Eurosteel 2011

Editorial from Steel Construction 3/2011.

László Dunai, Miklós Iványi, Károly Jármai, László Gergely Vigh

In 2011, “three years after Graz”, the 6th European Conference on Steel and Composite Structures, the Eurosteel 2011 – organized by three major Hungarian technical universities – is held in the heart of Budapest, hosted by the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.

Geomechanics and Tunnelling Issue 4/2011

Cover Story: Work to upgrade the Westbahn line to a modern high-speed line has been under way since the 1980s. Because of the route and the topographical conditions, a number of tunnels are required. The requirements for rail tunnels have changed significantly since the start of tunnel construction for the upgrading of the Westbahn line, while mechanised tunnelling has made great progress. The article on side 347 explains the procedure used by the client for the selection of a method of tunnelling.

Don't Complain – Act!

Editorial from Beton- und Stahlbetonbau 2/2011

Dr.-Ing. Karl Morgen

For years now, German engineers − and especially designers − have been complained about the flood of codes brought upon them. Professional associations have finally taken up this justified criticism. Correspondingly, initiatives to "professionalize" the "prestandardization" work have been created.

Revision of the DAfStb Guideline on Concrete Repairs - Status Update

Download the article from Beton- und Stahlbetonbau 06/2011.

Several working groups involving interested circles are working on a revision of the guideline "Protection and Repair of Concrete Members" (Concrete Repair Guideline) of the Deutscher Ausschuss für Stahlbeton e.V. (DAfStb). The following report provides an early update on which direction the revision and update of the guideline is planned to take.

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Beton- und Stahlbetonbau (Concrete and Reinforced Concrete Structures), is the journal for all aspects of plain, reinforced and prestressed concrete construction.

PORR to build two tunnels for Stuttgart 21

Deutsche Bahn awarded the first tunnelling contracts on 30 July 2011 for Stuttgart 21 to a joint venture lead by the PORR Group. After considering all competitive factors that joint venture was chosen out of four building consortiums bid for the European-wide tender. With tender packages PFA 1.2. and PFA 1.6a (Filder Tunnel and Ober-/Untertürkheim Tunnels) now having been awarded around a quarter of the tenders for this railway project have been completed. Deutsche Bahn claims to still be within the planned budget.

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Bauphysik (Building Physics), the journal for thermal and sound insulation, moisture control and fire protection in the civil and structural engineering sectors.

Construction and finance contract for the new trunk line in Munich

Representatives of the Bavarian state government and German Railways DB AG signed the construction and finance contract for the second S-Bahn urban railway trunk line in Munich on 8 April 2011. The contract regulates the details of the financing of the project to build the second trunk line.

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Bautechnik (Structural Engineering), the journal for the entire civil and structural engineering sector.

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Wind power plants: Planning procedure using the example of a system with savonius rotor

Download the article from Bautechnik 05/2011.

Christoph A. Beecken, Björn Knull

Wind energy gained in importance for electric power supply due to financial incentives for wind turbine generators (WTG) as politically favoured renewable energy source and the resulting technical further development. Building a relevant landscape element, the approvability of the structure plays a decisive role in planning and design of WTG.