The 8th International Conference on the Application of Stress-Wave Theory to Piles Lisbon, Portugal, 8-10 September 2008
On a four-yearly basis and starting in 1980, the Stress Wave conference has been organized in several countries: Sweden (1980 and 1984), Canada (1988), Netherlands (1992), United States of America (1996), Brazil (2000) and Malaysia (2004).
The 8th International Conference on the Application of Stress-Wave Theory to Piles (SW2008) was held in Lisbon, Portugal from September 8-10, 2008. The Conference was organized by Instituto Superior Técnico under the auspices of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering ISSMGE TC 18 and the Portuguese Geotechnical Society (www.civil.ist.utl.pt/sw2008). The organizer and host was Prof. Jaime Santos of Instituto Superior Técnico of the Technical University of Lisbon.
A diverse and international group of 190 researchers, practitioners and academicians from 45 countries gathered at Lisbon to share experiences and findings on dynamic pile testing. Special guests in attendance 
included ISSMGE President Prof. Pedro Sêco e Pinto and TC 18 chairman Prof. Rolf Katzenbach. A total of 101 technical papers including 7 keynote lectures have been compiled by Millpress in one-volume hardcover printed copy plus CD for the event. The volume is divided in 14 chapters according to the conference themes: Wave mechanics applied to pile engineering; Relationship between static resistance to driving and long-term static soil resistance; Case histories involving measurement and analysis of stress waves; Dynamic monitoring of driven piles; Dynamic soil-pile interaction models – numerical and physical modelling; High-strain dynamic test; Low-strain dynamic test; Rapid-load test; Monitoring and analysis of vibratory driven piles; Correlation of dynamic and static load tests; Quality assurance of deep foundations using dynamic methods; Incorporation of dynamic testing into design codes and testing standards; Ground vibrations induced by pile motions; Dynamic measurements in ground field testing.
In addition, the SW2008 Conference included a Special Session on the ISC’2 International Pile Prediction 
Event. It was a class A prediction event organized by the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto and Instituto Superior Técnico under the auspices of ISSMGE TC 16 and TC 18. Four years after, a book containing the predictions and a report with the main conclusions and lessons learned from this experience was prepared and offered to the SW2008 participants.
To encourage young researchers interest in pile dynamics issues, the organizing committee invited all authors under 30 years old to join the paper competition. The jury composed by Dr. Bengt Fellenius, Prof. Pedro Sêco e Pinto and Dr. Frank Rausche judged the work and presentation of the candidates and the winner was Dr. Sofia Costa D’Aguiar.
Besides the exciting technical program, during the conference social events included a welcome reception, a banquet and local sightseeing tours of the city. The lovely banquet took place at the historic Water Museum with a tasteful selection of Portuguese cuisine and a special performance with Fado music.
After this successful event we are already looking forward to the next Stress Wave Conference!
Reported by Professor Jaime Santos
Download ISSMGE Bulletin – Volume 2 Issue 4 (p. 13)
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