This week I had the honor of presenting at the EURO-C Conference on Computational Modeling of Concrete and Concrete Structures. The research I presented involved simulation of reinforcement buckling of bars embedded in Hybrid Fiber Reinforced Concrete. It's been a topic of interest for me for several years, and will make up a large portion of my dissertation (which I keep saying I will start working on soon).
There were many other compelling talks given regarding new and improved methods of modeling concrete, from micro-scale particle models all the way up to large-scale structural models. It is important to investigate concrete at all these scales, as the behavior appears different depending on the lens through which you're looking at it. I think this conference was successful in highlighting the many complexities that come with attempting to model a material such as concrete.
The real highlight of this conference, however, was the setting. The venue was located in Bad Hofgastein, Austria, a quaint town nestled in the Gastein Valley with the Alps rising high on either side. I can not imagine a more scenic location for a conference.
More information on the conference can be found at http://euro-c.tuwien.ac.at/home/
I do not know when proceedings will be made publicly available, but if you are interested in reading my paper feel free to contact me and I will send you a copy.