Seminar on ‘Building and Sustainable Development in Extreme Conditions’ at Arkinova

The SIAME (civil and mechanical engineering) laboratory, with the support of ISA BTP (public works institute) and UPPA (Pau and Pays de l’Adour University) is organising the Scientific Days on research carried out in the field of concrete or other hydraulically-bound materials and their applications at the Arkinova Technology Park on 12 and 13 July.  

The French-speaking collective for research and training in concrete brings together 14 university laboratories and French-speaking public bodies in Belgium, Luxembourg, Quebec, Switzerland and France, with, in particular, the  laboratory for engineering science applied to mechanics and electrical engineering (SIAME), based in the Arkinova site.  

This network formalises scientific exchange between these laboratories and the organisations which carry out shared research activities.  The network also organises an annual seminar called ‘Scientific Days’, the 19^th edition of which will take place at the Pau and Pays de l’Adour University campus (UPPA).

The aim of these Scientific Days is to provide an ideal venue for discussion on research carried out in the field of concrete or other hydraulically-bound materials and their applications.  The aim is also to highlight the work done by doctoral students and to facilitate exchange between the various stakeholders of the building sector.  Around 70 participants are expected.

‘The participants come from major laboratories as well as companies and industrial groups in the building sector.  One of the original features of these days is that it is a place for exchange and meetings between scientists and entrepreneurs’, explains Céline Perlot-Bascoulès, university lecturer at ISA and organiser, with Hélène Carréde, of these Scientific Days.

The theme of the 2018 edition will be ‘building and sustainable development in extreme conditions’.  Sustainable development will be addressed in addition to extreme situations such as high temperatures, marine atmospheres or nuclear accidents.  ‘Our strength in the Basque Country is to lead research on extreme condition-resistant concrete’ says Céline Perlot-Bascoulès. 

Among the twenty topics on the agenda for these Scientific Days, a conference on repairs and works in aggressive marine conditions will end with a visit to the north sea wall in Bayonne port.  ‘This sea wall is one of the first in Europe to have been rebuilt with special concrete and a stainless steel framework’ Céline Perlot-Bascoulès explains.  

 For more information: www.rf2b.org