Professor Luc Taerwe. (COURTESY PHOTO)

By BI Weizi

Luc Taerwe is a member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium, and a senior professor in the field of concrete structures at Ghent University (GU). He has also been a Chair Professor at Tongji University, Shanghai since 2018. 

He recently spoke to Science & Technology Daily to introduce some of the most important cooperation projects between China and Belgium, and the latest development trends in the construction industry.

Science & Technology Daily: What’s your first impression of China when you came here for the first time? How did cooperation between Ghent University and the higher education institutes of China started?

Luc Taerwe: The first time I travelled to China was in 2004. When I arrived in Shanghai I was really impressed by the size of the city, the traffic density, the lively atmosphere, the Chinese food and last but not least, the variety in building styles. At that time the Oriental Pearl TV Tower and the Jin Mao Tower were the only high-rise structures in the Pudong area.

For my first visit to China, I had been contacted by Prof. Yuan Yong of Tongji University to visit the Siping campus and its test facilities. Prof. Yuan is a renowned expert in the field of underground construction. I was very much impressed by the test facilities at Tongji in the field of civil and structural engineering and the high level of research that was performed. The Siping campus is a very attractive place to live and to study with its buildings in different architectural styles, and the many trees which make it a green campus. Prof. Yuan and I discovered that we had many common research interests and this was the start of a long-lasting and intensive scientific cooperation. As Tongji is ranked as the top university in China in the discipline of Civil Engineering, I was very honoured and glad to have the opportunity to perform high level joint research with my colleagues from Tongji.

The cooperation with Prof. Yuan, is an example of a very successful evolution due to several joint efforts. Through the cooperation with Prof. Yuan, I got in contact with unique construction projects like the Hongkong-Zhuhai-Macao link, the Shanghai Tower (still the second tallest building in the world), and other unique infrastructure projects. In all these years of cooperation, more than 40 Chinese PhD students obtained their PhD degree in Civil Engineering at Ghent University and many master students from Ghent studied at Tongji for one semester or a full year in civil engineering or in architectural engineering

An important step in our cooperation was the establishment of a Joint Laboratory in 2017 which, since then, is the global framework of our cooperation.And I was appointed as a Chair Professor at Tongji in 2019.

As director of the China Platform at Ghent University in Belgium, what role do you think the platform plays in strengthening cooperation and exchanges between the two parties? Could you please introduce some important projects or activities that have been organized for the past few years?

Ghent University is the only Belgian University with a specific China Platform that coordinates the cooperation with Chinese universities and scientific institutes, both in the fields of research and education. The Platform was established in 2006, which means that recently we could celebrate our 15th anniversary. We are also the only Belgian University with a representative office in China, more particularly in Beijing. This office facilitates the exchange of information with Chinese universities and Chinese organizations like the China Scholarship Council. Our representative also has direct contacts with the Belgian diplomatic posts in China such as the Embassy in Beijing and the different consulates as e.g. in Shanghai. In Belgium we established very good contacts with the Chinese Embassy in the Kingdom of Belgium and the Mission of the People's Republic of China to the European Union, both located in Brussels.

The China Platform offers support to staff members who want to set up cooperation with Chinese colleagues and also to exchange students in both directions. Ghent University has more than 100 cooperation agreements with Chinese universities which means that we have established a very broad academic network.

All these efforts resulted in the fact that actually we have about 750 Chinese students at GU, most of them being PhD students with a CSC scholarship. The Chinese students are the biggest group of international students at GU.

One of the most successful achievements to mention, is the establishment of 11 Joint Laboratories with different Chinese Universities in different research disciplines. Personally, I am involved in one of them with Tongji University.

As an accomplished expert in the field of Concrete Structures, could you please introduce the latest trend in construction industry? And how does the development in construction industry help save energy, protect residents’ health and cut emissions?

Since several years, there is a trend to move from classical construction, which is very labour intensive, to smart construction in which the latest technologies are applied. An example is precast concrete, where concrete elements are cast in a factory and assembled at the building site. In this way the quality of the elements is much better as the manufacturing is almost independent of the weather conditions and the tolerances on the dimensions are smaller compared to on site casting. Moreover, the construction speed can be increased.

3D printing is also a new trend that is under development. Actually, it is only limited to specific applications. It allows to produce concrete elements with complicated shapes with a minimum use of materials.

Another trend is sustainable construction where reduction of the CO2 footprint is the main concern and this for the complete life cycle of a concrete structure, from cradle to grave including recycling after demolition. Applied to buildings, we speak about the “green building concept” where also the energy consumption during use (cooling, heating, …) is considered.

One of the applications is UHPC which is a very strong and durable concrete, which allows to produce very thin elements, thus reducing the material consumption.

Another trend is to use other binders than cement. It is known that during the production of cement, a lot of CO2 gets into the atmosphere. By replacing a part of the cement by other materials, the CO2 emission related to concrete can be significantly reduced.

What do you think of China’s efforts in achieving green and sustainable development by investing more in science and technologies?

All the trends I just mentioned, are the result of recent scientific and technological developments. However, still a lot of issues need to be solved before applications in daily construction practice are possible. At many universities in China, I could see that high-level experimental facilities have become available with up-to-date research equipment especially in some important laboratories. In this way China will be at the forefront of the development of new and advanced building materials and construction techniques.

In what ways do you think people’s livelihood has been improved by scientific and technological development here in China, specifically in the area of construction industry?

In the past, many Chinese people were living in rather old traditional houses with little comfort, especially in rural areas. During the last decades a lot of investments were made in new housing projects where people can now live in a much more comfortable way. Also, the infrastructure (highways, high-speed railway lines, bridges) has evolved tremendously at a very high speed which is really a unique achievement at the international level.

I learned that you were bestowed with the 2019 Shanghai Science and Technology Awards for your dedication to deepening international exchange and cooperation between China and Belgium, what does this award mean to you? What are your future plans to strengthen cooperation between Belgium and China especially amid COVID-19?

I was very honoured to receive this prestigious award, reflecting my long-standing activities in Shanghai in various fields.  It is a nice application of the triple helix model of innovation, which refers to a close interaction between academia, industry and government to foster scientific and economic development.

Many thanks to the colleagues of Tongji University for their initiative and support and to the city authorities of Shanghai, which I consider as my second home town.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, visits to China were and are still not convenient. Of course, this hampers the cooperation, as personal contacts are very important to exchange experiences and ideas. I hope that travelling to China will soon be possible again so that we can resume our cooperation at the regular level. 

This article is also contributed by Doctor Zhang Jiaolong at Tongji University.