CoMSIRU team at the fib 2016 Symposium
The fib Symposium 2016 in Cape Town took place in November 2016 at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business in the V&A Waterfront, bringing together members of the fib (International Federation for Structural Concrete) from around the world and facilitating presentations, discussions and social interactions between researchers, consulting engineers, contractors, material suppliers and students. The event was attended by a total of 420 delegates from over 45 countries and strongly supported by members of the local concrete and structural engineering industries.
The conference was devoted to performance- based approaches for concrete structures and a total of 242 papers had been accepted for presentation, covering the general themes of structural analysis and design, shrinkage and creep, concrete materials technology and associated experimental methods, precast technology, bridge structures, durability and service life, and concrete condition assessment, repair, strengthening and protection. The broad coverage of topics and the generally very high quality of technical presentations was very well received and prevented delegates from giving the vast offer of tourist attractions preference over the technical part of the symposium.
Another technical highlight of the event was a Workshop on the fib Model Code 2020, held on Thursday, 24 November 2016. The workshop, attended by about 70 delegates, introduced ideas for linking and addressing the requirements for new and existing structures, with the concept that these matters would be addressed in a new version of the fib Model Code for Concrete Structures. The workshop included lively discussions on controversial opinions, especially in view of performance approaches for concrete design and specification, which formed a good foundation for future developments of the next fib Model Code and which offered a suitable closing for an overall very successful and well-received fib Symposium 2016.
Prof. Mark Alexander, in his capacity as Immediate Past President of RILEM delivered a keynote at the fib Symposium in Cape Town (Nov 2016).