This special session will highlight recent advances in structural monitoring and data interpretation for concrete structures and infrastructure. Contributions will address innovative sensing technologies such as distributed fiber-optic sensors, computer vision, contactless sensors, and multi-sensor systems. Particular attention will be given to methods that transform large and heterogeneous datasets into reliable information for structural assessment, damage detection, and maintenance planning. Topics may include physics-informed machine learning, probabilistic data interpretation, digital twins, uncertainty quantification, and value-of-information approaches. Experimental investigations, field applications, and practical case studies are particularly encouraged. The session aims to connect developments in sensing, structural mechanics, and data science, while critically discussing monitoring reliability, robustness, cost, and integration into engineering practice.

Concrete structures form the backbone of modern infrastructure, yet aging, deterioration, and growing sustainability demands call for more rational and reliable ways to evaluate their performance. This special session focuses on advances in numerical analysis—including nonlinear finite element analysis, multi-scale and durability modeling, and data-driven simulation—for the performance assessment of concrete structures under mechanical, environmental, and time-dependent actions. Beyond design verification, it explores how numerical methods can elevate maintenance and asset management: predicting deterioration and remaining service life, supporting condition assessment, and integrating with monitoring data and digital twins. By enabling evidence-based, life-cycle-oriented decisions, these approaches help extend service life, reduce material and carbon consumption, and advance a sustainable built environment.

We welcome contributions on numerical methodologies, validation against experimental or field data, and applications linking structural performance evaluation with advanced, sustainable maintenance strategies.

Planned as Inspirative Lecture Session.

This special session will address the urgent need to decarbonise concrete construction through the safe and consistent use of alternative binder concretes. Concrete remains indispensable to modern infrastructure, yet Portland cement production is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Alternative systems such as alkali-activated materials, LC³, CSA cement and other emerging low-carbon binders offer substantial emissions reductions, but their wider adoption is constrained by limited design guidance and standardisation. The session will present progress towards a fib Guideline for the Design of Structures with Alternative Binder Concretes, covering some of the following: material classification, structural design principles, bond and anchorage, ultimate and serviceability limit states, durability, detailing, testing, quality control and circularity. It will bring together researchers, practitioners and standards experts to support the transition from laboratory development to reliable structural application.

Planned as (1) Inspirative Lecture Session + (2) Discussion Session.

This session explores the transformative potential of non-metallic reinforcement in concrete, highlighting innovations that surpass traditional steel in durability, corrosion resistance, and sustainability. Experts will cover a range of critical topics, including the development of novel reinforcing structures, sustainable concrete mixtures, and advanced techniques for designing and applying non-metallic reinforcements. The session will also delve into state-of-the-art construction methods such as 3D printing and extrusion, alongside structural design approaches inspired by bionics, mathematics, and other cutting-edge methodologies. Key challenges, including bond behavior, fire resistance, and recyclability, will be examined in depth. Additionally, the use of numerical modeling and life cycle analysis to achieve optimized performance and sustainability will be explored. Join us to discover groundbreaking solutions driving the future of durable, eco-friendly infrastructure!

This special session is dedicated to advancing innovative methodologies for improving robustness, safety, resilience, and durability of concrete structures subjected to extreme loading, such as impact or blast. Bringing together experts from a variety of disciplines, the session will showcase state-of-the-art research on advanced materials, structural design innovations, and impact mitigation solutions. Key topics include:

• high-performance concrete,
• computational modeling techniques,
• experimental investigations,
• and practical applications in real-world scenarios.

By integrating perspectives from material science, structural mechanics, and applied engineering, the session seeks to present groundbreaking approaches to enhancing structural performance and safety of key infrastructure in critical load situations, such as natural disasters, accidental impacts, and security-related threats. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in insightful discussions and share ideas that promote innovation and progress in the development of resilient reinforced concrete infrastructure.

The rapid expansion of wind energy requires reliable, durable and sustainable support structures capable of meeting the demands of increasing turbine sizes and extended service lives. Concrete wind turbine towers play a key role due to their structural performance, durability and suitability for prefabrication. This special session aims to bring together researchers, engineers and industry professionals working on the design, rehabilitation and monitoring of concrete wind turbine towers. Topics of interest include innovative materials and structural concepts, structural health monitoring, and methods for repair, strengthening and lifetime extension.

This session supports the symposium theme “ReThink Concrete: Structures for Sustainable Transformation” by addressing concrete wind turbine towers as essential infrastructure for the global energy transition. It provides a platform for exchanging advances in innovative design, monitoring, rehabilitation and digital asset management. By promoting service-life extension, resource efficiency and resilient structural solutions, the session contributes to the sustainable transformation of concrete infrastructure.

Bridge infrastructure faces pressure from ageing assets, climate demands, limited budgets, and the need to reduce embodied carbon. Addressing this requires industrial and circular approaches. Industrialisation can improve speed, scalability, and predictability through repeatable products, and processes. Circularity promotes sustainability through life extension, reuse of existing elements, and design approaches that preserve value for future reuse. Digitalization acts as a key enabler of both, providing information and decision support to deploy industrial solutions and enable safe, verifiable reuse at scale.

This session explores the methods, technologies, and practical experiences needed to realize these ambitions. Topics include portfolio-based asset management, product platform approaches, Digital product passports and data ecosystems for circularity, AI-supported decision support, and data-driven methods for assessing residual capacity and enabling safe reuse of structural bridge elements.

The session aims to advance discussion on how industrialization, circularity, and digitalization can be combined to deliver scalable and sustainable bridge renewal.

This special session focuses on AI-augmented design-space exploration to solve engineering problems for concrete structures. Contributions are invited on methods that help engineers generate, screen, compare, and explain structural design alternatives before detailed verification: parametric modeling and studies, statistical sampling, sensitivity analysis, surrogate models, neural networks, Bayesian and evolutionary optimization, uncertainty-aware ranking, and large language models for code-informed workflows and computational automation. Applications may include various structures like beams, slabs, shells, bridges, and low-carbon structural concepts, provided the emphasis remains on digital decision support and design methodology. The session invites researchers and practitioners to exchange transferable methods, case studies, and open challenges for bringing AI-supported design exploration into concrete engineering practice.