2023 

Report on the French Congress of Civil Engineering: CFGC 2023

Paris-Saclay, 23-25 May, 2023, by Bruno Godart (Read Full Report: Click Here)

AFGC (French Association of Civil Engineering representing the French Group of IABSE) and AUGC (Association of Civil engineering Universities) colaborated to organize the Civil Engineering Congress from 23-25 May 2023, when the French Congress of Civil Engineering (CFGC 2023) was held in the new campus of the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris-Saclay, which was attended by 450 participants. The theme of the congress was focused on "City of the future and climate change" and the congress aimed to organize scientific and technical exchanges between all (engineers or technicians, architects, academics, researchers and students; deciders, designers, producers, professors or researchers). After the welcome speech delivered by Nathalie Carasco, President of ENS Paris-Saclay, the French Congress of Civil Engineering was opened by Claude Le Quéré, AFGC President, and Alain Sellier, AUGC President, on Tuesday, May 23.It also aimed to report on the state of progress in terms of technical innovations and research related to civil engineering themes, from thinking on urban planning to the construction and maintenance of works and infrastructures (buildings, bridges, stations, energy structures, underground spaces, etc.), including the environmental and societal dimension of the city of the future.

All the Young Researchers “René Houpert Prize” Recipients:Hannah Franz (UGE, MAST/SMC), Elodie Donval (UGE, CSTB), Ali Mezher (Université Paris-Saclay, CEA), Colin Lashermes (INRAE, UMR RECOVER), Lola Doussang (LMDC, Holcim), Théophile Bouillard (LMDC, ANDRA), Yohan Jacquet (Université Bretagne Sud, Institut de Recherche du Puy de Dôme), Margapuram Deeksha Arya (INSA Toulouse), Camille Martin--Cavaillé (ENS Paris Saclay, LMPS), Lola Doussang (LMDC, Holcim), Imane El Khaldi (GeM, Edycem).

The AFGC/AUGC Youth Prize awarded to Abdelfeteh SADOK (Société du Grand Paris) by Michel Placidi, with the presence of Claude Le Quéré and Alain Sellier.

News from the French Group of IABSE (AWARDS): Albert Caquot Prize awarded to Alain CAPRA

Alain CAPRA (left) receiving the Albert Caquot Prize and Medal from Claude LE QUERE (right), on May 3, 2023

The French National Group represented by the AFGC (French Association of Civil Engineering) has just awarded its Albert Caquot Prize which rewards an engineer for his entire career, in particular for his scientific and technical work and for his projects and achievements, but also for his moral qualities and his influence in the construction world. This prize is awarded every other year to a French engineer and the other year to a foreign engineer. For the year 2022, the Albert Caquot Prize was awarded during the General Assembly of AFGC on the 3rd of May 2023 to Alain CAPRA and was awarded by Claude LE QUERE (AFGC President).

Presentation of Alain CAPRA

Alain CAPRA graduated from the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (ENPC) in 1967. He was successively engineer in the technical direction of SOCOTEC from 1969 to 1979, Head of Group in the DRAGAGE ET TRAVAUX PUBLICS company from 1979 to 1987, Head of Group in BOUYGUES company in 1987, Director of Studies in SPIE-BATIGNOLLES Company from 1988 to 1993, Director of studies in CAMPENON BERNARD Company from 1993 to 2000 and Scientific Director of VINCI CONSTRUCTION GRANDS PROJETS from 2000 to 2007. He made tremendous operational contributions to the construction of a great amount of structures in France and worldwide. He made also several technical advances like the development of elastoplastic seismic dampers covered by several patents, and the development of a calculation method of steel reinforcement in finite elements (in 1978), a method used currently by many design offices. He was very involved in the development of design rules especially those based on Limit States, and wrote several books from 1981 to 2011 such as: Practical guide for using the Limit states rules for designing reinforced concrete structures, Dynamic calculation of structures in seismic zones, Modelling of structures for computer calculations, Structures in seismic zones. He was also Professor at the ENPC and at the CHEC (Center for High Level Studies in Construction) and member of several French Professional Associations.

Awarding of AFGC Prizes

During the General Assembly, the French NG of IABSE and AFGC have also awarded the “AFGC Prizes” intended to reward one or more engineers, researchers, academics or competent personalities for the achievement of a remarkable work in the scientific, technical or operational field. This Prize was awarded to:

• Franziska SCHMIDT (Gustave Eiffel University)
• Renaud LECONTE (DIADES)
• Emmanuel ROZIERE (Ecole Centrale de Nantes)

Franziska Schmidt (right) receiving the AFGC Prize and Medal from Bruno GODART (former president of AFGC).

Renaud Leconte (right) receiving the AFGC Prize and Medal from Jean-Bernard DATRY (vice-president of AFGC).

Emmanuel Rozière (right) receiving the AFGC Prize and Medal from Emmanuel Ferrier (Chairman of the Scientific and Technical Committee of AFGC)

Conference on CIGEO, the deep disposal center for radioactive waste.

This awarding of prizes was preceded by a conference on the presentation and the progress of the construction of CIGEO: the deep disposal center for radioactive waste located in the City of Bures in the Meuse Department, by three engineers of ANDRA, the French National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management.

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Event: UHPFRC 2024

Topic: Designing, Building and Retrofitting with UHPFRC

Seven years after the 2017 Ultra-High Performance Fiber Concrete (UHPFRC) conference held in Montpellier, which focused on the know-how and applications carried out with UHPFRC, it is clear that projects and constructions using UHPRFCs have increase in Europe, in North America and Asia. The 4^th International Symposium on UHPFRC on the topic of ‘Designing, Building and Retrofitting with UHPFRC’ will take place from 21-23 October 2024, in the Palais de l’Europe in the city of Menton (close to Nice), with technical tour (UHPFRC realizations) to Monaco and the French Riviera. The objective of the Symposium organised by the French group of IABSE (AFGC), under the auspices of RILEM, fib and ACI Chapter of Paris, is to update additional experience acquired in the knowledge and use of UHPFRCS for the design of structures, elements and works; retrofitting and repair of structures; industrial realisation; and large-scale applications. The symposium will present the most recent concrete realisations in civil engineering, building and equipment and infrastructure in new construction and rehabilitation. It will deal with regulations and standards developed at the international level to facilitate the design, and justify the safety and reliability of structures. It will detail the performance offered by these materials towards the environment: use in the field of eco-design, saving of resources, durability, reduction of CO2 emissions, life cycle analysis, etc. The deadline for call for abstracts is by November 15, 2023. To contribute, send a two-page abstract to UHPFRC 2024 secretariat afgc@afgc.asso.fr. Selected papers will be presented based on relevance and originality to stimulate knowledge advances and UHPFRC applications.

2022

French Congress of Civil Engineering in 2023:   “City of the future and climate change”

Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay

The French Association of Civil Engineering (AFGC) representing the French NG of IABSE is organizing with the Association of Civil Engineering Universities (AUGC) the French Congress of Civil Engineering that will take place at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris-Saclay, from the 23 to the 25 of May 2023.    

Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay

This congress aims to bring together all the participants of the construction domain on the future challenges in terms of urban development and the city of the future in the face of climate change. It will give rise to scientific and technical exchanges between all Civil Engineering actors (engineers or technicians, architects, teachers, researchers and students), whether they are owners, designers, builders or researchers, and will report on progress in terms of technical innovations and research relating to all Civil Engineering themes: from the thinking on town planning to the construction and maintenance of structures and infrastructures (buildings, bridges, railway stations, energy structures, underground spaces, etc.), including the environmental and societal dimension of the city of the future.

For this congress, AFGC and AUGC have joined their forces to offer to the participants a sharing of major developments such as the construction of the Grand Paris Express (200 km of metro lines around Paris) and the facilities for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The objective is to discuss the driving role that Civil Engineering will have to play in the emergence of new constructive solutions adapted to the cities of the future.

This congress will also be the opportunity to award  the Young Researcher prize “René Houpert”, the best poster prize, the best video prize and the Young Engineer prize “AFGC/AUGC”.  

News from the French Group of IABSE (AWARDS)

Albert Caquot Prize awarded to Akio KASUGA: 

The NG of IABSE represented in France by AFGC (French Association of Civil Engineering) has just awarded its Albert Caquot Prize which rewards an engineer for his entire career, in particular for his scientific and technical work and for his projects and achievements, but also for his moral qualities and his influence in the construction world. This prize is awarded every other year to a French engineer and the other year to a foreign engineer. For the year 2021,  the Albert Caquot Prize was awarded during the General Assembly of AFGC on the 24th of March 2022 to Akio KASUGA of Sumitomo Mitsui Construction and was awarded by Bruno GODART (AFGC President) and Michel Moussard (chairman of the International Affairs Committee of AFGC).

Michel Moussard (left) and Bruno Godart (right) awarding the Albert Caquot Prize and Medal to Akio KASUGA, on March 24, 2022.

Presentation of Akio KASUGA by Michel Moussard:

“Akio Kasuga has devoted his entire career to structural engineering, particularly the design and construction of bridges. After graduating with a doctorate in engineering from Kyushu University, he joined Sumitomo Construction in Tokyo in 1979 as a junior design engineer, and rose through the ranks to his current position as executive vice president and Chief Technology Officer. From the start of his professional life, he has always had a strong interest in innovation through research and development. In 1990, he played a key role in the design and construction in Japan of the first extradosed bridge ever built, the Odawara Blueway Bridge Project, in Kanagawa based on a concept presented by the French engineer Jacques Mathivat in the FIP notes. Since that first important achievement, its activity has always been devoted to optimization and innovative design, both through research and development and through design and construction. Akio Kasuga notably contributed to the development in Japan of another French invention: corrugated steel webs, a concept introduced by Pierre Thivans in the 1980s, still within the very creative design office of Campenon-Bernard. More recently, he has developed the “butterfly web” concept, a type of openwork web in fiber-reinforced prestressed concrete without reinforcement, and a non-metallic bridge concept with cement-free concrete, in order to meet the challenge of sustainability. His whole research activity led him to file more than 80 patents in the field of bridge engineering. He has also taken on a number of responsibilities within our professional community: as a lecturer at the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, Nagoya University, Kyusyu University, etc. with the publication of a large number of technical papers, and as a long-time active member of the fib, of which he is now president.”

 

Odawara Blueway Bridge (1994)   (Photo Akio Kasuga)

 

The Seiun Bridge (2004)   (Photo Akio Kasuga)

 

Awarding of AFGC Prizes:

During the General Assembly, the French NG of IABSE and AFGC have also awarded the “AFGC Prize” intended to reward one or more engineers, researchers, academics or competent personalities for the achievement of a remarkable work in the scientific, technical or operational field. This Prize was awarded to: Véronique Bouteiller (Gustave Eiffel University);  Mathieu ARQUIER (STRAINS); Guillaume DANAN (EGIS); Adélaïde FERAILLE-FRESNET (Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées).

Conference on the construction of off-shore wind turbines: This awarding of prizes was preceded by a conference on the construction of off-shore wind turbines in France by two engineers of EDF Renewable Energies: Stéphane BESNARD, Chief of the Department of marine;  structures and geosciences; Dalal HANI TAGHIA, Senior engineer for offshore structures.

New President of AFGC:

Claude Le Quéré, the new president of AFGC

The board of directors of the French Association of Civil Engineering elected on April 5, 2022 its new president  Claude LE QUERE for a four-year term. She succeeds to Bruno Godart who is retired from Gustave Eiffel University and who wanted to “pass on the baton”, after two terms and 8 years as President. Claude Le Quéré, a former student of the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, began her career at SETRA and then joined EGIS in 2010 where she is currently Director of the Structures Department.