No. 17.fib Proceedings of the 5th International PhD Symposium in Civil Engineering - Vol. 1 - 16-19 June 2004 - Delft, The Netherlands PDF Format

The International PhD Symposium in Civil Engineering has gained worldwide recognition in the civil engineering scientific community since it was first organized in Budapest in 1996. The subsequent Symposia in Budapest (1998), Vienna (2000), and Munich (2002) have significantly contributed to its reputation. Therefore, it is a pleasure to host the 5th Symposium in Delft.

The Symposium follows the same format as the preceding ones, except that this time the invitation to participate was not limited to structural engineering disciplines, but was also extended to geotechnical engineering, underground structures engineering, and road and railway engineering.

The PhD Symposium serves as a forum for international scientific discussion in civil engineering. PhD candidates have the opportunity to present their current research projects to a broad international audience. Strict quality assurance standards were applied. First, abstracts were submitted and reviewed to check whether the contributions were within the scope of the Symposium, and afterwards, members of the Scientific Committee reviewed the full papers.

A total of about 180 contributions were accepted, representing PhD candidates from 28 countries. The increased interest in the Symposium has led to a relatively large number of parallel sessions in order to ensure that all submitted papers can be presented and that sufficient time is available for discussion. We sincerely hope that the Symposium will serve as a platform for learning and exchange of ideas among young scientists and their peers.

The support of fib (Fédération Internationale du Béton) for this series of Symposia is particularly acknowledged. Many thanks are also due to the members of the Scientific and Organizing Committees and to the sponsors for their strong interest in the event. We are also indebted to the PhD candidates and the staff of the Research School Structural Engineering in the Netherlands for their contribution.

Yani Sutjiadi of Delft University of Technology has been instrumental in the organization of the Symposium. Her unrelenting enthusiasm, as well as her organizational, engineering, and publishing skills, have been truly invaluable. The editorial assistance of Niki Kringos and Jeroen Hoefakker is also specially acknowledged.

We hope that the initiator of the PhD Symposia series, Prof. György Balázs, will agree with us that the Delft Symposium meets the standards set by the earlier Symposia.

We wish all participants a successful Symposium and a rewarding career within the civil engineering community.

The Editors:
Joost Walraven
Johan Blaauwendraad
Tom Scarpas
Bert Snijder

Delft, June 2004