The International Association of Computational Mechanics (IACM) was founded to promote advances in computational mechanics. For the purposes of the Association,
the subject of computational mechanics was defined as the development and application of numerical methods and digital computers to the solution of problems posed by engineering and applied science with the objectives of understanding and harnessing the resources of nature.

IACM was formally established and the General and Executive Councils were confirmed. The Constitution gives equal emphasis to the three geographical regions of America, Europe-Africa and Australia-Asia.

The American and European Regions established their Associations earlier. In order to be in line with them, the Asian Pacific Region founded its Association APACM
at the end of 1999,with two councils - Executive Council and General Council. The founding members of these two councils were:

Executive Council:
S. Valliappan(Australia), Secretary General, W.X.Zhong(China), Y.K.Cheung(Hong Kong), T.Kawai(Japan), G.Yagawa(Japan) , C.K.Choi(Korea)

General Council (in addition to the executive council members):
D.P.Chen(China), S.Fu(China), M.W.Yuan(China), Y.X.Gu(China), T.Kant(India), M.Kawahara(Japan), M.Kwak(Korea), C.M.Wang(Singapore), S.C.Fan(Singapore), Y.B.Yang(Taiwan),W.Kanok-Nukulchai(Thailand)

In 1999, there were only 3 national associations – Australia, China and Japan. Now, there are 12 national associations – Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Japan(2), Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan(China).

The Constitution provides for the election of a General Secretary, Members of the Executive and General Councils. The Executive Council Members are from the major groups of computational mechanics in Asian Pacific Region. However, the General Council Members are from all countries in Asian Pacific Region, which have established their National Association for Computational Mechanics. The Members of the General Council are nominated with the recommendation of the Executive Council Members.

The purpose of APACM is to promote the activities related to computational mechanics in the Asian Pacific region and represent the region's interest in the International Association. It was agreed that one of the ways by which the computational mechanics activities can be promoted in the region is by organizing the Asian Pacific Congress on Computational Mechanics (APCOM) in different countries of the region at an interval of three years. The first APCOM Congress was held in Sydney, Australia during 2001. The second Congress was held in Beijing, China during 2004 in conjunction with WCCM 6. The third one will be held in Kyoto, Japan during 2007.