The issue no. 1 /2021 of ITAM CAS Newsletter has been published.
Editorial
Dear readers,
In the last somewhat sleepy half year, the staff of the Institute of Theoretical and Applied
Mechanics, CAS worked on a number of interesting tasks. Some of them are covered here in the issue
of the newsletter you are holding.
An interesting project that falls within the activities of the AV21 Strategy program “City as
a Laboratory of Change: Buildings, Cultural Heritage and Environment for Safe and Valuable Life“ is
the modelling of wind flow in urban areas. Two urban development models were selected for this
purpose, one of which is historical. It will be used to monitor the flow of wind in terms of its
possible impact on the spread of fires that have affected life in the city in the past.
At its detached workplace in Telč, ITAM uses its unique TORATOM tomographic device with
adjustable geometry, allowing for the examination of a wide range of objects, whether historical
artifacts or materials under load. Researchers from the Department of Biomechanics, together with
the Department of Monument Care, have made further improvements to this device and designed an
additional module that improves imaging of the interior of larger objects.
Bernard beer is objectively a high quality drink. It is produced at a family brewery in
Humpolec, whose chimney towers above the city and the surrounding landscape. Engineers from Excon
a.s. designed a lookout tower whose steel lattice structure and stairs encases the chimney. The
problem, however, was that the lookout tower vibrated in the wind. Researchers from the Department
of Dynamics and Aerodynamics designed a special damper that absorbs the vibrations. But more in the
newsletter.
This summer reading will, hopefully, once again be informative...
Stanislav Pospíšil, director of ITAM CAS
14 Jul 2021