Newswire

Americas Region Action Plan

As a chair of Organizing Committee, I am glad to announce that our Kyoto Conference, APISTVS2018, concluded successfully as total number of registered participants reached 93 and additional 12 accompanying persons.

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Job Posting: Dynamic Systems Modeling Engineer

John Deere is actively searching for a Dynamic Systems Modeling Engineer. At John Deere, you'll enjoy the freedom to explore new projects, the support to think outside the box and the advanced tools and technology that foster innovation and achievement. If you are interested in the position, we recommend you follow the application procedures. For more information please refer to the the website - Apply for John Deere

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2018 International Workshop on Bionic Engineering: Call for Abstract

The Joint International Conference – ISBE- IBO organized by the International Society of Bionic Engineering (ISBE) in collaboration with the Israeli Biomimicry Organization (IBO), the biomimicry laboratory, Porter School of Environmental Studies, Tel Aviv University, and the Learning From Nature laboratory , Technion, will be held in Tel-Aviv University, Israel, June 14, 2018. The final deadline to submit the abstract is 1 February 2018.

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FISITA 2018: Final Call for International Abstract

In 2018, the 37th FISITA Congress will take place in Chennai, India, one of the biggest cultural, economic and educational centres in South India

The FISITA 2018 theme is Disruptive Technologies for Affordable and Sustainable Mobility. Alongside the technical programme, the Congress will feature a global exhibition, special sessions, student and young engineers' activities, technical visits and social events. The final deadline to submit the abstract is 25 December 2017.

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ISTVS Research Grants Program 1st Award Progress Presentation

The Board of Directors had awarded the 1st award under the ISTVS Research Grants Program to  Prof. Schalk Els, University of Pretoria, South Africa, and Prof. Corina Sandu, Virginia Tech, USA, for their proposed research “Systematic Testing and Parameterization of Soft Soil for Vehicular Applications.”

The work done in the first year of this research included a technical survey on equipment and techniques for testing and parametrization of soft soil for vehicular applications. The progress of this work is compiled in the following presentation.

Best Paper Awards at the ISTVS 8th Americas Conference

The 8th Americas Regional ISTVS conference concluded with acknowledging the efforts of the authors. The Board of Directors congratulated all the authors and researchers for their efforts and were pleased to award the 'Best Paper' and the 'Best Student Paper' at this conference

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ISTVS Research Grants Program, Announcement of 1st Award

At its Board of Directors meeting in 2014, the ISTVS approved the ISTVS Research Grants Program. It was subsequently announced on the ISTVS website, through a newsletter, and by email in December 2014, along with a call for proposals.

The objectives of the program are to encourage:

  • Interaction among the ISTVS members
  • International collaborations
  • Progress towards ISTVS goals
  • Active terramechanics participation from young ISTVS members

The call for proposals issued December 23, 2014 was soliciting proposals from active ISTVS members applying for student support funding to sponsor activities where ISTVS members will make a contribution in areas such as the following:

  1. Develop and validate ISTVS standards (currently the highest ISTVS priority)
  2. Addressing specific research challenges that hinder the progress in terramechanics and off-road vehicle dynamics. These can include tires, case studies for model development and testing procedures.
  3. Compiling a database of resources (test equipment, facilities,expertise, capabilities and interests) from all universities/agencies represented in ISTVS.
  4. Developing curriculum or course materials for Terramechanics and Off-Road Vehicle Dynamics.
  5. Providing conference travel grants for students or young professionals at underserved universities or countries, or others as benefits ISTVS.
  6. Addressing other topics and ideas of benefit to ISTVS and the field of Terramechanics.

A peer review committee was set up by the ISTVS BOD to evaluate and rank the proposals received. Committee members were chosen to have no conflicts of interest with any of the proposals submitted. In all, six proposals were received of which one was a duplicate. Peer review was performed between April and June 2015 and resulted in significant agreement among the reviewers. Two proposals ranked similarly high and were found eligible for selection. The peer review results were presented at the October 2015 ISTVS Board of Directors meeting, and the Board decided to fund a single proposal, being the one ranking highest in the peer review.

Accordingly, the ISTVS Board of Directors is pleased to announce that the proposed research

Systematic testing and parameterization of soft soil for vehicular applications

submitted by Prof. Schalk Els, University of Pretoria, South Africa, and Prof. Corina Sandu, Virginia Tech, USA, is the first award provided by the ISTVS Research Grants Program. The objectives of the selected research are to:

  • Perform a comprehensive literature survey covering all equipment and techniques used to characterize soft soil
  • Compile a list of resources (test equipment, facilities, expertise, capabilities, and interests) from all universities and agencies for the ISTVS community to have a better understanding of the collective infrastructure and expertise.
  • Compile a soil properties database from literature and make it available to ISTVS members to facilitate future benchmarking studies and to make soil tests procedures and parameterization techniques more uniform.
  • The study will conclude with a proposed ISTVS standard for testing and parameterization of soft soil.

The proposal was ranked highest in the evaluation because it best responded to the objectives of the call and is conceived to address a significant obstacle in terramechanics being the shortcoming in standardization of equipment and experimental procedures to determine terrain properties in the laboratory and in the field, leading to many different variations on equipment design and interpretations of terrain test data obtained.

A first report on progress in the selected research will be provided at the upcoming 8th Americas Conference of the ISTVS in September in Detroit.