EUROSTEEL 2008 - ECCS Publications - E-store

FOREWORD
Eurosteel 2008 was jointly organized by the three universities, the Graz University of
Technology (Austria), the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) and the Vienna University of
Technology (Austria), which comprise an area of similar historical and cultural
background in the southern part of Central Europe. Graz, located right in the middle of this
area, hosted this conference, which followed the 4 th conference Eurosteel 2005 in
Maastricht (The Netherlands).
Eurosteel 2008 was the 5 th European Conference on Steel and Composite Structures,
presenting a European forum for both researchers and practitioners in this field. 313 papers
from 40 countries demonstrate the success of the original idea and the progress made
through the four preceding conferences.
The promotion of young researchers and practitioners led to the participation of 110 young
engineers, nearly one third of the total number of participants. A specific Young
Researcher’s Award, given to the three highest ranking contributions, was provided for
further motivation.
The proceedings of the conference Eurosteel 2008 give a picture of the state of the art of
steel and composite structures worldwide. They comprise contributions from the field of
“practice-research-new materials”. All papers were reviewed by a scientific committee of
international experts. Their voluntary work and assistance is gratefully acknowledged.
The printing of the proceedings was considerably supported by ECCS, which constituted a
significant financial help for the organizers. A large number of sponsors supported the
organization of the conference and are kindly thanked for their contributions. We are
particularly grateful to the Graz University of Technology, which generously allowed us to
use their facilities for hosting the conference.
Richard Greiner Darko Beg Josef Fink
Graz, August 2008