Third International Conference on Structural Integrity inaugurated at Mamallapuram.

Delhi : The Third International Conference on Structural Integrity (ICONS 2023) was inaugurated in Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu, on August 23rd, 2023. The event was virtually inaugurated by Dr. N Kailaiselvi, Director General of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research and Secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. ICONS 2023 is a collaborative effort between the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, and the Society for Failure Analysis, in partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Indian Society for Non-destructive Testing (Kalpakkam Chapter), Indian Institute of Metals (Kalpakkam Chapter), and Indian Structural Integrity Society.

During her inaugural speech, Dr. Kalaiselvi highlighted the degradation of structures in power plants, petrochemical industries, and iconic Indian structures due to global warming. She emphasized the need to develop innovative methodologies to combat structural degradation caused by CO2 absorption. She encouraged young researchers to engage with experts from India and abroad through this conference. Dr. B Venkatraman, Director of IGCAR, Kalpakkam, delivered the Presidential Address. He drew parallels between structural health monitoring and the human central nervous system, and underscored the importance of creating Indian standards and codes for assessing structural integrity in engineering components.

Prof. Raghu Prakash from IIT Madras, the Conference Chair, provided an overview of the history of structural integrity testing in India and its evolution into the International Conference on Structural Integrity. He stressed the necessity of developing indigenous codes for various structural applications and expressed the aspiration to host the International Conference on Fracture in India in the future. Shri N. Rama Mohan, Executive Director of LWR Engineering at Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited, shared insights into critical structure establishment in sectors like design, manufacturing, and construction. He emphasized the significance of structural integrity assessment across these sectors and encouraged collaboration between stakeholders, research institutions, and academia.

Shri Thomas Mathew, Executive Director of Quality Assurance at Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited, discussed the intrinsic connection between quality assurance and evaluating structural integrity. He highlighted the successful integration of structural integrity into design and fabrication processes, emphasizing a similar focus on integrity assessment in the construction industry.

Prof. K Ravi-Chandar from the University of Texas, USA, delivered the first plenary lecture of ICONS 2023. He offered a comprehensive view of crack initiation in elastomeric materials, summarizing different theories and showcasing new experimental methods that highlighted gaps in current understanding. His research shed light on the initiation and propagation of damage in elastomeric materials and its correlation with other material types.

ICONS 2023 has drawn approximately 250 participants from India and abroad, including mechanical engineers, materials scientists, academics, industry experts, plant managers, and regulatory personnel. The conference’s agenda encompasses discussions on recent advancements and future directions in assessing and ensuring the structural integrity of various structures and operational equipment in industries like nuclear, defense, aerospace, chemicals, and oil. Over the next two days of the conference, attendees can look forward to about 35 invited lectures by leading experts in the field and around 200 contributed papers covering a range of topics.