The Cold-formed Steel Research Consortium will host the 7th International Conference on Coupled Instabilities in Metal Structures (CIMS) on Nov. 7-8, 2016 at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Baltimore, Md. The conference will bring together the world’s experts in the field of structural mechanics and stability to review and discuss current developments in research and design, with specific emphasis on coupled and interacted problems in structural stability as commonly found in thin-walled and slender metallic structures. The two-day conference will include technical sessions, an exhibit hall, and networking opportunities.  

Thin-walled structures consist of a wide and growing field of engineering applications which seek efficiency in strength and cost by minimizing material. The result is a structure in which the stability of the components (i.e., “thin walls”) is often the primary aspect of behavior and design. Thin-walled structure advancements impact industrial and residential buildings, box girder bridges, ship hulls, aircraft skins, and buried structures such as tanks, pipes and culverts.

The chairman of the conference is Benjamin Schafer, Ph.D., P.E., director of the Cold-Formed Steel Research Consortium. He is also the Swirnow Family Faculty Scholar, professor, and chair of the Department of Civil Engineering at The Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Schafer is current chair of the Structural Stability Research Council and North American Editor for the Journal of Thin-Walled Structures.

More information and registration details for the Seventh International Conference on Coupled Instabilities in Metal Structures are available at http://www.ce.jhu.edu/cims2016.