We are glad to announce the Third International DAM WORLD Conference – DAMWORLD 2018, which will take place in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, on 17-21 September 2018. The conference is organized on behalf of IBRACON (Instituto Brasileiro do Concreto) and LNEC (Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil) every three years, with the official support and partnership of CBDB (Comitê Brasileiro de Barragens) and CNPGB (Comissão Nacional Portuguesa de Grandes Barragens). We are preparing an exciting program which will include high level scientific sessions, with well-known Plenary Lecturers, One-Day Courses on the 17th September and an interesting Technical Visits to Itaipu DAM and other important dams in the region. The participants will also be able to enjoy sightseeing tours to the beautiful and famous Iguaçu Falls, both in Brazil and Argentina. We invite all dam engineering professionals to participate in the event and share your valuable experience and achievements.

We are looking forward to welcome you in Foz do Iguaçu!

José Marques Filho and Túlio Nogueira Bittencourt 
Conference Chairs

Promovido pelo Instituto Brasileiro do Concreto – IBRACON, o Congresso Brasileiro do Concreto firmou-se como o maior fórum técnico nacional de debates sobre a tecnologia do concreto e seus sistemas construtivos. Seu objetivo é divulgar, anualmente, as novidades em termos de pesquisas científicas, tecnologias e inovações em análises e projetos estruturais, metodologias construtivas, materiais de construção e suas propriedades, gestão e normalização técnica, e outros aspectos relacionados ao material industrial mais consumido no mundo.

Estudantes, professores, pesquisadores e profissionais técnicos em geral do setor construtivo estão convidados a participar do evento, seja apresentando seus trabalhos de pesquisa, desenvolvimento e inovação sobre o concreto e seus sistemas construtivos, seja assistindo e debatendo os temas apresentados a cada edição com colegas e especialistas, numa troca produtiva e colaborativa de informações e ideias. Empresas, órgãos governamentais e instituições da cadeia produtiva do concreto estão convidados a participar do evento, como patrocinadores e expositores na FEIBRACON – Feira Brasileira das Construções em Concreto, ou inscrevendo seus funcionários para se atualizarem sobre o que há de novo em termos de pesquisas, tecnologias e inovações no setor construtivo nacional e estrangeiro.

Nantes, France, will host the 40th IABSE Symposium with the main theme of 'Tomorrow’s Megastructures'. Popularised in the 1960s as an architectural concept, a megastructure is referring to a very large manmade object, though the limits of precisely how large this is varies considerably. The term could be applied to any especially large or tall building, but also to enormous self-supporting artificial constructions. 

Megastructures represent the most ambitious and spectacular constructions in the world which are all incredible technological achievements of great human adventures. As the Jules Vernes’ birthplace (who wrote many adventure novels, including a premonitory 'Paris in the Twentieth Centur”), Nantes is definitively the best place to address the following challenges:

• Megastructures: a radical paradigm shift or simply a change of scale? 
• Today’s and tomorrow’s megastructures and megaprojects 
• New trends for innovations in the construction, the preservation, the exploitation and the upgrading of structures. 

The organisers invite the world’s structural engineering community to share their experiences with today megastructures and to present their vision of tomorrows megastructures, and more broadly their prospect of future outstanding structures. Consultants, contractors, owners, researchers and practitioners will have the opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences on structural design, construction and maintenance issues.

Dates and Venue                    

The Annual Meetings will take place prior to the Symposium from Monday September 17 to Tuesday September 18, 2018, at the same venue, which is located in the city centre, close to the railway station. An Icebreaker Reception will be held in the evening of Tuesday, September 18, 2018. 

Symposium Format

The scientific programme will include Plenary and Concurrent Sessions over three full days. Panel discussions and Poster sessions will also be incorporated into the programme.

Papers dealing with different themes and topics of the Symposium will be selected from abstracts submitted to the Scientific Committee. These papers will be presented orally or by poster. 

At the Plenary Sessions, invited keynote speakers will present lectures on key symposium topics. Sub-Plenary sessions will be devoted to specialized topics. Concurrent Sessions will be organised by topics according to the selection of the Scientific Committee. 

Panel Discussions will highlight themes of widespread interest as identified by IABSE’s Working Commissions and Working Groups, in agreement with the Scientific Committee and the Organising Committee. Posters will be presented by their authors in facilitated sessions to enable contact with the paper authors during the Poster Sessions. 

The official language of the Symposium is English. 

Participants

The Symposium is intended for civil and structural engineers, architects and associated professionals interested in the megastructures. 

Participants will include designers, consultants, researchers, owners, contractors, operators, suppliers and representatives of authorities and others interested in the Symposium themes and topics.

O Encontro Nacional Betão Estrutural 2018 (BE 2018), organizado conjuntamente pelo Grupo Português de Betão Estrutural (GPBE) e o Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), irá ter lugar de 7 a 9 de Novembro de 2018, no Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC).

O principal objectivo do BE 2018 resulta da missão do GPBE, grupo nacional da fédération internationale du béton (fib), de se constituir como um fórum privilegiado de divulgação e discussão das realizações mais recentes e inovadoras na área do betão estrutural, nas vertentes da construção e reabilitação, materiais e produtos, normalização, projeto e investigação científica, tendo em conta as atuais prioridades, nacionais e internacionais, em termos de desempenho, durabilidade, sustentabilidade e resiliência das estruturas de betão armado e pré-esforçado.

O BE 2018 pretende igualmente ser um espaço de debate de ideias sobre os riscos e os desafios do futuro das estruturas de betão em Portugal, na Europa e no Mundo, mobilizando para o efeito as empresas do sector, donos-de-obra, gabinetes de projeto, universidades, politécnicos, laboratórios e unidades de investigação científica e desenvolvimento tecnológico.

Pese embora seja um encontro nacional, o BE 2018 quer ainda estabelecer pontes e criar laços duradouros entre a comunidade técnica e científica nacional e as suas congéneres que têm como língua oficial o português ou o espanhol.

XVII Encontro Nacional de Tecnologia do Ambiente Construído - Desafios da Inovação no Ambiente Construído (ENTAC 2018).

Organização: Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana (UNILA) e Universidade Estadual de Londrina (UEL)

Promoção: Associação Nacional de Tecnologia do Ambiente Construído (ANTAC).

Call for Papers and Proposals for Special Sessions

   Open until: May 15, 2018

The IABSE Symposium Guimarães 2019 will be held on March 27-29, 2019, in Guimarães, Portugal.

The Objectives of this Conference are to:

• Place the topic of Sustainability of the Built Environment in an International Discussion Forum
• Offer a worldwide discussion in risk assessment and infrastructure asset management with
   a share of knowledge from different stakeholders
• Discuss Performance and Costs of built environment assets, with a focus  on ‘Zero Maintenance’
• Provide the adaptation of Young Engineers to the topics of Risk, Construction, Quality, Resilience
   and Management.

Call for Papers

Participants wishing to present a paper are invited to submit an abstract by May 15, 2018, relating to the Themes and Topics of the Symposium. The abstract must be submitted using the template available at the online submission platform.

Themes and Topics:

1. Novel Management Tools for the Built Environment
2. Lifecycle Quality Control of New and Existing Infrastructures
3. Advanced Frameworks for a Sustainable Built Environment
4. Risk Analysis Procedures, from Theory to Practice
5. Future Trends in Structural Engineering

Call for Proposals for Special Sessions

The Scientific Committee also calls for proposals for ‘Special Sessions’. 

The theme of a Special Session should be in alignment with the themes and topics of the Symposium. However, Special Session Proposals with significant contribution to the objectives of IABSE will be considered. If approved, the session objective text will be made available in the Guimarães IABSE Symposium website.

After approval of the Special Session Proposal, the session organiser(s) must send a list with a minimum of 6 papers with its corresponding titles and author(s), to scsecretariat@iabse2019.org until the May 15, 2018.

Session organiser(s) will be provided with a certificate attesting the organisation of the Special Session. Read the rules for Special Session Proposals here.

More information:      www.iabse.org/guimaraes2019

Contact:                           scsecretariat@iabse2019.org