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.