COBEM2003 is the 17th edition of the International Congress of Mechanical Engineering, a major scientific event in this area, in Latin America. Covering all areas of knowledge related to the Mechanical Sciences, participation averages 800 published papers. It is held every two years since 1971, promoted by The Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering (ABCM).

This 2003 edition is held at São Paulo. Participants and attendees have the opportunity to be in contact with the state-of-the-art on a broad range of application areas and to be acquainted with on-going research projects carried out in Brazil and abroad.

Engineering and Society constitutes the thematic motivation of this edition. A special symposium was organised to serve as a forum for interdisciplinary discussion. Distinguished representatives, from humanities to applied sciences, were invited to participate, aiming to bring to light major aspects involving the relevance of Engineering on our Society.

Papers were selected through a rigorous peer-reviewing process, according to ABCM rules and international standards. Plenary Sections hold invited lectures, from Brazil and abroad and special short-courses were planned.

FUNDAMENTAL AREAS OF INTEREST

Among many areas of interest COBEM2003 covers Thermal Sciences, Solid Mechanics, Fatigue and Fracture Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics, Dynamics, and Vibrations, Dynamics and Control, Materials, Tribology, Corrosion, Manufacturing, Metal/Mechanics, Reliability, Metrology, Precision Mechanics, Robotics, Design, Micro Systems, Signal Analysis, Sensors and Actuators, MEMS, CIMS, Industrial Informatics, Refrigeration, Air Conditioning, Heat and Ventilation, Heat and Mass Transfer, Acoustics, Nonlinear and Chaotic Phenomena, Structural Integrity, Rheology, Discrete and Hybrid Systems, Optronics, Computational Mechanics, Optimization, Production, Management, Environmental Sciences, Applied Mathematics and Numerical Methods, Applied Physics, Classical and Modern Mechanics, Education, History of Sciences and Technology, Sociology, Ethics and Citizenship, Public Health and others.

ATTENDEES

Those who are involved with:

• Industry, Research, Design, Production and Management
• Research and Development
• Fundamental and Applied Research
• Engineering Education

FOREWORD AND WELCOME FROM THE CHAIR

BOAS VINDAS

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE BRAZILIAN SOCIETY OF ENGINEERING AND MECHANICAL SCIENCES (ABCM)