IMAC Conference 2019
06 February 2019
The 37th International Modal Analysis Conference (IMAC) was held in Orlando, Florida during the last week of January. IMAC is one of the premier conferences in the structural dynamics community and gives VIBES the opportunity to showcase our latest R&D efforts.
VIBES has been a regular participant at IMAC for several years, and 2019 was no different. This year Maarten van der Seijs and Julie Harvie represented VIBES at IMAC. Maarten kicked off the conference with a tutorial on dynamic substructuring (DS), highlighting some of the issues encountered with experimental DS and driving the need for the technologies incorporated in the DIRAC software. During the week, Maarten and Julie both chaired sessions and gave TPA presentations that were well-received.
The conference gives us the chance to stay on top of cutting-edge research that will be integrated into our products and solutions. In particular, this IMAC drew attention to the overlap between several focus groups and the opportunity to coordinate our efforts. Julie’s involvement as Vice-Chair of the Dynamic Environments Testing focus group and Maarten’s involvement in the Dynamic Substructuring technical division will help facilitate this integration.
While the technical presentations are central to the conference, networking and community engagement are equally important. IMAC attracts a diverse range of individuals throughout academia, industry, government agencies, and exhibitors. At the conference, VIBES strengthened relationships with members from all of these groups.
One successful partnership was demonstrated
through a joint paper by our friends at ASML, where test-based modeling, dynamic substructuring and source characterization were shown for an industrial demonstrator.
In between all of this, there were several other activities to participate in. Julie, a member of the IMAC advisory board, was busy with conference and program planning throughout the week. Because of her status as a long-time IMAC participant, Julie was invited to mingle and answer questions at the First Time Attendee Reception, and also as a panelist on the Early Career Panel. And of course, you can’t miss the receptions, coffee breaks, and social events. Overall, it was another great IMAC.
We look forward to seeing you again next year in Houston!