SynerCrete’23

14, 15 & 16 June 2023 - Milos Island, Greece

The International RILEM Conference on Synergising expertise towards sustainability and robustness of cement-based materials and concrete structures

Overview

Understanding the complex behaviour of cement-based materials (CBM) and concrete structures during their entire lifecycle demands that researchers transcend approaches based on a single discipline. Interdisciplinary work is known, however, to bring important challenges in the view of the need to combine approaches and methods that are very distinct by nature, as well as enabling adequate communication between scientific fields with different (sometimes conflicting) terminologies, different perspectives and different collaboration practices/dynamics.

Following the legacy of COST Action TU1404, which initiated the SynerCrete conference series in 2018, the 2023 Edition aims to continue the pursuit of bringing together relevant stakeholders in order to synergize their expertise by accelerating transfer of knowledge and promoting international and inter-speciality exchange of information, creating avenues for new developments towards more robust and sustainable solutions for cement-based materials and concrete structures. COST Action TU1404 “Towards the next generation of standards for service life of cement-based materials and structures” and associated RILEM TCs 287-CCS and 254-CMS have brought about significant interdisciplinary collaboration, mostly between material scientists and structural engineers, with involvement of several other disciplines. Bridging between experts in experimental work and experts in numerical simulation has also been a strong focus.

SynerCrete series goal is to support these established collaborations at the same time being open to all interested members of the scientific/practising community to encourage further development of the network. The focus of the conference is to communicate, discuss and arouse progress in research, development and application of CBM and structural concrete through combination of expertise from distinct fields of knowledge, including such exciting fields of research as performance-based design, 3D modelling for analysis/design, Building Information Modelling and even robotics, while keeping focus on multi-scale approaches at time and spatial levels. Specific attention is also paid to the challenges that are inherent to the combination of different expertises, and the ways through which better management and research collaboration can be achieved in the interdisciplinary research projects.

The conference will consist of lectures by researchers and other professionals from a variety of scientific disciplines in works targeted to cement-based materials and structures, as well as a selected panel of invited speakers. The conference is intended for researchers and practitioners at any career level who have interest in deepening knowledge on the targeted subjects.

Agnieszka Jędrzejewska and Fragkoulis Kanavaris
Chairs of SynerCrete’23

Miguel Azenha, Farid Benboudjema and Dirk Schlicke
Chairs of the Scientific Committee of SynerCrete’23

Conference Topics

The focus of the conference is given to synergising interdisciplinary expertise on cement-based materials and concrete structures towards more robust and sustainable solutions on both material and structural level.

Therefore, in the view of this global reasoning the following set of sub-topics was envisaged:

Alternative concrete formulations for adaptation to climate change
- Concrete technology, durability and advanced material testing
- Cement replacement materials
- Bio-based, geopolymers, alkali-activated materials and other novel binders
- Natural and calcined natural pozzolans and calcination processes
Performance-based and multiphysics/multiscale design and innovative testing
- Multi-scale in time and space modelling
- Multi-physics simulation and structural design
- Novel testing techniques
Structural health monitoring (SHM) and maintenance management
- Proven techniques and new approaches for SHM
- Consideration of measurement data in maintenance strategies
- Infrastructure maintenance management
Integral BIM-based planning
- Planning in a perfect BIM-environment
- BIM and structural design
- Novel approaches in BIM
- Practical examples
Resource-responsible building
- Innovative building methods
- Recent developments on guidelines and standardization
- Sustainability and life-cycle assessment of concrete materials and structures
- Robotics and cement-based materials
- Digital fabrication

Venue

The event is scheduled to take place on the island of Milos in Greece.

Milos, known as the island of Aphrodite, is considered to be one of the most breath-taking destinations in the Cyclades island complex, with unique natural beauty. It is a Greek island known for its spectacular beaches and volcanic landscape, filled with mesmerising colours.

Milos has a long track history in mining owing to its geological morphology with high-quality kaolinite, bentonite, perlite and sulfur deposits found across the island. Few would also be aware that the island of Milos is regarded as an active volcano in the Aegean sea, which justifies the occurrence of the deposits of natural pozzolans in the wider region, such as volcanic ash.

The Milos Conference Center

The Milos Conference Center – George Eliopoulos is located at Adamas, Milos Island’s main port, on a 10,000 sq. meters plot. The Milos Conference Center is housed in a restored old kaolin processing plant, built in 1925, overlooking the gulf of Milos. It is an excellent sample of its period’s industrial architecture.

It was abandoned and derelict for many years, falling apart before the ruin was fully restored with high aesthetic standards and respect to its original architecture. The initial concept was to be preserved and serve as a characteristic benchmark of the country’s industrial heritage. The ultimate decision was the edifice to be used as the home for conferences, cultural and other events, solving thus one of the Island’s perennial problems, the lack of modern large multipurpose halls.

Social events: Gala dinner and boat tour

The conference dinner takes place at ‘Kipos café’, a fabulous tavern placed on the top of the hill with an amazing view over a Kipos beach, mesmerising with its crystal-clear turquoise waters. The restaurant offers traditional Greek and Mediterranean cuisines, including kleftiko, dakos and fish, as well as delicious coffee. A taste of local folk music will be given by the music duo of the Milos Cultural Centre.

The boat tour is designed to take approximately 5 hours and visit via sea the most beautiful spots of Milos island. With the boat tour an amazing opportunity will be given to participants to witness the most mesmerising landscapes, seas and coastlines in Greece in a truly unique experience. The boat will be specifically chartered for the day only for those associated with SynerCrete’23 conference and their accompanying persons – an unconventional opportunity for socialising and networking!

Committees

Organizing Committee

Agnieszka Jędrzejewska (Chair), Silesian University of Technology, POLAND
Fragkoulis Kanavaris (Chair), ARUP, London, UK

Dirk Schlicke, Institute of Structural Concrete, TU Graz, AUSTRIA
Farid Benboudjema, ENS Paris-Saclay, FRANCE
Miguel Azenha, ISISE, University of Minho, PORTUGAL

General information

News feed

Scientific Committee

Miguel Azenha (Chair), ISISE, University of Minho, PORTUGAL
Farid Benboudjema (Chair), ENS Paris-Saclay, FRANCE
Dirk Schlicke (Chair), Institute of Structural Concrete, TU Graz, AUSTRIA

Ali Abbas, UK

Jean-Luc Adia, FRANCE

Syed Yasir Alam, FRANCE

Ouali Amiri, FRANCE

Sofiane Amziane, FRANCE

Carmen Andrade, SPAIN

Shingo Asamoto, JAPAN

Umberto Berardi, CANADA

Susan Bernal Lopez, UK

Violeta Bokan Bosiljkov, SLOVENIA

Ruben Paul Borg, MALTA

Alexandra Bourdot, FRANCE

Matthieu Briffaut, FRANCE

Antonio Caggiano, ITALY

Alejandro Caldentey, SPAIN

Arnaud Castel, AUSTRALIA

Jean Philippe Charron, CANADA

Fanjie (Sam) Chen, AUSTRALIA

Özlem Cizer, BELGIUM

Florence Collet, FRANCE

Alexis Courtois, FRANCE

Aveline Darquennes, FRANCE

Nele De Belie, BELGIUM

Abobakr Elwakeel, UK

Eduardo Fairbairn, BRAZIL

Rui Faria, PORTUGAL

Miguel Ferreira, FINLAND

Etore Funchal de Faria, BRAZIL

Ivan Gabrijel, CROATIA

Dariusz Gawin, POLAND

José Granja, PORTUGAL

Tulio Honorio, FRANCE

Ole Jensen, DENMARK

Agnieszka Jędrzejewska, POLAND

Sri Kalyana Rama Jyosyula, INDIA

Gintaris Kaklauskas, LITHUANIA

Fragkoulis Kanavaris, UK

Antonios Kanellopoulos, UK

Anja Klausen, NORWAY

Barbara Klemczak, POLAND

Eduardus Koenders, GERMANY

Konstantin Kovler, ISRAEL

Markus Krüger, AUSTRIA

Jacek Kwasny, UK

Laurie Lacarriere, FRANCE

Rodrigo Lameiras, BRAZIL

Marco Liebscher, GERMANY

Paulo B. Lourenço, PORTUGAL

Lino Maia, PORTUGAL

Ippei Maruyama, JAPAN

Enrico Masoero, UK

Thomas Matchei, GERMANY

Shishir Mundra, SWITZERLAND

Sree Nanukuttan, UK

Cécile Oliver-Leblond, FRANCE

Małgorzata Pająk, POLAND

Arnaud Perrot, FRANCE

Nivin Phillip, INDIA

Bernhard Pichler, AUSTRIA

Mário Pimentel, PORTUGAL

John Provis, UK

Vlastimir Radonjanin, SERBIA

Ketan Ragalwar, USA

Mezgeen Rasol, FRANCE

Michael Raupach, GERMANY

Kyle Riding, USA

Emmanuel Roziere, FRANCE

Łukasz Sadowski, POLAND

Małgorzata Safuta, POLAND

Jacqueline Saliba, FRANCE

Florence Sanchez, USA

Jorge Sánchez Dolado, SPAIN

Javier Sánchez Montero, SPAIN

David Santillan, SPAIN

Suresh Seetharam, BELGIUM

Alain Sellier, FRANCE

José Sena-Cruz, PORTUGAL

Marijana Serdar, CROATIA

Carlos Serra, PORTUGAL

Ruben Snellings, BELGIUM

Mohammed Sonebi, UK

Carlos Sousa, PORTUGAL

Stéphanie Staquet, BELGIUM

Prannoy Suraneni, USA

Vít Šmilauer, CZECH REPUBLIC

Reignard Tan, NORWAY

Luping Tang, SWEDEN

Jean-Michel Torrenti, FRANCE

Julio Torres Martín, SPAIN

François Toutlemond, FRANCE

Neven Ukrainczyk, GERMANY

Jens Peder Ulfkjaer, DENMARK

Luca Valentini, ITALY

Gideon van Zijl, SOUTH AFRICA

Roman Wan-Wender, BELGIUM

William Wilson, CANADA

Mateusz Wyrzykowski, SWITZERLAND

Guang Ye, THE NETHERLANDS

Ismael Yurtdas, FRANCE

Kamyab Zandi, USA

Hongzhi Zhang, CHINA

Xiangming Zhou, UK

Mariusz Zych, POLAND

Dates & Submission

Submission of the papers is managed through the submission platform sciencesconf.org. Use the button below to go to the submission platform.

Call for abstracts is closed.

Submission of full papers is closed.

The acceptance of the final versions of full texts has been completed. The Authors of the accepted papers have been invited for oral presentations of their work during the event. To confirm your participation, please complete your registration.

To publish the paper in the Proceedings there must be a unique registration associated with the paper (i.e. each registered participant is eligible to publish one paper).

Presentations during the event can be made only by the registered authors of the accepted full papers.

Registration

Registration is open. Regular registration fees apply.

Gala dinner: to be held on Thursday 15.06 at a traditional vineyard in Milos. Cost - 75€. Registration to Gala dinner is closed (the capacity of the venue has been reached)!

Visit of Milos: a boat trip around the Milos island to be held on Saturday morning 17.06 half a day (9am - 2:30pm). Cost - 75€. Registration to the boat tour is still possible.

Registration fees

Early-bird registration fees before 28.02.2023
Regular 500€
RILEM member 400€
Student 250€

Regular registration fees 1.03 - 31.05.2023
Regular 600€
RILEM member 500€
Student 300€

Programme

Keynote speakers

Tentative Programme

TC meetings (morning) + TC sessions (afternoon) Welcome reception (evening) 14 June 2023
Conference sessions + Gala dinner (evening) 15 June 2023
Conference sessions 16 June 2023
Visit of Milos (morning - half day) 17 June 2023

Special sessions

RILEM TCs related to the topics of the conferece will organise special sessions and/or TC meetings within SynerCrete’23, including:

TC 275-HBD: Hygrothermal behaviour and durability of bio-aggregate based building materials
(Chaired by Sofiane Amziane & Florence Collet)

TC 281-CCC: Carbonation of concrete with supplementary cementitious materials
(Chaired by Nele de Belie & Susan Bernal Lopez)

TC 283-CAM: Chloride transport in alkali-activated materials
(Chaired by Arnaud Castel & Shishir Mundra)

TC 287-CCS: Early-age and long-term cracking analysis in RC structures
(Chaired by Miguel Azenha & Fragkoulis Kanavaris)

TC 298-EBD: Test methods to evaluate durability of blended cement pastes against deleterious ions
(Chaired by William Wilson & Prannoy Suraneni)

TC 299-TES: Thermal energy storage in cementitious composites
(Chaired by Jorge Dolado & Antonio Caggiano)

TC MCP: Accelerated mineral carbonation for the production of construction materials
(Chaired by Ruben Snellings & Thomas Matschei)

TC 302-CNC: Carbon-based nanomaterials for multifunctional cementitious matrices
(Chaired by Florence Sanchez & Marco Liebscher)

Awards & Special Issue

Best Papers Awards

Papers presented during the Conference and published in the Proceedings are eligible for one of the three awards:

Best International Collaboration Award
Open to all accepted papers co-authored by the Authors affiliated in the institutions from at least 2 distinct countries.

Best Interdisciplinary Award
Open to all accepted papers which reach over disciplines.

Best PhD Research Award
Open to all accepted papers co-authored by PhD students as first authors. Papers MUST be submitted as ‘Full paper (1st author is PhD student)’.

Papers are recommended for the Awards by the Reviewers and chosen by independent Juries whose members are selected from the Scientific Committee.

Each paper can be awarded only in one category.

The Awardees will be waived of the registration fee. The fee will be returned to the registered Author whose registration is associated with the awarded paper.

The Authors of the awarded papers will be also invited to feature in the Special Issue of the Journal of Advanced Concrete Technology.

The Awards will be announced during the Gala dinner on 15 June.

Special Issue

The authors of selected papers presented at SynerCrete’23 will be invited to submit original contributions related to their participation in the conference in the special issue of the Journal of Advanced Concrete Technology (published by Japan Concrete Institute, and indexed according to ‘Journal of Citation Reports’) related to SynerCrete’23. ACT Journal publishes original scientific papers or technical reports on innovative or advanced techniques of concrete industry.

Travel

The island of Milos is located approximately 186 km from Athens. It is accessible either by plane (Athens International Airport to Milos Airport), or by ferry from Piraeus, the International Port of Athens.

The airport of Milos, is situated 5 km away from Adamas, the harbour of the island, which also is the location of the venue. Flights from Athens International Airport towards Milos Airport operate on a daily basis at frequent time intervals. The typical flight duration is 30 minutes.

High-speed ferries operate from Piraeus, the port of Athens, to Milos’ main harbour (Adamas). The typical duration of the journey is 4 hours. There is a direct connection between Athens International Airport and Piraeus Port via subway and overground railway.

Accommodation

There are several accommodation options in the wider region of Adamas in Milos. Some accommodation options within walking distance from the venue are given in the list (with links).

Accommodation Tax: The Greek government has introduced the accommodation tax on January 1st, 2018. You may find below the additional tax per room / per night – depending on the type of the hotel:

one or two stars: 0.50€
three stars: 1.5€
four stars: 3€
five stars: 4€

Proceedings

Publication of a paper in the Proceedings requires a unique registration associated with the paper, i.e. each registered participant is eligible for publication of one paper.

The Proceedings will be accessible for delegates prior to the conference.