For structural Integrity of Aircraft, Nuclear Power Plants, Space Rockets, Ships, Automobiles, Biomedical Devices, and many other applications, fatigue is commonly the dominant factor of importance over the life cycle of the structure in question. What makes fatigue design difficult is that it is not a traditional science, but rather a large complex domain consisting of a mixture of scientific disciplines (materials science, physics, statistics, solid mechanics, chemistry etc.) and engineering areas (loads, design, stress analysis, production systems, maintenance, computer systems, full scale testing etc.). The required competence for fatigue design, or indeed failure analysis, depends on the complexity and certification procedure for the structure considered.

 

The International Fatigue Series/Congresses started in Europe with meetings in Sweden 1981, UK 1984, and then went to the USA 1987 after which the series became established as the pre-eminent world conference in the field of fatigue. Meetings have subsequently been held in Hawaii 1990, Canada 1993, Germany 1996, China 1999, Sweden 2002, USA 2006, The Czech Republic 2010, and Australia 2014. This global distribution of meetings is in the tradition of scientific practice, i.e. to share, disseminate, and discuss results, problems, models and new ideas between scientists around the world. Hence, it is a great pleasure to once again be able to meet old friends, but also newcomers in the fatigue field, during the 12^th International Fatigue Congress, as the series returns to Europe, with France, and specifically Poitiers being the venue.

 

The French bid to host Fatigue 2018 was extremely strong, with support not only from the local organizations: University of Poitiers, ISAE-ENSMA, Pprime Institute, and CNRS, but also from SF2M, Airbus Group, Constellium, SAFRAN, AREVA, ONERA; and Renault. The conference chair and his co-chairs are very well known scientists in the fatigue field. At the time of the bid also honorary chairman Jean Petit was involved in the organizing committee. Unfortunately, Jean (a former leader of the Poitiers fatigue group, a renowned world expert in the field, and a great personal friend of mine) has since passed away. I suggest that we pay our respects by dedicating Fatigue 2018 to his memory.

 

Recently, also the chairman, Graham Clark, of the last meeting in Melbourne, Australia, passed away after a long period of illness. That congress yielded a profit, which has generously been transferred to the present organizers in order to organize a suitable price. This will be two best poster paper awards, named the Graham C Clark price to honor Graham´s memory.

 

I wish all participants in Fatigue 2018 a very successful meeting, and I also wish to thank the present congress chairman, Gilbert Hénaff, and his team for all the effort leading up to this exciting week.

 

Anders Blom

Chairman of the International Steering Committee