Announcement and Call for Abstracts 

                 MINISYMPOSIUM ON ADVANCED FINITE ELEMENT MODELS

      To be held at the Fifth U.S. National Congress on Computational Mechanics 
   Wednesday-Friday, August 4-6, 1999, University of Colorado at Boulder, CO, USA 

           Symposium Organizers:  C. A. Felippa,  E. Ramm and W. A. Wall 

This MiniSymposium will provide a forum for presentation and discussion of innovative
finite element models in the simulation of problems in engineering and physics.  Focus
is on novel element-level formulations and their computer implementation.  Application areas 
are not restricted.  They may include fluids, solids and thermo mechanics.
Contributions that reflect standard techniques, such as described in FEM textbooks, 
are discouraged.

Contributions are solicited in the following areas :

o  Innovative variational and weak formulations of finite elements
o  Mixed and hybrid finite element models
o  Mathematical foundations and analysis of novel elements
o  Multiscale, homogenized and composite elements
o  High performance elements for membranes, plates and shells
o  Lumped and discrete elements for masonry, granular
     media, ice and rock mechanics.
o  Special elements for modeling singularities, localization, interfaces, 
     joints, multipoint constraints, sensors and actuators.
o  Linkage of finite elements to BEM, FVM and FDM discretizations
o  Innovative models for geometric and material nonlinearities
o  Element-level treatment of incompressibility and irrotational motion
     constraints in solid and fluid mechanics
o  Dynamic finite element models in the time or frequency domain 
o  Treatment of volume-coupled problems by volume-sharing meshes

Submission Instructions:

If you are interested in contributing to this MiniSymposium, 
please submit a one-page abstract of up to 400 words   bf by e-mail
on or before January 15, 1999. Contributors in the USA, Canada, Latin
America, Far East and Oceania should submit the abstract to C. A. Felippa. 
Contributors in Europe, Middle East and Africa should submit the abstract
to W. A. Wall. Abstracts sent by Fax or regular mail will 
not be considered.

Abstracts may be submitted in one of three forms:  (1) plain text,   
(2)  TeX  source compatible with the Plain TeX format, or (3) Word 6 or 7 document 
in Rich Text Format (RTF).  Please do not include figures or graphics.
Avoid equations in title.  Greek letters are acceptable if the abstract is 
submitted in TeX or Word.  For samples of forms (1) and (2) click links in 
http://civil.colorado.edu/usnccm99/Abstracts.d/Information.html 

If the abstract is co-authored it must identify the e-mail of the corresponding author.  
All subsequent correspondence will take place by e-mail.

Abstracts deemed to fit the scope and objectives of the Symposium will be
communicated to the Congress organizers by January 15, 1999, and
notification of acceptance will be given by e-mail to the corresponding author.

A final version for inclusion in the printed book of Abstracts may be
submitted before May 15, 1999.  This final form is to be sent directly to the 
Congress e-mail address following the instructions posted on the Web site.  

MiniSymposium Organizer Addresses:

Professor Carlos A. Felippa      Professor Ekkehard Ramm           Dr. Wolgang A. Wall       
Dept. of Aerospace Engineering   Institut fur Baustatik            Institute fur Baustatik 
University of Colorado, CB 429   Universit at Stuttgart            Universitat Stuttgart    
Boulder, CO 80309-0429, USA      D-70550 Stuttgart, GERMANY        D-70550 Stuttgart, GERMANY 
Ph: (303) 492-6547, Fax:-4990    Tel:++49-711-685-6124, Fax:-6130  Tel:++49-711-685-6125, Fax:-6130
carlos@titan.colorado.edu        eramm@statik.uni-stuttgart.de     wall@statik.uni-stuttgart.de

Congress Program and Registration Information 

Posted at:   tt http://civil.colorado.edu/usnccm99