Department of Structural Engineering and Building Materials

Em. Prof. dr. ir. Luc Taerwe

Luc Taerwe

Name: Luc Taerwe

Title: Em. Prof. dr. ir.

Function: Emeritus Senior Full Professor – Director China Platform of Ghent University
Address: Ghent University - Department of Structural Engineering and Building Materials  

T +32 9 2645535 (secretariat)  

M +32 474 838535  
E-mail:  luc.taerwe@UGent.be or luc.taerwe1@telenet.be

Overview

Luc Taerwe was a senior full professor in the field of Concrete Structures until 2018. From 1995 till 2018 he was the director of the Magnel-Vandepitte Laboratory for Structural Engineering and Building Materials (formerly Magnel Laboratory for Concrete Research) and chairman of the Department of Structural Engineering and Building Materials from 1998 till 2018.

From 2008 till 2012 he served as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture and he was a member of the Board of Governers of Ghent University in the academic years 2012-2014 and 2017-2018.

Since 2016 he is the Director of the China Platform of Ghent University, since 2018 he is a National RPGE Chair Professor at Tongji University (Shanghai) and since 2019 a Guest Professor at Southeast University (Nanjing).

He is a member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium, class of Technical Sciences.

Luc Taerwe obtained his Master of Science degrees in Civil Engineering (1975) and in Structural Mechanics (1976), his PhD degree (1985) and his “Aggregatie voor het Hoger Onderwijs” degree  (Habilitation - 1990) from Ghent University.

Research activities

Luc Taerwe performed and conducted research in the areas of reinforced and prestressed concrete, fire resistance, robustness of structures, tunnel linings, composite reinforcement (FRP), structural reliability, statistical quality control, high performance concrete, fibre reinforced concrete etc.

In 2016 he was co-founder of the Joint Laboratory for Industrial Construction with Tongji University and the Shanghai Construction Group as partners.

Organizer of several international conferences and workshops and member of the Scientific Committee of a high number of international symposia and conferences.

Publications

A list of publications (since 1992) can be found at http://lib.ugent.be/bibliografie/801000375731

Scientific career

  • Research assistant at the Magnel Laboratory for Concrete Research of Ghent University (1977-1985)
  • Post-doc at the Magnel Laboratory for Concrete Research (1985-1991)
  • Associate Professor (1991-1995)
  • Full Professor of Concrete Structures (1995-1999)
  • Senior Full Professor of Concrete Structures (1999-2018)
  • Emeritus Senior Full Professor (2018 - )

Awards

National

  • Award of the "Association of Engineers from the University of Ghent" (AIG), in 1983 for the project "Statically indeterminate reinforced concrete beams"
  • Award "F. De Waele" of the "Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research" for the project "Experimental investigation of the strain-softening behaviour of concrete subjected to uni-axial compression"
  • Magnel Award for the biennial 1984-1986, presented by the control office SECO for the doctoral thesis.

International

  • "Robert L'Hermite Medal 1988" of RILEM (International Union of Testing and Research Laboratories for Materials and Structures) "... to recognize distinguished authorship in written exposition in the field of materials of construction and structures ...".
  • IABSE Prize 1991 "... in recognition of outstanding achievements in research, development and practice in the fields of quality control, structural safety and analysis of concrete structures" (IABSE : International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering)
  • Fellow American Concrete Institute (ACI), 2001.
  • Fellow of the "International Institute for FRP in Construction" (IIFC) for contributions in the field of "the advancement of the understanding and application of fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites in the civil infrastructure”, 2008.
  • Honorary Life Member of fib (international federation for structural concrete), 2015
  • Shanghai Science and Technology Award, 2020
  • Fellow of the International Federation for Structural Concrete (fib), 2020

Civil

  • Officier in de Leopoldsorde (1997), Commandeur in de Kroonorde (2002), Officier in de Leopoldsorde (2010), Grootofficier in de Orde van Leopold II (2012), Burgerlijke Medaille eerste klasse (2014), Burgerlijk kruis eerste klasse (2015)

Committees and Working Groups

International

  • Member of the European Standards Committee CEN/TC 250/SC2 which is in charge of Eurocode 2
  • fib - International Federation for Structural Concrete: member of the Technical Council, Commission 9, Commission 10, Task Group 1.6, Task Group 2.3, Task Group 2.8 and Task Group 10.1
  • Member of ACI Committees 363, 423 and 440 (American Concrete Institute).
  • Member of several evaluation panels for research and education on demand of funding agencies and universities abroad.

National

  • Member of the Technical Council of the Inspection Office SECO
  • Chairman of the Belgian Standards Committee E25002 - Eurocode 2: Design of Concrete Structures
  • Chairman of the Belgian Standards Committee E229, which is the mirror group of the European Technical Committee CEN/TC 229 – Prefabricated Concrete Products
  • Chairman of the Belgian Standards Committee E177, which is the mirror group of the European Technical Committee CEN/TC177 - Prefabricated reinforced components of autoclaved aerated concrete or lightweight aggregate concrete with open structure
  • President of KVIV, the Royal Flemish Engineering Society (2013-2015)
  • President ie-net Engineering Society (2016-2020)
  • President Belgian Concrete Society (2015-2019)

Editorial tasks

Editor-in-chief of the fib journal “Structural Concrete” (IF = 2.174) (2006 - )

Former teaching activities

Concrete Technology, Reinforced Concrete, Prestressed Concrete, Probability Theory and Statistics, Structural Reliability Theory, Non-linear Analysis of Concrete Structures.