Adnan Ibrahimbegovic

Professor Classe Exceptionnelle, Senior Fellow of IUF-Institute Universitaire de France and holder of a Chair for Computational Mechanics at UTC, France

He was attributed a number of research awards, including Humboldt Research Award in 2005, IACM Fellow Award in 2006 and Slovenian Research Award in 2007, 'Classe Exceptionnelle' highest-rank of French University Professors in 2009 (upgrade to level 2 Classe Exc. in 2017), and Senior Member of IUF in 2015 (renewed in 2020).

Adnan Ibrahimbegovic

Flexible Blades Wind-Turbines: Giant Installations and - System-of-Systems Approach to Optimizing Wind-Energy Farms

In this work we seek to elaborate a couple of new concepts of off-shore and inland wind-turbines with respect to currently dominant system, which was, to a large extent, developed in Denmark and in Northern Germany. Both of these locations provide near steady winds close to optimal conditions for wind-turbines operation. For any other location, the system is far from optimal performance, mostly sitting idle waiting for optimal wind speed. This new concept to evaluate concerns the wind-turbines with flexible blades, which are easy to start for mild winds, like the leaves on a tree, but more difficult to control for strong winds, with large overall motion of flexible blades. There are multiple main scientific challenges in this work seeking a judicious combination of scientific progress in Mechanics, Control and Stochastics in order to provide the simulation tools for elaboration of such a new concept. In particular, we need to develop detailed models capable of describing the large displacements and rotations of flexible blades (including evaluation of risk to blades failure), the reduced basis approach that can furnish the optimal support for control algorithm of large overall motion of flexible blades and stochastic approach able to quantify the effects of variable wind conditions that can be obtained from measurements of wind-turbine deformations by solving an inverse problem. All these developments will be combined in simulation tools, which will be validated against experimental results and more elaborate predictive computations of underlying multi-physics problems. The main product to deliver is to achieve a novel concept of inland wind-turbines, referred to as Perpetual Mobile, which offers the optimal capacity for harvesting energy at large variations of wind speeds and for perfectly adapting to variable conditions inside wind-turbine farms. The side product to deliver concerns the simulation tools to be developed, which will also be of interest for other multi- physics problems.

References:
Ibrahimbegovic A., 'Stress Resultant Geometrically Exact Shell Theory for Finite Rotations and Its Finite Element Implementation', ASME Applied Mechanics Reviews, 50, 199-226 (1997)
Ibrahimbegovic A., R.L. Taylor, ‘On the role of frame-invariance of structural mechanics models at finite rotations’, Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 191, 5159-5176, (2002)
Ibrahimbegovic A., C. Knopf-Lenoir, A. Kucerova, P. Villon, ‘Optimal design and optimal control of elastic structures undergoing finite rotations and deformations’, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, 61, 2428-2460, (2004)
Ibrahimbegovic A., ‘Nonlinear solid mechanics: theoretical formulations and finite element solution methods’, Springer,(2009)
Ibrahimbegovic A., R. Niekamp, C. Kassiotis, D. Markovic, H. Matthies, ‘Code-coupling strategy for efficient development of computer software in multiscale and multiphysics nonlinear evolution problems in computational mechanics’, Advances in Engineering Software, 72, 8-17, (2014)
Ibrahimbegovic A., ‘Computational Methods for Solids and Fluids: Multiscale Analysis, Probability Aspects and Model Reduction’, Springer, pp. 1-493, (2016)
Ibrahimbegovic, A., Boujelben, A., ‘Long-term simulation of wind turbine structure for distributed loading describing long-term wind loads for preliminary design’, Coupled Systems Mechanics, 7, 233-254, (2018)
Kassiotis C., A. Ibrahimbegovic, R. Niekamp, H. Matthies, ‘Partitioned solution to nonlinear fluid-structure interaction problems. Part I: implicit coupling algorithms and stability proof’, Computational Mechanics, 47, 305-323, (2011)
Kassiotis C., A. Ibrahimbegovic, R. Niekamp, H. Matthies, ‘Partitioned solution to nonlinear fluid-structure interaction problems. Part II: CTL based software implementation with nested parallelization’, Computational Mechanics, 47, 335-357, (2011)
Matthies H., A. Ibrahimbegovic, ‘Stochastic Multiscale Coupling of Inelastic Processes in Solid Mechanics’, in (eds. M. Papadrakakis, G. Stefanou) ‘Multiscale Modeling and Uncertainty Quantification of Materials and Structures’, Springer, 135-157, (2014)
Moreno-Navarro P., A. Ibrahimbegovic, J.L. Perez-Aparicio, ‘Linear elastic mechanical system interacting with coupled thermo-electro-magnetic fields’, Coupled Systems Mechanics, 7, 5-25, (2018)

Venkatesh Kumar R Kodur

Michigan State University, USA

Dr. Venkatesh Kodur is a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Michigan State University. He also serves as Director of the Centre on Structural Fire Engineering and Diagnostics at MSU.

Prof. Kodur is an internationally recognized scholar for his contributions in structural and fire engineering fields. His research has focused on the experimental behavior and analytical modeling of structural systems under extreme fire conditions, Constitutive modelling of material properties at elevated temperatures, Fire resistance design of structural systems, and Building collapse investigations. His contributions to the field of structural fire safety and high performing construction materials are seminal and numerous, and his research accomplishments have had major impacts. He has developed fundamental understanding on the behavior of materials and structural systems under extreme fire conditions. The techniques and methodologies resulting from his research is instrumental for minimizing the destructive impact of fire in the built infrastructure, which continues to cause thousands of deaths and billions of dollars of damage each year in the U.S. and around the world. Many of these design approaches and fire resistance solutions have been incorporated in to various construction codes and design standards in the U.S. and around the world.

Dr. Kodur has advised around 25 postdoctoral researchers, 26 Ph.D. students, 24 M.S. students and number of undergraduate students over the last 20 years and most of these student’s dissertations is on “structural fire engineering topics”. Many of his (former) PhD and postdoctoral students are currently faculty members in reputed universities throughout the world. Dr. Kodur, together with his students and collaborators, has published results from his research in 450+ peer-reviewed papers in journals and conferences, and has given numerous key-note presentations in major international conferences. He is one of the highly cited authors in Civil Engineering and Fire Protection Engineering disciplines, and as per Google Scholar, he has more than 12,700 citations with an "h” index of 62. The most recent contribution from Kodur is a new text book on “Structural Fire Engineering” published by McGraw-Hill Education.

Dr. Kodur’s contributions to the Civil Engineering and Fire Protection Engineering professions have been recognized by peers through prestigious honors and awards. He has been elected as Fellow of six Institutes/Academies: Canadian Academy of Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers, Indian National Academy of Engineering, Structural Engineering Institute, American Concrete Institute, and the Society of Fire Protection Engineers. He is a professional engineer, Associate Editor of Journal of Structural Engineering, and Journal of Structural Fire Engineering, editorial board member of five leading journals, Chairman of ASCE(SEI)- SFPE 29 (Fire) Standards Committee, and a member of UK-EPSRC College of Reviewers. He has won many awards including Michigan State University “University Distinguished Professor” Award, American Institute of Steel Construction Faculty Fellowship Award, MSU Distinguished Faculty Award, NRCC (Government of Canada) Outstanding Achievement Award, AISC Faculty Fellowship Award, and NATO Award for collaborative research. Also, in recognition of his contributions to civil engineering and structural fire engineering, he has been felicitated through organizing major international conferences. Most notably, Dr. Kodur was part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and American Society of Civil Engineers/Society of Fire Protection Engineers high profile "Experts Team" that investigated the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings as a result of September 11 attacks.

Venkatesh Kumar R Kodur

Strategies for Overcoming Fire Performance Problems in Structures incorporating Fibre Reinforced Polymer.

In recent years there is a growing interest in the use of fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) for strengthening of concrete structures that are losing their functionality due to aging and corrosion related problems. This is mainly due to high strength, light weight, durability, cost effectiveness and ease of application of FRP which makes it attractive for fixing deteriorating infrastructure. Typically, the capacity of reinforced concrete (RC) columns can be enhanced by wrapping the columns with FRP sheets. Similarly strengthening of beams or slab can be carried out, for enhancing flexural and shear capacity, by applying FRP laminates to the surface of a concrete member and this is designated as externally bonded reinforcing (EB) technique. Alternatively, FRP strips or rods can be inserted into a pre-cut groove(s) on the concrete cover of an RC beam or slab, and then filling the groove(s) with an epoxy adhesive or cementitious grout, and this type of strengthening is referred to as near-surface mounted (NSM) technique.

Fire represents a significant hazard in buildings and thus FRP-strengthened concrete structural members have to meet adequate fire resistance requirements. However, comparatively little is known on the performance of FRP materials and FRP-strengthened concrete members under fire conditions, and this remains a primary factor limiting the widespread application of FRP in building applications.

In the past decade, a number of experimental and analytical studies have been carried out to develop an understanding on the behavior of FRP-strengthened RC beams at ambient conditions. Based on these studies, guidelines have been developed for structural design of FRP-strengthened concrete members. However, there have been only limited experimental and numerical studies on the fire resistance of FRP- strengthened concrete members. Thus, there is very little guidance available in codes and standards for the fire design of FRP-strengthened concrete members.

To overcome some of the current knowledge gaps, a series of experimental and numerical studies have been carried out to evaluate fire response of FRP-strengthened concrete columns and beams. Data generated from fire tests was utilized to develop a macroscopic finite element for tracing the fire response of FRP- strengthened RC columns and beams under various configurations. The validated model was applied to conduct a set of parametric studies to quantify the influence of critical factors on fire response of FRP strengthened members. Results generated from fire resistance experiments and numerical studies are utilized to develop a rational design methodology for evaluating fire resistance of FRP-strengthened concrete members.

In the presentation, the performance problems associated with FRP-strengthened concrete structures will be illustrated. Data from both material testing and full-scale fire tests will be utilized to discuss fire performance of FRP strengthened concrete members. The various factors influencing fire response of FRP strengthened concrete members will be discussed and the development of a rational design methodology for evaluating fire resistance of FRP-strengthened concrete members will be outlined. Examples of innovative strategies that can be developed for enhancing fire performance of FRP- strengthened concrete structures will be presented. Overall, it is demonstrated that, while currently available FRP strengthening systems are sensitive to the effects of elevated temperatures, appropriately designed and protected FRP- strengthened concrete structures are able to achieve required fire performance needed in buildings and other infrastructure applications.

John L Provis

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, UK

John completed a combined BE(Hons)/BSc in Chemical Engineering and Applied Mathematics at the University of Melbourne, Australia, in 2002, followed by a PhD in Chemical Engineering at the same institution in 2006. He led the Geopolymer and Minerals Processing Group at the University of Melbourne until joining the University of Sheffield in 2012 with a Chair in Cement Materials Science and Engineering.

John was awarded the 2013 RILEM Robert L’Hermite Medal "in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the research and development of geopolymers and other construction materials", and was awarded an honorary doctorate by Hasselt University, Belgium, in 2015 to recognise his leadership in the development of geopolymers and other novel cementitious materials.

His research has been funded by the European Research Council as well as other EU sources, UK Research Councils, industry, and international funding bodies.

He is Deputy Chair of RILEM Technical Committee 283-CAM, an invited TAC Expert of RILEM, a Voting Member of committees of BSI, ASTM and ACI, Editor-in-Chief of the leading journal Materials and Structures, Associate Editor of Cement and Concrete Research, and Speciality Chief Editor for the Structural Materials section of Frontiers in Materials.

Prof. Provis has also been appointed as a Visiting Professor at Luleå University of Technology, Sweden, in the Building Materials division.

John L Provis

Innovation in cements – can we meet future construction needs sustainably?

There has been an enormous growth in the volume and scope of technical analysis of alternative cements, accompanied by claims of “sustainability”, during the past decade. Some of this growth has been accompanied by real-world actions in terms of commercialisation, trials, and deployment. However, there are a very large number of lines of investigation – some of which appear extremely promising from environmental and technical perspectives – that have not yet been translated into reality. This presentation will address some of the key drivers for a sustainable future in cement technology, with a particular focus on alkali-activated materials, including comments on the pathways by which some of the evident potential of these materials can be unlocked for the benefit of society.

Truong Thi My Thanh

University of Transport Technology, Vietnam

Dr. Truong Thi My Thanh got her PhD degree in Transport Planning and Traffic Engineering from the Technische Universität Darmstadt (Germany) and currently working as a lecturer and a transport specialist at the University of Transport Technology, Vietnam. She sets her principal research areas in the field of transport planning and transport economics with a special focus on green mobility. Her research revolves around the areas of the sustainable transport system, transport policy and innovation, socio-economic impacts of transport infrastructure and services, and the development of infrastructure project based on public- private-partnership mechanism.

Dr. Truong has conducted an extensive investigation of transport problems and issues in developing Asian countries that providing policy recommendations for local authorities and international financial institutions.

Truong Thi My Thanh

Green transport development in Vietnam: recent achievements and key challenges

Transport systems have significant impacts on urban development, economic and environment that might generate threats to the sustainable development. Therefore, the development of green transport is a long-term strategy of many countries internationally. Recently, Vietnamese Government has developed specific policies to enhance green mobility, for instance, the transport plan associated with public transport development, the transition to sustainable energy, the application of advanced materials and technologies. However, green mobility in Vietnam is facing many challenges that links to local characteristics such as a huge travel demand, the unique travel behaviour, the limited investment budget, and legal barriers of public-private partnership mechanism.

This presentation will discuss the long-term demand for green transport development in Vietnam based on scientific approaches and empirical evidence, facilitating an in-depth understanding of transport status for international and local researchers. By indicating key challenges, the presentation confirms the necessity to develop innovative policy recommendations, to further develop models and tools in conjunction with government bodies as inputs into city- and national-level policies and derive practical day-to-day improvement for green transport systems.

Simon Marvin

University of Sydney, Australia

Simon Marvin is Director of the Urban Institute at the University of Sheffield and holds a Professorial appointment in the school of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney. Simon is interested in the interrelationships between technological change and the urban condition and has made key contributions in urban studies focused on the analysis of infrastructural liberalisation, low carbon transitions, digital technologies, living labs, urban operating systems and AI and robotics. His most recent book with Andres Luque is Urban Operating Systems: producing the Computational City published in 20202 by MIT ( https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/urban-operating-systems ) . Recently his work has focused on the role of the socio-technical systems in the production of micro-climatically controlled volumetric environments including both indoor enclosures and outdoor thermally controlled spaces. The keynote paper in this conferences draws on some of his more recent work conducted at the University of Sydney tracing the development of an outdoor cooling sector and its implications for urban studies.

Simon Marvin

Urban Thermal Modulation – The Limits of Interiorization and Emergence of Atmospheric Security?

This paper argues that important changes are taking place in how the problematic of excess heat is being understood and addressed in urban contexts. The key shift underway is strategic interest in the thermal modulation of the ‘outdoor’ environment. This represents an extension of the existing mode of thermal modulation based on ‘interiorization’ through air conditioned encapsulation to an emerging logic of manipulating the outdoor environment – a form of atmospheric security. The paper explores the key features of this shift and identifies the implications for urban studies.

Eivind Grøv

SINTEF, Norway

Eivind Grøv is currently holding a position as Chief Scientist at SINTEF Community in Trondheim and Professor II at The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Grøv graduated from the Norwegian Institute of Technology in 1983 (NTH) with a MSc. in Geotechnical Engineering. He worked as consultant from 1984 until 2005 including overseas expatriation and site residence. In 2005 Grøv returned to research and academia with SINTEF and in 2009 he was appointed Professor at NTNU.

Eivind Grøv is currently holding a position as Chief Scientist at SINTEF Community in Trondheim and Professor II at The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Grøv graduated from the Norwegian Institute of Technology in 1983 (NTH) with a MSc. in Geotechnical Engineering. He worked as consultant from 1984 until 2005 including overseas expatriation and site residence. In 2005 Grøv returned to research and academia with SINTEF and in 2009 he was appointed Professor at NTNU.

He has been invited lecturer and keynote speaker on several international conferences, more than 25 appearances with a large publication production. Grøv has supervised/co-supervised 5 PhD's and he supervised 50 MSc-students in his adjunct period. He has managed several large and important research projects for the industry.

Grøv has been President of the Norwegian Tunnelling Society and is Honorary Member of the society, he is former President of the Norwegian Tunnelling Network. He was Vice President of ITA concluding a period of 6 years in the Executive Council and is a Honorary Affiliate Member of ITA. Grøv has held numerous duties in international organisations and is currently a member of the Governance Council of ITA. He also leads several tasks within the Norwegian Tunnelling Society including being member/heading organisation and scientific committees nationally and internationally. Grøv is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences (NTVA)

Eivind Grøv

Large underground caverns for civil application

The tunnelling industry has the means to make any “hole in the ground” almost to any size and shape that is requested. The main challenge is to integrate such solutions into long-term development and urban planning. The underground solutions must be cost-effective to compete with surface alternatives and they must be safe and felt to be safe by the users.

Worldwide there is a quest for urban space driven by the increasing urbanisation. According to the ITACUS white paper (2010) more than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. With regards to industrialised countries the figure is closer to 80%. This increased urbanisation and steadily growing number of “Mega cities” and other congested areas is a consequence of the increasing global population and migration to city areas which may offer jobs, income and improved lifestyle.

Only by ensuring that we are capable of providing safe underground structures will underground infrastructure be perceived to provide a sound internal environment. There is public confidence that the tunnelling industry is capable of producing tunnels and caverns to the satisfaction of the clients.

This presentation discusses the challenges of designing and building large underground caverns needed for further development of the underground infrastructure. Underground caverns excavated in the rock mass require a strict control on a number of design parameters describing the rock mass quality and its ability to host large caverns. Many of these are standard rock mechanical parameters that are identified for any underground excavation. One particular rock mechanics parameter is of utmost importance when designing large underground caverns but to the surprise of the author of this paper it is often ignored and neglected by many, namely the in-situ stress condition which is needed to mobilise frictional forces along joint planes. This paper will particularly shed light on the importance of including in-situ stress conditions in the design tasks, focusing the understanding and utilizing of in-situ rock stresses to materialise such caverns.

The presentation will also present some examples to visualise the beauty of underground rock caverns and their use to serve the public and thus constituting a major asset to the society including the world largest man made rock caverns, the Gjøvik hall in Norway.