fib-news

fib-news is produced as an integral part

of the fib Journal Structural Concrete.

2013 fib symposium in Tel Aviv:

Engineering a Concrete Future
Contents Issue 2 (2013)

2013 fib Symposium in Tel Aviv 185

2013 fib Medal of Merit and
Honorary Membership 187
2013 fib Achievement Award
for Young Engineers 188
fibUK meeting 188
Advances in Cement and Concrete
Technology in Africa 189
Report from the Norwegian
fib Member Group 190
Congresses and symposia 191

Scenes from the opening session, clockwise from top left: view from the stage, Gordon Clark, Avraham
Dancygier, certificate of merit for Avraham Pisanty (left to right: Gordon Clark, Avraham Dancygier, of holding the 2013 symposium in
Danny Marian, Itai Leviathan). Photos: Rami Haham and György L. Balázs. Israel, and thanked past presidents
György L. Balázs and Michael
The 2013 fib symposium took place structure Engineers, extended his Fardis, as well as Gordon Clark, for
in Tel Aviv, Israel, on the shores of own welcome and spoke about their invaluable support in the orga-
the Mediterranean, from 22 to 24 IACIE’s wide membership and inter- nization of the event. Thanks were
April 2013. While this was the first national presence, and Israel’s grow- extended to members of the orga-
major fib event to be held in Israel ing construction sector. nizing committee – local as well as
and also in the Middle East region, fib Secretary General Petra Schu-
many of those present remembered Gordon Clark, President of fib and macher. He also expressed his ap-
well the FIP symposium held in chair of the Scientific Committee, preciation and presented copies of
Jerusalem in 1988. The excellent or- then took the floor to present a sum- the Dead Sea scrolls to the lead re-
ganization, the quality of the presen- mary of fib activities with special viewers of the Scientific Committee.
tations given in the technical ses- emphasis on the fib Model Code for
sions and the pleasant seaside Concrete Structures 2010. He also Gordon Clark then returned to the
location combined to make an event gave an overview of pioneering pre- podium to present the 2013 fib
that was both greatly enjoyable and stressed concrete bridges, of World Medal of Merit to Jean-François
of high technical interest. Heritage sites and tall buildings in Klein and Honorary fib Member-
Israel, of Bauhaus architecture in ship to James G. Toscas (see full
On Monday 22 April, Avraham Tel Aviv, and of events taking place report on page 187).
Dancygier, Head of the Israeli fib in the Tel Aviv area following the
delegation, chairman of the Organiz- symposium, noting that the fib sym- Danny Marian and Israeli fib dele-
ing Committee and co-chair of the posium was in the good company of gation member Itai Leviathan pre-
Scientific Committee, opened the Barbra Streisand, Cliff Richard and sented a certificate of appreciation
symposium and welcomed the ap- the King Herod exhibition. to Avraham Pisanty, for his “dedi-
proximately 250 participants. Danny cated teaching of generations of un-
Marian, Chairman of the Israeli As- Avraham Dancygier recalled the dergraduate and graduate students
sociation of Construction & Infra- first discussions in 2010 on the idea in the field of reinforced concrete,

Structural Concrete 14 (2013), No. 2 185

fib-news
Scenes from the gala dinner at the Tel Aviv Port compound (bottom left: Gordon Clark and Danny
Marian welcoming the guests). Photos: Rami Haham
deep involvement as a leader in
writing Israeli RC codes, and serving
as the Israeli Head of Delegation to
CEB in the years 1993 – 1998 and
to fib in the years 1998 – 2001”. His
son Gideon accepted the certificate
on his behalf, as Prof. Pisanty was
unable to attend due to illness.
The session concluded with a short
film about Israel.
In the plenary lecture session that
followed, Silvian Marcus of WSP
Cantor Seinuk, New York, spoke on
the “Superiority of Concrete Materi-
al in Tall Slender Structures”, and
Arnon Bentur of Technion of the Is-
rael Institute of Technology shared
his thoughts on “Construction with
Concrete in an Era of Environmen-
tal Constraints”. The plenary lecture
on Tuesday was given by Andrei
Reinhorn of University at Buffalo-
SUNY, New York, on “Seismic
analyses of damageable concrete
structures”.
The technical sessions that took
place over the three days of the sym-
posium dealt with a range of topics
relevant to today’s engineers:
– Advanced and innovative cementi-
tious materials and concrete
186 Structural Concrete 14 (2013), No. 2
– Constitutive modeling of cementi-
tious and composite materials
– Design concepts and structural
modeling
– Punching and shear in RC and in
PC (prestressed concrete)
– Challenges in bridge engineering
– Advances in precast and PC engi-
neering
– Concrete structures under seismic
and extreme loads
– Pioneering structures and con-
struction methods
– Structural aspects of tunnel con-
struction and design
One session was devoted to the pre-
sentations by the winners of the
2013 fib Achievement Award for
Young Engineers, given every two
years to engineers under 40 (see full
report on page 188).
The social programme included the
welcome reception on Monday
evening, held at the symposium
venue, and the gala dinner at the Tel
Aviv Port compound, with musical
accompaniment.
The event concluded with the clos-
ing session on Wednesday, with a
plenary lecture by Michael Fardis of
the University of Patras, Greece:
“The European approach to seismic
engineering and codification for
concrete structures”. Avraham Dan-
cygier reported on the event’s statis-
tics: 256 participants (276 including
the accompanying persons), from 40
countries, and 40 sessions of techni-
cal paper presentations.
Upcoming events were highlighted
with presentations from the organiz-
ers of the 2014 fib Congress in
Mumbai, India (www.fibcongress
2014mumbai.com), and the 2015 fib
Symposium in Copenhagen, Den-
mark (website to be announced).
The symposium proceedings can be
purchased for 150 € plus shipping
and handling; contact IACIE
(engltd@ netvision.net.il).
Technical Council and General
Assembly
The Technical Council and General
Assembly met as usual during the
weekend before to the symposium.
The Technical Council’s main points
of discussion included the forthcom-
ing hard cover and ebook editions
of the fib Model Code for Concrete
Structures 2010 as well as proposals
for the new structure for Commis-
sions, Task Groups and Special Ac-
tivity Groups, which had been pre-
pared for the TC during a meeting of
the Commission chairs and SAG
conveners held two days prior. The
discussions incluced a proposal for
a new group dealing with the Histo-
ry of Concrete Design, for which
strong interest has so far been
shown. In addition, contacts and
collaboration with other internation-
al organisations and associations
were discussed, and there was an in-
vited statement from the Norwegian
National Member Group.
The General Assembly approved the
2012 balance, 2013–2014 budget,
honorary membership for PCI Presi-
dent James Toscas, and Honorary
Presidency for the immediate fib
past president György L. Balázs.

2013 fib Medal of Merit and Honorary Membership
The 2013 fib
Medal of
Merit was
awarded at
the recent
fib sympo-
sium in Tel
Aviv. fib
President
Gordon Clark presented the medal
to Jean-François Klein during the
opening session of the symposium,
in recognition of his outstanding
contributions to the structural con-
crete and to fib.
Jean-François Klein’s involvement
in fib goes back to 1988 at the FIP
symposium in Jerusalem, where he
proposed to his mentor René
Walther to form the FIP commission
on bridges. Created in 1990, it was
chaired by Michel Virlogeux until
1994, when Dr. Klein took over the
chairmanship.
Jean-François Klein did his graduate
work at the Swiss Federal Institute
of Technology in Lausanne, earning
his PhD in 1990 with a thesis on the
stability and behaviour of cable-
stayed bridges with slender decks.
After working for several years for
Prof. Walther’s consulting firm, he
joined the Tremblet engineering of-
fice (later renamed T ingenierie) in
Geneva in 1993, and later became
co-director of the company.
Jean-François Klein has been closely
involved in the design and realiza-
tion of many major structures in
Switzerland, Europe, and around
the world; for example the Ravine
Fontaine bridge on Réunion Island
(conceptual design), the 100-m steel
pylon of the Papendorpse bridge in
Utrecht (execution and detailed de-
sign), the replacement and strength-
ening of the Geneva airport runway
over the Ferney tunnel, cited for
Special Mention in the 2010 fib
Awards for Outstanding Concrete
Structures (conceptual designer and
detailed design), the Lect urban rail-
way bridge in Geneva (conceptual
designer and detailed design), the
curved arch “Pont de la base nau-
tique” in Rabat, Morocco (execution
and detailed design), and the Third
Bosporus Bridge in Istanbul,current-
ly under way (conceptual design and
design project manager).
He has actively particpated in the
work of FIP and fib for over twenty
years, as member of the FIP Council
(1990–1998), chair of the FIP
fib-news
From left to right:
Sonia Klein, Jean-
François Klein, Gordon
Clark, Stacey Toscas,
Jim Toscas
“Bridges” commission (1994–1998),
chair of fib Commission 1 “Struc-
tures” (1998–2008), Member of fib
Steering Committee (1998–2006),
author of fib Bulletin 9, “Guidance
for good bridge design” (2000), and
currently as convener of Task
Group 1.2 “Bridges” and appointed
member of the fib Technical Coun-
cil.
In addition, Honorary Membership
was bestowed on James G. Toscas,
President of the Precast/Prestressed
Concrete Institute (PCI), in recogni-
tion of his significant personal con-
tributions to fib, particularly his role
as representative of PCI in the fib
U.S. National Member Group, his
efforts to promote and support the
work of fib, including PCI’s long-
standing collaboration with fib
Commission 6, and his involvement
in the successful organisation of the
2010 fib Congress held in conjunc-
tion with the PCI annual conven-
tion in Washington, D.C.
Left: “Pont de la base
nautique” in Rabat,
Morocco (Photo: Jacques
Durst, M. Mimram agency);
Right: replacement and
strengthening of the
Geneva airport runway
over the Ferney tunnel
(Photo: T engineering)
Structural Concrete 14 (2013), No. 2 187
fib-news
2013 Achievement Award
for Young Engineers
Since 2001 the fib Achievement
Award for Young Engineers is given
every second year at the fib Sympo-
sium to engineers under 40 years of
age, in recognition of their outstand-
ing contributions to structural con-
crete in the fields of research and of
design and construction.
The 2013 fib Achievement Award
for Young Engineers was presented
in a special session of the recent
symposium in Tel Aviv. This edition
of the award was sponsored by the
Swiss National Group of fib.
The session was opened by Fernan-
do Stucchi, chairman of the jury,
who gave an overview of the history
of the award, now in its seventh edi-
tion, and of the 25 candidates who
had entered the competition. Aure-
lio Muttoni, Head of the Swiss Na-
tional Group in fib, then discussed
the life and accomplishments of
Swiss engineer Bruno Thurlimann
(1923–2008), in whose honour the
award was presented.
Bente Skovseth Nyhus (Norway) was
the winner in the Design and Con-
struction category for her work on ad-
vanced structural concrete design for
the structural and marine engineering
firm Dr.techn.Olav Olsen AS. She
gave a presentation on her work enti-
tled, “Consistent practical design of
concrete structures”. Ms. Nyhus’s
award consisted a certificate of merit,
presented to her during the session,
and a € 2000 cash prize.
The Research category winner,
Kamyab Zandi Hanjari (Sweden)
188 Structural Concrete 14 (2013), No. 2
From left to right:
Gordon Clark, Bente
Skovseth Nyhus, Aurelio
Muttoni, Fernando Stucchi
was unfortunately unable to come to
Tel Aviv to present his work and re-
ceive his award in person. The work
realized for his thesis “Structural be-
havior of deteriorated concrete
structures” was shown as a recorded
presentation.
fibUK meeting
“Adding value to structural projects
through the application of fib resources”
On 11 April 2013 fibUK held an
evening technical meeting based on
case studies demonstrating how fib
bulletins can help solve engineering
design issues. About 50 engineers
attended the event, held at the Insti-
tution of Structural Engineers in
London and comprised of three pre-
sentations given by representatives
of fibUK member companies with
an introduction by Prof Steve
Denton (Chairman fibUK).
Ian Feltham of Arup showed the
audience his well-used copy of
Model Code 90, held together by
cellophane tape, and welcomed the
arrival of the fib Model Code for
Concrete Structures 2010. He cited
how publications by fib and the for-
mer FIP and CEB had for many
years been key documents to inform
technical design guidance notes
circulated within Arup. These
covered topics such as use of dow-
els, bond of reinforcement, strut
and tie action, high strength con-
crete, creep behaviour and use of
fastenings.
Chris Hendy of Atkins explained
how fib Bulletins had assisted his
work on the complex replacement
of the stay cables on Penang bridge,
which included careful assessment
of fatigue and required use of FRP
for local strengthening of the con-
crete deck. He referred to fib Bul-
letin 30 and noted that it had signifi-
cantly informed the contents of the
UK National Annex to EN1993-1-11
and had been used to assess the fa-
tigue effects in the stay cables. He
particularly commented on how
helpful the guidance given in fib bul-
letins is, going beyond current codes
and standards in assisting to solve
complex design issues.
Jon Shave of Parsons Brinckerhoff
described complex assessments of
bridge half-joints, where Bulletins 61
and 45 enabled significant enhance-
ment of assessed capacity and re-
duction in strengthening over that
obtained using more conventional
methods of analysis, with direct ben-
efit to the client. They also removed
the need to restrict loading on the
bridge joints.
Questions and discussion followed
the presentations and the audience
From left to right:
Chris Hendy (Atkins),
Ian Feltham (Arup),
Jon Shave (Parsons
Brinckerhoff)

was informed about the forthcom-
ing hardcover and e-book editions
of MC2010 and the explanatory
background papers shortly to
be published in the journal Struc-
tural Concrete, which were wel-
comed.
Advances in Cement and Concrete
Technology in Africa (ACCTA)
Karen Scrivener and Frank Dehn
More than 200 scientists attended
the fib-supported First International
Conference on Advances in Cement
and Concrete Technology in Africa
(ACCTA 2013), which was held
from January 28 to 30 at the Emper-
or’s Palace Resort in Johannesburg,
South Africa. Delegates from all
continents of the world were pre-
sent during the three days of presen-
tations in three parallel session un-
der the focus topics “Materials and
Mix Design”, “Structural Concrete
and Durability”, and “Concrete and
the Environment”.
Among the 47 nations, most inter-
estingly, 20 African nations were
present, which reflected the aim of
the Organising Committee to gener-
ate a high impact on the African
continent. The conference proceed-
ings, edited by Herbert Uzoegbo
(University of the Witwatersrand)
and Wolfram Schmidt (BAM Feder-
al Institute for Materials Research
and Testing), which were peer-re-
viewed by an international Scientific
Committee, comprise 1218 pages
with 134 papers related to cement
and concrete technology with focus
A recording of the lectures is freely
available on the Institution of
Structural Engineers website at
www.istructe.org/resources-
centre/webinars
Gordon Clark
on Africa, developing countries as
well as state-of-the-art techniques
and new materials.
Excellent Keynote speakers intro-
duced into the days’ focus topics.
Karen Scrivener (EPFL Lausanne)
and Arezki Tagnit Hamou (Univer-
sité de Sherbrooke) opened the
technical sessions of the conference
with the topic of new and innova-
tive cements and binder materials.
In the afternoon Amde M. Amde
(University of Maryland) and Mark
Alexander (University of Cape
Town) reported on durability issues
from different angles of observation.
Keynote speakers on the second day
were Piet Stroven (TU Delft), Mo-
hamed Sonebi (Queens University
Belfast), and Gideon P.A.G. van Zijl
(Stellenbosch University), who re-
ported on a computational ap-
proach on concrete technology, re-
cent developments in the field of
self-compacting concrete, and crack
formation in advanced materials, re-
spectively. The morning keynote ses-
sions of the third day focused more
on ecologic and sustainable con-
crete; they were given by Sofiane
Amziane (Université Blaise Pascal)
and Boudewijn Piscaer (Univerde).
In the afternoon Frank Dehn, Chair-
man of fib Commission 8 “Con-
crete”, reported about the new fib
Model Code for Concrete Structures
2010 – in particular about chapter
5.1 and related aspects in chapter
7.8. In his presentation he empha-
sized the meaning of the new fib
Model 2010 as a basis for future na-
fib-news
tional standards and codes – also for
African countries. He also took the
opportunity to encourage interested
African experts to join fib and to
contribute their expertise within the
international fib network.
A highlight of the second day was a
special session for young re-
searchers within the context of the
German-South African Year of Sci-
ence. At the end of the session a
prize was awarded to the authors of
the best papers from young South
African and German researchers.
The evaluation was made by a jury
of international experts. The win-
ners were Yared Assefa Abebe
(Leibnitz University Hannover) and
Suvash Chandra Paul (Stellenbosch
University), who won a half year re-
search visit at the University of the
Witwatersrand and the BAM Feder-
al Institute for Materials Research
and Testing, respectively.
The conference was characterised
by very positive discussions and in-
tensive exchanges among the dele-
gates. At the closing session, the
continuation of ACCTA as a confer-
ence series taking place every two
years was confirmed; the next venue
will again be in sub-Saharan Africa.
Organisations interested in hosting
the 2015 edition are requested to ap-
ply by July 2013 at the address of
the Chairman Prof. Herbert Uzoegbo
(hc.uzoegbo@wits.ac.za). The pro-
posal should include suggestions on
possible venue, availability of ac-
commodation for visitors, local or-
ganizing committee and possible
sources of sponsorship. The ACCTA
secretariat is available to assist with
logistics and advice.
Some photos, the book of abstracts
as well as some presentation videos
can be found via the conference’s
website www.accta2013.com, which
will also keep visitors informed
about the future progress of the con-
ference.
Wolfram Schmidt
Structural Concrete 14 (2013), No. 2 189
fib-news
Report from the Norwegian fib Member Group
Reports from fib National Member
Groups is a new feature intended to
share information and best practices
for the organization of these groups.
This is a report on the Norwegian
fib Member group, the Norwegian
Concrete Association (NCA) and
the concrete industry in Norway.
NCA is an independent organisa-
tion, affiliated with Tekna – The
Norwegian Society of Graduate
Technical and Scientific Profession-
als. NCA has 900 members, 25–30
of which are currently involved in
fib work (Presidium, TC, Commis-
sions, TG chairs and TG members).
NCA’s income comes mainly from
member fees (individual and compa-
nies), courses and conferences. Each
year NCA organises about 60 cours-
es and seminars, with approximately
2000 participants, and 1–2 interna-
tional conferences/symposia. The
profit is used for example to initiate
and support projects that promote
concrete’s economic, technical, en-
vironmental or aesthetical qualities,
for scholarships to young scientist
that have conducted research of
high significance for the Norwegian
concrete industry, for travel grants
to young professionals to make their
first presentation at an international
conference, and to support interna-
tional committee work.
The secretariat includes two full-
time and three part-time positions.
The many activities are based on
voluntary work (approx. 8000 man-
hours a year). There are nine activity
groups, all reporting to the Board
with members representing the con-
crete industry, research institutions
and universities.
Among the activity groups is a spe-
cial activity group to advance Nor-
wegian concrete technology interna-
tionally, to create bridges towards
international organisations and to
bring international competence to
the benefit of the Norwegian con-
crete industry. fib is designated as
the main organisation to work with,
190 Structural Concrete 14 (2013), No. 2
and NCA constitutes the secretariat
of the Norwegian fib delegation.
The head of Norwegian fib delega-
tion is normally also the leader of
this activity group.
Another group works with NCA
publications: guidelines, recommen-
dations and best-practice based on
national standards and regulations.
The publications are prepared by
professionals appointed by the NCA
board, and their status is similar to
that of public standards. There are
presently a total of 36 such publica-
tions (some also in English). NCA
also acts as the secretariat for na-
tional certification of personnel
within the concrete industry, issuing
certificate of competence in all lev-
els (9000 certificates in 2012).
Every year, the Norwegian Concrete
Association together with the Na-
tional Association of Norwegian
Architects grant the Norwegian
Concrete Award for outstanding
concrete structures. Normally, one
or more of the nominees are also
suggested for the fib Awards for
Outstanding Concrete Structures.
Current situation of the Norwegian
concrete industry
There is currently a building boom
in Norway. In fact, investment per
capita in building and structures the
last couple of years has been, and
still is, higher than ever seen in Eu-
rope (according to “Prognosesentret
AS”, Norway). Still, the number of
homes being built is lower than the
demand. A particular challenge is to
find sustainable solutions in the al-
ready densely populated areas, since
there is a strong resistance to using
surrounding green belts.
The main industries: oil/gas, aqua-
marine and fisheries, energy produc-
tion, metal/process industry and
tourism, are mostly located along
the typically steep and approximate-
ly 100.000 km long coastline (in-
cluding all islands and fjords).
Hence, there is a strong pressure on
infrastructure and transport cost. As
a result, the Norwegian Public
Roads Administration recently start-
ed a project to explore technological
concepts for crossings of wide and
deep fjords, in order to make a ferry-
free, sustainable 1100 km long high-
way, “Route E39”, along the west
coast.
Concrete is a key to meet these chal-
lenges. A clear acknowledgement of
the importance of concrete in mod-
ern society, and of the quality and
relevance of Norwegian concrete re-
search, is that the Research Council
of Norway chose COIN (COncrete
INovation centre www.coinweb.no),
as the only “Centre for Research-
based Innovation” (CRI) in the
fields of materials technology and
civil and environmental engineering.
CRI is a tool to stimulate the indus-
try to further innovation, and the
objective is to support long-term re-
search that promotes innovation
and the competitiveness of Norwe-
gian industry. We invite you to
come to Oslo in June 2014 for the
first Concrete Innovation Confer-
ence, CIC2014 (www.cic2014. com),
to hear more about this and much
more on the subject of concrete in-
novation.
The future of the concrete industry
in Norway looks prosperous...
“Concrete under
the northern
lights” is a publi-
cation produced
last fall on behalf
of the Norwegian
fib group and the
Norwegian Con-
crete Association
(NCA), presenting the role of con-
crete in the Norwegian society.
http://www.e-magin.se/ v5/viewer/
files/viewer_s.aspx?gKey=zs00t27d
&gInitPage=1, or downloadable
from www.betong.net.
Tor Arne Martius Hammer
 fib-news

Congresses and symposia

Date and location Event Main organiser Contact

16–19 June 2013 Sixth Symposium on Strait Norwegian Public Roads www.sc2013.no
Bergen, Norway Crossings Administration (NPRA)

26–28 June 2013 11th Int. Symposium on Fibre University of Minho, www.frprcs11.uminho.pt
Guimaraes, Portugal Reinforced Polymers for ISISE
Reinforced Concrete Structures

23–25 September 2013 7th International Conference Hong Kong University of www.consec13.com
Nanjing, China on Concrete under Severe - Science and Technology
Conditions (CONSEC13)

25–27 September 2013 Third International Workshop CSTB Paris, TU Delft, website to be announced
Paris, France on Concrete Spalling due to MFPA Leipzig
Fire Exposure (IWCS 2013)

1–3 October 2013 2nd International Symposium AFGC www.afgc.asso.fr

Marseilles, France on UHPFRC

10–14 February 2014 4th International fib Congress fib group India www.fibcongress2014mumbai.com
Mumbai, India and Exhibition

18–20 February 2014 58th BetonTage FBF Betondienst GmbH www.betontage.com

Neu-Ulm, Germany

11–13 June 2014 Concrete Innovation Norwegian Concrete www.cic2014.com

Oslo, Norway Conference (CIC2014) Assocation

21–23 July 2014 10th fib International Ph.D. Université Laval www.fib-phd.ulaval.ca
Quebec, Canada Symposium in Civil
Engineering

15–18 September 2014 10th International symposium Beijing Jiaotong University www.hpc-2014.com
Beijing, China on Utilization of HS/HP
Concretes

18–20 May 2015 fib Symposium (tenative title: Danish Concrete Society To be announced
Copenhagen, Denmark Concrete – innovation and (DBF)
design)

6–12 October 2018 5th International fib Congress CIA To be announced

Melbourne, Australia and Exhibition

The calendar lists fib congresses and symposia, co-sponsored events and, if space permits, events
supported by fib or organised by one of its National Groups. It reflects the state of information
available to the Secretariat at the time of printing; the information given may be subject to change.

Structural Concrete 14 (2013), No. 2 191