The next China Lecture Café “Concrete for tall structures: the Shanghai case” by Prof. Dr. Ir. Luc Taerwe and Prof. Dr. Ir. Geert De Schutter will take place on November 20th from 12h to 14h, in Het Pand, room “Rector Blancquaert” (Onderbergen 1, Gent). Sandwich lunch will be provided. Subscribing is free, but mandatory, by email to isabelle.decoen@ugent.be.

The city of Shanghai, China, is expanding at an amazing rate. Major structures are being constructed or have recently been completed, including tunnels, bridges, and record-breaking tall structures such as the ‘World Financial Center’ and ‘Shanghai Tower’. For this expansion, concrete as a building material is of the utmost importance. In addition to high volumes of traditional concrete, new types of specialty concrete are being used, such as high-strength concrete and self-compacting concrete. For many years, the Department of Geotechnical Engineering, School of Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, and the Magnel Laboratory for Concrete Research, Faculty of Engineering, Ghent University, Belgium, have been coordinating research efforts concerning concrete structures. Several aspects, of high importance for superstructures such as the tall buildings in downtown Shanghai, have been studied, e.g. creep of high-performance concrete, fire resistance of high-performance and self-compacting concrete, … In this session, a general view on the importance of concrete for tall structures will be presented, including innovative types of concrete. Some practical information will be given, linked to some towers constructed in Shanghai.

The program for the coming months is to be found via http://www.ugent.be/china.