New Chief Academic Officer: Professor Santiago Hernandez

We are pleased to advise that Professor Santiago Hernandez has recently joined us at WIT, as Chief Academic Officer on a part-time basis. He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to this position and is a most welcome addition to our senior staff.

Santiago is Full Professor of Structural Engineering at the University of Coruna (Spain). He has extensive experience in structural analysis and design in several fields, ranging from long-span bridges to historical buildings and aircraft. He is well known for his expertise in aeroelasticity and for the application of numerical optimization techniques to engineering design. He is an ASCE and IABSE Fellow, an Associate Fellow of AIAA and also possesses the Eminent Scientist Medal from WIT. He has participated in a large number of research projects at national and international level.

Santiago has been involved with WIT for many years, collaborating in the organisation of short courses and conferences. He was appointed to WIT’s Board of Directors in 1991 and has been involved in shaping the strategy of the Institute since that time.

He has almost three hundred scientific publications, has authored several books and edited books written by leading scientists.

Carlos A. Brebbia Memorial

A celebration of the life of Professor Carlos A. Brebbia was held in the grounds of Ashurst Lodge, on Saturday 19th May 2018. A group of 160 people gathered from many countries, including the USA, Russia, Macedonia, Ukraine, Spain, Belgium, Italy and many from around the UK.

The proceedings began with an opening tribute from Alexander Brebbia, son of Carlos, who spoke of his father’s many achievements and strength of character, illustrating his points by way of several delightful and touching anecdotes about Carlos and their relationship through the years. This was followed by a thorough and interesting account of Carlos’ life and career, given by his oldest friend and colleague, Professor Jerry Connor of MIT in the USA.

Alex Brebbia Wessex Institute, UK		Jerry Connor MIT, USA

After breaking for lunch, a programme of shorter, heartfelt and moving tributes began, given by many friends, colleagues and old-WITonians, including:

Prof Stavros Syngellakis Wessex Institute, UK, Board Member	Dr Bob Adey BEASY, UK
Prof Juan Casares Long University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain,  WIT Board Member	Prof Patrick De Wilde, Free University of Brussels, Belgium, WIT Board Member
Dr Taras Filatov Old WITonian (Ukraine)	Prof Mark Hadfield University of Bournemouth, UK
Prof Santiago Hernandez University of Coruna, Spain WIT Board Member	Prof Alain Kassab, University of Central Florida, USA
Prof Mikhail Kozhevnikov, Ural Federal University, Russia	Dr Julian Lewis, MP, UK
Capt Fernando Mengo, Defence Attaché, Argentine Embassy, London, UK	Prof Derek Northwood, University of Windsor, Canada
Prof Giorgio Passerini University of La Marche, Italy, WIT Board Member	Prof Alex Rabasa, University Miguel Hernandez of Elche, Spain
Prof Jon Trevelyn Durham University, UK	Prof Peter Vorobieff University of New Mexico, USA

The occasion was a fitting celebration of Carlos’ life and all that he achieved. It was touching to hear so many of his friends and colleagues expressing their admiration of him and his work, as well as their commitment to continuing his legacy. We are grateful to all who attended and contributed to making this a very special event.

Please see the Carlos Brebbia Obituary page for further information about his life and achievements.

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Obituary - Professor Carlos A. Brebbia

With profound sadness we announce that Professor Carlos A. Brebbia passed away peacefully on Saturday 3rd March 2018.

Carlos was born in Rosario, Argentina, where he completed his first engineering degree, after being educated at Military Colleges in Santa Fe and Buenos Aires. He spent two years after graduation as part of a small team setting up an Institute of Applied Mechanics. Following this he registered at the University of Southampton in England for a higher degree, arranging to carry out his research partly at MIT. This experience set up the basis for his long and close association with the USA.

After obtaining his PhD at Southampton University he worked for the Central Electricity Research Laboratories in the UK, a leading research establishment at the time. He left the Laboratories to take up an academic position at the University of Southampton where he rose from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer and Reader. During his time at Southampton he took leave to become Visiting Professor at many other Universities, including an academic year at Princeton. After having been appointed Full Professor of Engineering at the University of California, Irvine, he decided to resign his position and return to the UK to set up the Wessex Institute, of which he was the Founder and Director.

Carlos is renowned throughout the world as the originator of the Boundary Element Method, a technique that generates important research work at the Wessex Institute. He has written many scientific papers, been author of 14 books, co-author of numerous volumes and editor or co-editor of over 500. He also published two non-scientific books, “The New Forest. A Personal View” and “Patagonia, a forgotten Land”. A book on the Paraguayan War in the 19th Century was a work in progress at the time of his death.

He founded several successful international Journals including the International Journals of Safety and Security Engineering, Design & Nature and Ecodynamics, Sustainable Development and Planning, Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements, Energy Production and Management, Heritage Architecture, Transport Development and Integration, and the new International Journal of Environmental Impacts.

He established two International prizes, the highly regarded Prigogine Medal for Ecological Systems Research, co-sponsored by the University of Siena; and the George Green Medal, supported by Elsevier and co-sponsored by the University of Mississippi.

Carlos ran a successful WIT programme of international scientific conferences in different locations throughout the world. He helped the Institute to develop academic links with first class institutions around the world, which has resulted in many more research programmes and collaborative projects.

Carlos held many special honours, including the Medaille de la Ville de Paris, Echelon Argent; Medaille of the Masonnet Foundation, University of Liege, Belgium; Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in the UK; Fellow, and Founding President of the American Society of Civil Engineers UK Chapter; Honorary PhD at the University of Bucharest; Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts;  and Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.

In parallel with his academic career, Carlos was a highly successful entrepreneur and founded the Computational Mechanics International Ltd group of companies in 1976. This group’s activities have grown to include software development, engineering consultancy, property investment and publishing. The group works closely with WIT and is responsible for the publishing programme of the Institute which includes, in addition to the conference proceedings, a series of monographs and edited books by some of the foremost scientists in the world.

Whilst we grieve the enormous loss of our Founder and Chairman, whose hard work, determination and achievements during his career are truly inspirational, we know that his earnest desire was for all that he has worked tirelessly to build over many years, to continue to flourish. To this we are firmly committed and so we welcome the continued and future collaboration of our friends and colleagues around the world.

Carlos is survived by his wife, Carolyn, his son Alexander and daughter Isabel, and six grandchildren.

WIT Summer Barbeque 2017

The traditional Wessex Institute of Technology (WIT) BBQ was held over the weekend in the grounds of the Ashurst Lodge Campus, with the participation of many colleagues and members of staff, as well as suppliers and friends of WIT.

The weather – as usual – was exceptionally good, with blue, sunny skies and very warm. The main course was the usual, excellent roasted Hampshire lamb with a variety of salads and side dishes.

The occasion brought together colleagues from many different parts of the world, including the USA and several countries in Europe. Special guests were there, including the New Forest MPs, Mr Christopher Chope, who helped WIT in its initial stages, and Dr Julian Lewis, who has been a most active supporter of the Institute.

Among the attendees were the first two West Point Cadets who are visiting WIT to complete their final year research projects.

Music was provided by the saxophonist duo, DC Saxes, who played a series of delightful pieces, most appropriate for the event, creating just the right atmosphere for a very enjoyable afternoon summer party. They are highly regarded and in great demand.


The annual BBQ is always a very happy occasion and a great way for WIT to express its gratitude to its many collaborators around the world.

ASCE UK Meeting 2017

A meeting of the ASCE/UK Group took place at the Wessex Institute to keep the UK members abreast of new developments in the Society. WIT hosts the ASCE/UK Group and organises events for the members to attend.

This is however the first time that the President of Region 10 (ie which comprises the rest of the world except the USA) participated in a meeting. He is Professor Constantine Memos from the University of Athens.

The meeting started by Carlos A Brebbia, Director of WIT, welcoming the delegates and giving a short presentation on the work carried out at Wessex Institute. He emphasised that the objective of WIT is to disseminate technical knowledge at an international level. He explained the different types of research projects carried out using the latest computational tools developed by the Institute. As the Institute is self-supporting, the emphasis has always been in carrying out research and development work of interest to practitioners.

Carlos also mentioned that in addition to a substantial amount of R&D work for industry, WIT organises a programme of international courses and conferences per year which bring together members of the community. The meetings tend to focus on the exchange of information in a friendly atmosphere.

Those conferences provide as well a substantial number of papers which are offered in Open Access format on the Institute website (www.witpress.com/elibrary). The Publications Division provides an important support of WIT activities.

Following Carlos’ address, the President of the Region 10, Professor Constantine Memos, described some of the activities of the constitutive groups.

Constantine proceeded to give a short presentation on “Sustainability in Coast Studies”. The emphasis was to assess the potential for ecological enhancement through the use of porous breakwaters.

Another technical presentation was by Prof Patrick de Wilde of ASCE (Belgium) and a member of the Board of Directors of WIT, on “Challenges of Implementing State of the Art Structural Codes in a Developing Country”.

Prof Santiago Hernandez from La Coruña University, Fellow of ASCE and member of the Board of Directors of WIT, gave a talk on “Optimum Design of Long Span Bridges”.

The last presentation by Prof Stefano Mambretti from the Politecnico de Milano, and also a member of the Board of Directors at WIT, was on the topic of “Optimisation of Milano Water Supply Network”.

The presentations were followed by discussions and comments from the audience.

After that a light lunch was offered, subsequently an informal meeting of the ASCE/Group to discuss the way forward.

Impact and Blast Resistant Design Methods 2016

The Impact and Blast Resistant Design Methods course took place at Ashurst Lodge with the participation of two well-known lecturers, Professor Norman Jones and Dr Graham Schleyer, both from the University of Liverpool, UK.

This is an annual event that attracts delegates from many different countries.

         Prof N Jones

Professor Norman Jones FREng FNAE FIMechE FASME FRINA was AA Griffith Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Impact Research Centre at the University of Liverpool. He has conducted theoretical, numerical and experimental studies at MIT in the US and the UK over the past 40 years into the dynamic behaviour of structures and systems. These studies have clarified the influence of dynamic material properties, dynamic crushing, transverse shear forces, finite deflection effects, failure criteria including perforation, rotatory inertia and other phenomena on the response of a wide range of structural members (beams, plates, shells, pipelines, etc) subjected to impulsive, dynamic pressure and impact loads causing large inelastic deformations.

Professor Jones is Honorary Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Impact Engineering. He wrote the book ‘Structural Impact’ and has co-edited nine other books, as well as publishing over 300 journal articles. He has won two prizes from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, another from the Royal Institution of Naval Architects, an Eminent Scientist Award from the Wessex Institute of Technology, and has been invited to serve on many international conference committees as well as delivering plenary and opening addresses. He has honorary professorships in China and is a member of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a Foreign Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering.

Dr Graham Schleyer FIMechE, is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Engineering and a member of the Impact Research Centre at the University of Liverpool, having worked previously for several years in the gas industry and for shorter periods with leading research and technology companies in the UK and the US. Over the past 20 years or so he has conducted hundreds of field and laboratory tests on full-size and reduced-scale structures involving gas, HE and pressurized air explosions which has provided useful insights into the explosion resistance of safety critical components and structural systems. An overall advance has been the development of sub-scale experimental procedures. These tests have resulted in the validation of numerical models and approximate design methods for steel, glass and RC structural elements subjected to pulse pressure loads.

Dr Schleyer is Co-chair of the International Scientific Advisory Committee of the International Conference ‘Structures Under Shock and Impact’ organised by the Wessex Institute of Technology. He also serves on the editorial board of the International Journal ‘Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements.’

The Course comprised the following lectures:

• Introduction to impact and stress waves
• Quasi-static approximation
• Energy absorbing systems
• Human impact injury criterion
• Structural crashworthiness
• Blast loading and effects
• Dynamic properties of materials
• Failure and perforation
• Design of ductile and non-ductile structures
• Energy absorption, cladding and sandwich structures
• Buckling of structures
• Scaling and experimentation
• Case studies

The course, which has always been successful, is run annually.

For further information and details of the next event, please contact:

Jane Chantler 

Wessex Institute of Technology 

Ashurst Lodge, Ashurst 

Southampton, SO40 7AA 

Tel: 44 (0) 238 029 3223 

Fax: 44 (0) 238 029 2853 

jchantler@wessex.ac.uk

WIT Summer Barbeque 2016

The 2016 Annual BBQ took place at the Ashurst Lodge Campus of the Wessex Institute with the presence of numerous members of staff and friends of the Institute and their families.

The annual event was most successful in terms of numbers of participants. The weather, as usual, was excellent. The main course was roasted Hampshire lamb with a variety of salads and side dishes. Music was provided by a saxophonist, accompanied by a singer, which set just the right atmosphere for a very enjoyable afternoon lawn party.

On this occasion the event was enhanced by the presence of the local Member of Parliament, Dr Julian Lewis, who very kindly inaugurated the newly completed Laboratory building and a garage/storage facility opposite it.

The new building is in perfect harmony with the rest of those on Campus and provides a valuable addition to the facilities of Wessex Institute