Delegate Information
Welcome and Introduction
It's a pleasure to welcome you to Swansea for the conference.
The BSSM sits at the interface between industry, academia and the wider engineering community and promotes their interaction to ensure the wide dissemination of new ideas and best practice in the field of engineering measurement. Meeting in person to discuss science, engineering and technology is an important part of this.
This conference focuses on research which advances experimental techniques across the very widest range of applications in mechanics, including stress, strain and vibration analysis.
In addition to the main conference, this year's event includes all the 'traditional extras', including the BSSM Measurements Lecture, the annual BSSM EMex exhibition of experimental mechanics and the BSSM Young Stress Analyst Competition.
We are looking forward to a technically excellent conference and we are very grateful to the authors for their efforts in producing their contributions to the programme.
We hope you enjoy the conference and its many events, all of which are described below. If you require any assistance during the conference, please do not hesitate to contact the Conference main desk for help.
Please take the time to explore Swansea.
Professor Hari Arora
Conference Chair
Professor Hari Arora
Professor in Biomedical Engineering
Swansea University
Look out for the BSSM flags at the entrance.
Throughout the conference there is an Event Support Team on duty to help you. Please look for the distinctive blue tee shirts.
Photographer on site: Please be aware that throughout the event we will be taking photographs to use on the BSSM Social Media accounts and our website. If you do not consent to this, please let us know. Thank you.
Delegate and Visitor Information
The Conference Meeting Rooms - to follow
Refreshments and EMex 26 Exhibition - to follow
Delegates will be served lunch and refreshments throughout each day of the conference
Travel and Venue Information
Plan your journey, including travel from airports and public transport
Tourist and Visitor Information
Swansea Area Map
City Centre Map
Venue information including parking
Venue Address
Swansea Building Society Arena
Oystermouth Road
Bae Copr Bay
Swansea
SA1 3BX
Swansea City Centre Hotels
Village Hotel
Swansea Waterfront
01792 341270
Premier Inn
Swansea Waterfront
01792 452510
Premier Inn
Swansea City Centre
01792 634940
The Morgans Collection
Swansea City Centre
01792 484848
Delta Hotels by Marriott Swansea
Swansea City Centre
01792 642020
The Grand Hotel
Swansea City Centre
01792 645898
Additional Hotel Accommodation
For other hotels in Swansea, Mumbles and Gower please
Information for Presenters
The conference will be operating Windows 7 and 10 and MS Office. If you intend to use animations, please ensure you bring the movie files with you. You should bring your presentation on a USB stick at least 15 minutes prior to the start of your session and upload onto the computer in the room where you will present into the folder for your session. Please check the programme for this information.
There is no support for Macs. Should speakers wish to use their own Mac this is possible, however, they will need to supply all relevant adaptors. You may wish to use your own laptop – if this is the case you should attend in advance to check that your laptop and presentation will work.
Wi-Fi Instructions
To follow
Programme
To follow
Plenary Sessions
Measurements Lecture
Professor Michael Sutton, Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering
Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing, University of South Carolina, USA
'Recent Developments in Characterization of Advanced Material Response'
Global national conflicts have necessitated reductions in the time required to develop advanced material systems, resulting in a focus on development and application of sophisticated methods for characterization of advanced material responses. Fortunately, full-field measurement methods such as digital image correlation (DIC) have provided investigators with the opportunity to integrate measurement data with computational methods in unique ways. The presentation will focus on three recent studies.
The first study presents a novel method combining digital image correlation (DIC) full-field deformation measurements with the explicit dynamic finite element method (EFEM) to reconstruct the full field spatio-temporal stress field in dynamically loaded materials without requiring knowledge or input of material properties. Stress-strain data obtained using the reconstruction methodology with DIC measurements are found to accurately describe material response.
Since the EFEM requires DIC deformations and accelerations at locations in the specimen during loading, results are reported quantifying point-wise variability in the DIC-based motion measurements. Performing both theoretical analysis and specimen static and dynamic translations, velocity and acceleration uncertainties when using central difference temporal derivative formulae are shown to be 𝜎u ⋅ 𝐹𝑅 and 𝜎u ⋅ 𝐹𝑅2, respectively, where 𝜎u is the standard deviation in displacement and FR is the camera frame rate.
Finally, using an inverse form for the equations of equilibrium, a novel algorithm, IMPACT, for direct extraction of heterogenous material properties when using full-field DIC deformation measurements and a multilinear material property form has been developed for both 1D and 2D configurations. For a nominally 2D specimen geometry, material property results from the IMPACT method simulations are compared to independent estimates using the finite element method updating (FEMU) method.
Plenary Lecture
Caitríona (Tríona) Lally, Professor in Biomedical Engineering and Director of Industry Engagement Discipline: Mechanical, Manufacturing & Biomedical Engineering, Trinity College Dublin
'Exploring The Synergistic Effect Of Calcification And Structural Damage on Bioprosthetic Heart Valve Leaflets Using Bespoke In-vitro Testing'
Aortic stenosis (AS) causes narrowing and stiffening of the aortic valve, and restricts blood flow from the heart to the rest of the body. Minimally invasive treatment for AS involves the implantation of a bioprosthetic valve with porcine or bovine pericardium leaflets. These leaflets eventually succumb to failure due to regurgitation or stenosis, caused by calcification and/or structural damage and the relationship between these two durability-limiting processes is highly debated. Using bespoke in-house in-vitro testing systems to screen pericardial tissue and subject it to cyclic loading, with and without calcification, we have gained critical insights into the relationship between calcification and structural damage in porcine pericardium (PP) used in heart valves. From this work we have identified screenable tissue features which could minimise both factors and help to increase the long-term durability of bioprosthetic heart valves.
Plenary Lecture
Lizzy Cross is a Professor in the Dynamics Research Group at the University of Sheffield
'Modelling structures with physics and data'
The use of machine learning in engineering, and particularly in Structural Health Monitoring, is becoming more common, as many of the inherent tasks (such as regression and classification) in developing condition-based assessment fall naturally into its remit. This talk will focus on probabilistic approaches to physics-informed machine learning, where one adapts ML algorithms to account for the physical insight an engineer will often have of the structure they are attempting to model or assess. We will show how grey-box models, that combine simple physics-based models with data-driven ones, can improve predictive capability in an SHM setting – both in terms of accuracy and confidence. The talk will also consider interpretability, considering when the incorporation of physics does and does not enhance how much we understand about a model.
Speaker Biography
Young Stress Analyst Competition
The BSSM Young Stress Analyst (YSA) competition is an annual competition that is intended to encourage and reward young practitioners in the field of experimental mechanics.
2026 YSA finalists to be announced
EMex26
The BSSM's Exhibition of Experimental Mechanics is the premier UK exhibition for manufacturers and suppliers of strain measurement and stress analysis equipment and will take place over all 3 days of the conference between 8 - 10 September 2026
More about EMex26
Social Programme
Conference Reception
Tuesday 8 September 2026
To follow
Conference Dinner
Wednesday 9 September 2026
Swansea Arena Main Hall
Conference Website
https://www.bssm.org/events/conference/20th-conference-swansea/
Strain Best Paper Award
Each year the BSSM sponsor a prize for the best paper in Strain supported by the generosity of Fylde Electronics. A shortlist of papers is created by the Editor and Associate Editors based on referees’ comments on the papers which is then passed onto a panel of experts selected from the Editorial Board
Winner of the Fylde Strain best paper award 2025
to be announced
