The International Symposium on Dynamic Problems – DINAME is held every two years since 1986, under the responsibility of the Committee of Dynamics of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering – ABCM. Its primary aim is to congregate researchers from Brazil and other countries in order to communicate their scientific achievements and discuss the trends and perspectives related to dynamic problems of mechanics, both in academic and industrial domains.

This eleventh edition of DINAME has incorporated a number of modifications with respect to its previous editions, most of them intended to maximize the scientific outcome of the meeting. Such modifications include the publication of the proceedings both as a printed book of abstracts and a CD-ROM containing the complete papers. Also, the Internet has been used as the major communication means in all the organization phases.

To accommodate a significant increase in the number of submitted papers and attendees – which is regarded as a welcome consequence of the evolution of the Brazilian scientific community - the traditional, highly appreciated format based on a single technical session could not be adopted. However, the organization procedure was oriented towards preserving the main characteristics of the symposium, such as being held in a hotel located in a quiet and pleasant site, away from overcrowded areas, in a friendly environment that favors the interchange of knowledge and socialization among the participants. In this sense, the choice of the Estalagem das Minas Gerais, located in the surroundings of the city of Ouro Preto, one of the most important historical cities in Brazil, declared by UNESCO as a part of the World Heritage, has been made to provide the participants with an extraordinary opportunity to get some insight into the natural features, history and culture of the state of Minas Gerais.

The symposium’s technical sessions include the oral presentation of all the regular papers and invited keynote lectures given by internationally renowned experts. All the abstracts and full papers have been carefully appraised by a team of reviewers aiming at improving the quality of the contributions and, as a result, of the symposium as a whole.

It is worth mentioning the following statistics about the XI DINAME: 100 papers, 8 invited lectures and 228 authors (161 from Brazil and 67 from abroad).

The financial support of the following partners to the organization of the symposium is greatly appreciated and acknowledged: CNPq - Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, FINEP - Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos, FAPEMIG - Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais, EMBRAER - Empresa Brasileira de Aeronáutica, MÚTUA/MG - Caixa de Assistência dos Profissionais do CREA/MG, FEMEC/UFU - Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, FAU - Fundação de Apoio Universitário.

We are grateful to various members of the community of FEMEC/UFU: professors, undergraduate and graduate students, administrative staff, for their valuable help in the different organization stages of the symposium.

We sincerely hope that the XI DINAME will be reminded by all the participants not only as a worthy scientific event, but also as a pleasant cultural and human experience.

Uberlândia, MG, February 2005

XI DINAME Organizing Committee