2022

Valencia, Spain

Introduction

The 18th International Conference on Railway Engineering Design and Operation (COMPRAIL 2022), is the latest in a series of very successful meetings which started in Frankfurt in 1987 and continued in Rome (1990); Washington (1992); Madrid (1994); Berlin (1996); Lisbon (1998); Bologna (2000); Lemnos (2002); Dresden (2004); Prague (2006); Toledo (2008); Beijing (2010); the New Forest, home of the Wessex Institute (2012); Rome (2014); Madrid (2016), Lisbon (2018) and online in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The meeting is organised by the Wessex Institute and the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain and sponsored by WIT Transactions on the Built Environment and the International Journal of Transport Development and Integration. The Conference aims to update the use of advanced systems, promoting their general awareness throughout the management, design, manufacture and operation of railways and other emerging passenger, freight and transit systems. It emphasises the use of computer systems in advanced railway engineering.

The meeting attracts a variety of specialists interested in the development of railways, including managers, consultants, railway engineers, designers of advanced train control systems and computer specialists. It provides a forum for researchers, academics and practitioners involved in railway engineering to present and discuss the latest developments.

Since 1993 all published papers are archived in the Wessex Institute eLibrary (www.witpress.com/elibrary), where they are easily and permanently available in Open Access format to the international community.

Conference Topics

The following list covers some of the topics to be presented at COMPRAIL 2022. Papers on other subjects related to the objectives of the conference are also welcome.

• Advanced train control
• Operational quality
• Risk management
• Planning and policy
• Monitoring and maintenance
• Energy efficiency and power supply
• Signalling and train control systems
• Timetabling and rescheduling
• Safety and security
• Vehicle dynamics
• Driverless and automatic train operation
• System integration
• High-speed technology
• Interoperability
• Modelling and simulation
• Multi-modal integration
• Magnetic levitation vehicles
• Telecommunications in rail transport
• Freight transport
• Real-time operations
• Ticketing
• Singletrack traffic
• Track design and maintenance strategies
• Intelligent railway systems
• Road and rail synergy
• Electrical railroad
• Railway logistics
• Passenger guidance and user behaviour
• High-density rails
• Railway resilience
• Environmental impact and CO2 reduction
• IoT applications to railway vehicles
• Wheel-rail contact
• Adhesion and wear
• CBM and new maintenance techniques applied to railway
• Hydrogen and battery trains
• Case studies

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Urban and Maritime Transport 2022 - Call for Papers

28th International Conference on Urban and Maritime Transport and the Environment

19–21 September 2022

Valencia, Spain

Introduction

This conference is the merging of two successful events organised by the Wessex Institute, the International Conference on Urban Transport and the Environment which started in Southampton in 1995 and the International Conference on Maritime Transport which originated in Rome, Italy in 2019.

The International Conference on Urban Transport and the Environment has successfully been reconvened for 28 years, always attracting a wide international spread of delegates, well established as the premier event of its type. The conference started in Southampton in 1995; continuing in Barcelona (1996); Acquasparta, Italy (1997); Lisbon (1998); Rhodes (1999); Cambridge, UK (2000); Lemnos, Greece (2001); Seville (2002); Crete (2003); Dresden (2004); Algarve (2005); WIT Campus in the New Forest (2006); Coimbra (2007); Malta (2008); Bologna (2009); Limassol (2010); Pisa (2011), A Coruña (2012), Kos (2013), Algarve (2014), Valencia (2015), Crete (2016), Rome (2017), Seville (2018), Aveiro (2019) and online in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the substantial growth of maritime shipping has resulted in large transported quantities around the world, creating a demand for innovative solutions for ports and fleets, well reflected by the success of the First International Conference on Maritime Transport, held in 2019.

These two apparently parallel topics meet in the transport and environmental management of coastal cities, both being affected positively and negatively by landside and seaside traffic.

The continuing requirement for better urban transport systems and the need for a healthier environment creates a fertile environment for original ideas, innovative approaches and applications of advanced technologies, their tests and evaluations in practice. Moreover, there is a growing need for integration with IT systems and applications to improve safety and efficiency.

Maritime Transport is highly interconnected with rail, road and air services, as well as inland waterways. Each of these must therefore operate complimentary of one another to maximise efficiency and respond rapidly to variable economic and political contingencies.

The variety of topics covered by the conference reflects the complex interaction of the transport systems with their environment and the need to establish integrated strategies. The aim is to arrive at optimal socio-economic solutions while reducing the negative environmental impacts of transportation systems typically by interdisciplinary approaches. Therefore, the conference will focus on multidisciplinary research and development, as well as operational experiences.

All published papers from previous meetings are archived in the Wessex Institute eLibrary (www.witpress.com/elibrary) where they are easily and permanently available in Open Access format to the international community.

Conference Topics

The following list covers some of the topics to be presented at Urban and Maritime Transport 2022. Papers on other subjects related to the objectives of the conference are also welcome.

• Traffic planning, control and management
• Transportation policy and governance
• Mobility and public spaces in smart cities and other urban environments
• Advanced logistics, urban freight distribution and IOT
• Freight handling and transport
• Positioning, route planning and monitoring, and fleets management
• Public transport systems
• Autonomous vehicle technology
• Naval technology
• Environmental Impacts
• Socio-economic implications
• Guided transport systems
• Ports and inland waterborne operation
• Impacts on land and coastal use
• Intermodal and multimodal transport systems
• Innovative transport concepts and shared mobility
• Traffic simulation and digital twins applications
• Land and marine GIS
• Meteorology and oceanography issues
• Reliability, availability and maintainability
• Safety, security and risk analysis
• Accident analysis and investigations
• Renewable energy sources and technology
• Designing for variations in demand and operation
• Transport system modelling and simulation
• Ro-Ro, Ro-Pax and cruise shipping
• Containers and bulk shipping
• International standards and regulations
• Transport infrastructures development
• Intelligent and advanced transport systems
• Education and training initiatives
• History of cities and navigation
• Informal transport solutions
• Case studies

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Islamic Heritage 2022 - Call for Papers

4th International Conference on Islamic Heritage Architecture and Art

13–15 July 2022

Lisbon, Portugal

Introduction

The meeting will deal with the design of many types of buildings in Islamic countries, including not only the better known public buildings like mosques, mausolea, citadels and forts, but also houses and gardens, engineering works such as bridges and dams, irrigation systems and many others which have also had a profound impact on society.

Islamic architecture has enriched design with a wide variety of structural shapes, including among others, unique arches, a wide variety of vaults and domes which allow for new forms to be developed. The influence that these structural forms have in non-Islamic countries will be one of the themes of the conference.

There is much to learn from past experiences to arrive at solutions that are environmentally sound and sustainable in the long term. As conventional energy resources become scarce, the Islamic design heritage can offer invaluable lessons on how to deal in an efficient manner with cases of hard and extreme environments. Traditional architecture and urban environments in most Islamic countries are now being eroded by overemphasis on a global type of architecture and city planning. As a consequence, many regions are losing their identity. The conference will aim to review these developments in the light of what the classical Islamic urban designs and architectures have to offer modern society.

An equally important part of the meeting will analyse the materials employed and the types of structural elements, particularly those unique to Islamic architecture. Associated topics of discussion will include music, textiles and ceramics, which are essential parts of the architectural fabric. The Conference will encompass papers on construction materials, including not only stone and brick but also more perishable materials like adobe, wood and reeds.

Preserving that heritage also requires the development of appropriate conservation techniques in response to the different materials used and the ways structural forms work, including under extreme conditions, such as earthquakes.

Papers relevant to the influence of Islamic architecture on the development of new structural form, shape and design in Western countries are particularly welcome.

The meeting will be of interest to all researchers, practitioners and government employees actively involved in the topic of Islamic heritage architecture and art.

All published papers from previous meetings are archived in the Wessex Institute eLibrary (www.witpress.com/elibrary) where they are easily and permanently available in Open Access format to the international community.

Conference Topics

The following list covers some of the topics to be presented at Islamic Heritage 2022. Papers on other subjects related to the objectives of the conference are also welcome.

• Historical aspects
• Heritage studies
• Archaeological studies
• Mosques and minarets
• Conservation and restoration
• Citadels and fortifications
• Urban environment
• Baths and Caravanserais
• Palaces
• Houses and gardens
• Bridges and dams
• Irrigation systems
• Climate adaptability
• Structural characteristics
• The use of light and orientation
• Construction materials
• Oman and Eastern Saudi Arabian architecture
• Architecture in Malaysia and Indonesia
• Mediterranean Islamic heritage
• The upper Gulf (Kuwait and Basra)
• The central Gulf (Bahrain and Qatar)
• The lower Gulf architecture
• The Persian coast and islands
• The Trucial coast (Abu Dhabi, Dubai and the Northern Emirates)
• Classical Ottoman architecture
• The Balkans legacy
• The Black and Caspian sea legacies
• Islamic architecture along the Silk Road
• Islamic architecture in China
• Afghanistan and Persia
• Islamic architecture in the ex-Soviet republics
• The Indian continent
• Islamic architecture in Al-Andalus and other Spanish regions
• Influences in the Americas
• Islamic architecture in Africa
• New cities and the search for authenticity
• Islamic architecture in Far East countries
• Cross-cultural encounters
• Travel writings
• Art and literature
• Islamic calligraphy and Islamic manuscripts
• Contemporary forms of Islamic arts
• Case studies

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Eco-Architecture 2022 - Call for Papers

9th International Conference on Harmonisation between Architecture and Nature

12–14 July 2022

Lisbon, Portugal

Introduction

The objective of this Conference is to review the challenges and new opportunities of contemporary architecture. These are a result of advances in design and new building technologies, as well as the development of new materials.

Many of the changes are motivated by a drive towards eco-architecture, trying to harmonise architectural products with nature. Another important issue is the adaptation of the architectural design to the natural environment, learning from nature and traditional construction techniques.

Contemporary architecture is at the threshold of a new stage of evolution, deeply influenced by the advances in information and computer systems and the development of new materials and products, as well as construction processes that will drastically change the industry.

Emphasis is placed on the minimum use of energy at each stage of the building process, the design by passive systems, life cycle assessment, resources optimisation and rehabilitation.

Never before in history have architects and engineers had such a range of new processes and products open to them. In spite of that, the construction industry lags behind all others in taking advantage of a wide variety of new technologies. This is understandable, due to the inherent complexity and uniqueness of each architectural project. Advances in computer and information systems, including robotics, offers the possibility of developing new architectural forms, construction products and building technologies that are just now starting to emerge. Changes have also taken place in the way modern society works and lives, due to the impact of modern technologies.

Patterns of work have been disrupted and changed, affecting transportation and the home environment. The demand is for a new type of habitat that can respond to the changes and the consequent requirements in terms of the urban environment.

The conference will deal with topics such as building technologies, design by passive systems, design with nature, cultural sensitivity, life cycle assessment, resources and rehabilitation and many others including case studies from many different places around the world. The list of topics gives an idea of the scope of the meeting, papers on other topics relating to the conference objectives are welcome.

All conference papers are archived in the Wessex Institute eLibrary (www.witpress.com/elibrary) where they are easily and permanently available in Open Access format to the international community.

Architecture is very multi-disciplinary, attracting many different professions. In this regard, the conference participants are expected to be engineers, planners, computer experts, physical scientists, sociologists and economists, as well as architects, providing all of them an opportunity to share information and ideas with their colleagues from different regions of the world.

Conference Topics

The following list covers some of the topics to be presented at Eco-Architecture 2022. Papers on other subjects related to the objectives of the conference are also welcome.

• Design

  • Design with nature
  • Passive systems
  • Building information modelling
  • Bioclimatic design
  • Transformative design
  • Contemporary habitat typologies
  • Smart houses
  • Building flexibility
  • Adapted reuse
  • Sustainability indices in architecture
  • Circular economy
  • Sustainable cities
  • Effects of a pandemic on architecture

• Building technology

  • Innovative materials and products
  • Green facades
  • Integrated renewable systems
  • Advanced building envelope
  • Performance assessment
  • Regenerative buildings
  • Ecological impacts of materials
  • Life cycle assessment and durability
  • Recycle, reuse, reduce and recovery
  • Eco-design and Eco-labelling

• Built environment

  • Design and construction integration
  • Flexible housing
  • Floating buildings
  • Tall buildings and environment
  • Energy performance

• Society

  • Community participation
  • Education and training
  • End-use energy efficiency
  • Consumer engagement
  • Occupants’ behaviour
  • Houses as a working environment
  • Management and maintenance
  • Ecological and cultural sensitivity
  • Impact of technology
  • Post-occupancy evaluation
  • Urban landscaping, agriculture and green spaces

• Case Studies

Find out more >>

HPSM/OPTI/SUSI 2022 - Call for Papers

International Conference on High Performance and Optimum Structures and Materials Encompassing Shock and Impact Loading

11–13 July 2022

Lisbon, Portugal

Introduction

This scientific event is a new edition of the High Performance and Optimum Design of Structures and Materials Conference and follows that originated in Southampton as long ago as 1989 and the Structures under Shock and Impact that started in Cambridge, Massachusetts, also in 1989

The use of novel materials and new structural concepts nowadays is not restricted to highly technical areas like aerospace, aeronautical applications or the automotive industry, but affects all engineering fields including those such as civil engineering and architecture. The conference addresses issues involving advanced types of structures, particularly those based on new concepts. Contributions will highlight the latest development in design and manufacturing issues.

Most high-performance structures require the development of a generation of new materials, which can more easily resist a range of external stimuli or react in a non-conventional manner. Particular emphasis will be placed on intelligent structures and materials as well as the application of computational methods for their modelling, control and management.

The conference also addresses the topic of design optimisation. Contributions on numerical methods and different optimisation techniques are also welcome, as well as papers on new software. Optimisation problems of interest to the meeting involve those related to size, shape and topology of structures and materials. Optimisation techniques have much to offer to those involved in the design of new industrial products, as the appearance of powerful commercial computer codes has created a fertile field for the incorporation of optimisation in the design process in all engineering disciplines.

The performance of the structures under shock and impact loads is another objective of the meeting. The increasing need to protect civilian infrastructure and industrial facilities against unintentional loads arising from accidental impact and explosion events as well as terrorist attacks is reflected in the sustained interest worldwide. While advances have been made in the last decades, many challenges remain, such as developing more effective and efficient blast and impact mitigation approaches than those that currently exist or assessing the uncertainties associated with large and small scale testing and validation of numerical and analytical models. All of that aimed to a better understanding of critical issues relating to the testing behaviour, modelling and analyses of protective structures against blast and impact loading.

The meeting will provide a friendly and useful forum for the interchange of ideas and interaction amongst researchers, designers and scholars in the community to share advances in the scientific fields related to the conference topics.

All conference papers are archived in the Wessex Institute eLibrary (www.witpress.com/elibrary) where they are easily and permanently available in Open Access format to the international community.

Conference Topics

The following list covers some of the topics to be presented at HPSM/OPTI/SUSI 2022. Papers on other subjects related to the objectives of the conference are also welcome.

• Composite materials
• Material characterisation
• Natural fibre composites
• Nanocomposites
• Green composites
• Composites for automotive applications
• Transformable structures
• Environmentally friendly and sustainable structures
• Reliability-based design optimisation
• Non-deterministic approaches
• Evolutionary methods in optimisation
• Aerospace structures
• Biomechanics application
• Lightweight structures
• Design for sustainability
• Design for durability
• Lifecycle assessment
• Structural reliability
• Smart materials and structures
• Optimization of civil engineering structures
• Optimization in mechanical engineering
• Optimization in the car industry
• Design optimization of tall buildings
• Metaheuristic algorithms
• New algorithms for size and topology optimisation
• BIM tools for design optimization
• Emerging materials
• Impact and blast loading
• Energy-absorbing issues
• Computational and experimental results
• Response of reinforced concrete under impact
• Seismic behaviour
• Protection of existing structures
• Industrial accidents and explosions
• Security issues
• Response of composite structures to blast and impact
• Vehicle impact
• Ballistics analysis
• Dynamic material behaviour
• Fluid-structure interaction
• Seismic soil-structure interaction
• Case studies

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FRIAR 2022 - Call for Papers

8th International Conference on Flood and Urban Water Management

6–8 July 2022

Milan, Italy

Introduction

FRIAR 2022 is the eighth conference of this successful series. The conference started at the Institution of Civil Engineers in London in 2008 and was reconvened in Milan in 2010, Dubrovnik in 2012, Poznan in 2014, Venice in 2016, A Coruna in 2018 and online in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Since 2012 a parallel seminar on the Design, Construction, Maintenance, Monitoring and Control of Urban Water has taken place which is now an integral part of the conference.

Flooding is a global phenomenon that claims numerous lives worldwide each year. When flooding occurs in urban areas, it can cause substantial damage to property as well as threatening human life. In addition, many more people must endure the homelessness, upset and disruption that are left in the wake of floods. The increased frequency of flooding in the last few years, coupled with climate change predictions and urban development, suggest that these impacts are set to worsen in the future. How we respond and importantly, adapt to these challenges is key to developing our long term resilience at the property, community and city scale.

Apart from the physical damage to buildings, contents and loss of life, which are the most obvious, impacts of floods upon households, other more indirect losses are often overlooked. These indirect and intangible impacts are generally associated with disruption to normal life as well as longer-term health issues including community displacements and stress-related illnesses. Flooding represents a major barrier to the alleviation of poverty in many parts of the developing world, where vulnerable communities are often exposed to sudden and life-threatening events.

As our cities continue to expand, their urban infrastructures need to be re-evaluated and adapted to new requirements related to the increase in population and the growing areas under urbanization. We also need to consider more nature-based interventions to the management of flood risk, including the adoption of more catchment-based approaches. These are now being recognised as being more sustainable and also able to achieve wider benefits to the environment and society as a whole.

This conference also considers these problems and deals with two main urban water topics: water supply systems and urban drainage. Topics such as contamination and pollution discharges in urban water bodies, as well as the monitoring of water recycling systems are currently receiving a great deal of attention from researchers and professional engineers working in the water industry. Water distribution networks often suffer substantial losses which represent wastage of energy and treatment. Effective, efficient and energy-saving management is necessary in order to optimize their performance. Sewer systems are under constant pressure due to growing urbanization and climate change, and the environmental impact caused by urban drainage overflows is related to both water quantity and water quality.

FRIAR seeks to develop an improved understanding of emerging flood risk management and urban water management challenges, drawing on the expertise of numerous disciplines and considering a range of responses. The conference provides a rich forum for the development of innovative solutions that can help bring about multiple benefits toward achieving integrated flood risk and urban water management strategies and policy.

The meeting is aimed to attract researchers, academics and practitioners actively involved in improving our understanding of urban water systems and flood events. It will bring together social scientists, surveyors, engineers, scientists, and other professionals from many countries involved in research and development activities in a wide range of technical and management topics related to urban water and flooding and its impacts on communities, property and people.

Papers presented at this conference, as all other meetings run by the Wessex Institute, are archived in the WIT eLibrary (www.witpress.com/elibrary) and are easily and permanently available in Open Access format to the international community.

Conference Topics

The following list covers some of the topics to be presented at FRIAR 2022. Papers on other subjects related to the objectives of the conference are also welcome.

• Floods
  • Flood risk management
  • Flood warning and forecasting
  • Flood response and recovery
  • Flood protection
  • Flood modelling
  • Flood mitigation
  • Flood vulnerability
  • Climate change impact
  • Flood damage assessment
  • Socio and economic impact
  • Community engagement
  • Emergency planning
  • Blue-green infrastructure
  • Resilient approaches
  • Catchment-based approaches
  • Natural flood management
  • Remote sensing in flood applications
  • Risk areas
  • Property flood resilience
    
    
• Urban Water Systems
  • Water supply networks
  • Leakage and losses
  • Modelling and experimentation
  • Safety and security of water systems
  • Water quality
  • Water savings and reuse
  • Wastewater treatment and reuse
  • Urban drainage systems
  • Stormwater management
  • Watershed management
  • Structural works and infrastructure
  • Maintenance and repairs
  • Sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDs)
  • Greywater
  • Rainwater harvesting
  • Water and sewage systems in urban areas
  • Water retention
    
    
• Case studies

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Air and Water Pollution 2022 - Call for Papers

30th International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air and Water Pollution

5–7 July 2022

Milan, Italy

Introduction

This conference is the merging of two successful events organised by the Wessex Institute, the International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air Pollution which started in Mexico in 1993; and the International Conference on Monitoring, Modelling and Management of Water Pollution which originated in Southampton, UK in 1991.

The meetings in the Air Pollution series have discussed and considered many important air pollution issues and the international nature of the attendees has ensured that the conference findings and conclusions enjoy wide and rapid dissemination amongst the air pollution science and policy communities. The series has demonstrated the widespread nature of the air pollution phenomena and has explored in depth their impacts on human health and the environment.

The scientific knowledge derived from well-designed studies needs to be allied with further technical and economic studies in order to ensure cost-effective and efficient mitigation. In turn, the science, technology and economic outcomes are necessary but not sufficient. Increasingly, the conference has recognised that the outcome of such research needs to be contextualised within well-formulated communication strategies that help policymakers and citizens to understand and appreciate the risks and rewards arising from air pollution management. Consequently, the series has enjoyed a wide range of high-quality papers that develop the fundamental science of air pollution and an equally impressive range of presentations that places these new developments within the frame of mitigation and management of air pollution.

The Water Pollution conference series has provided a forum for discussion amongst scientists, managers and academics from different areas of water contamination.

The environmental problems caused by the increase of pollutant loads discharged into natural water bodies requires the formation of a framework for regulation and control. This framework needs to be based on scientific results that relate pollutant discharge with changes in water quality. The results of these studies allow the industry to apply more efficient methods of controlling and treating waste loads, and water authorities to enforce appropriate regulations regarding this matter.

Environmental problems are essentially interdisciplinary. Engineers and scientists working in this field must be familiar with a wide range of issues including the physical processes of mixing and dilution, chemical and biological processes, mathematical modelling, data acquisition and measurement, to name but a few. In view of the scarcity of available data, it is important that experiences are shared on an international basis. Thus, a continuous exchange of information between scientists from different countries is essential.

All published papers from previous meetings are archived in the Wessex Institute eLibrary (www.witpress.com/elibrary) where they are easily and permanently available in Open Access format to the international community.

Conference Topics

The following list covers some of the topics to be presented at Air and Water Pollution 2022. Papers on other subjects related to the objectives of the conference are also welcome.

• Air pollution modelling and monitoring
• Atmospheric modelling and forecasting
• Aerosols and nanoparticles
• Emission studies
• Global, regional and local studies
• Interdisciplinary studies on air quality
• Health risk
• Indoor air pollution
• Industrial and transport air pollution
• Biogenic and biomass emissions
• Anthropogenic pollution
• Coastal and offshore water pollution
• Agricultural water contamination
• Industrial water pollution
• Climate change effects
• Emerging pollutants
• Air/water legislation and justice
• Low carbon strategies
• Education, public perception and engagement
• Socio-economic-political causes and consequences
• Emergent techniques and technologies
• Pollution dynamics
• Dredging work
• Wastewater and saltwater management
• Water reuse
• Groundwater and aquifers
• Freshwater quality
• Urban water
• Sustainable urban drainage systems
• Case studies

Find out more >>