On 16 and 17 February 2023, the traditional pile symposium of the Technical University of Braunschweig took place in Braunschweig. In the course of the event, the Edgard Frankignoul Prize was awarded for the ninth time to students and engineers from science and practice. The independent jury of renowned experts awarded the following prizes:
1st prize went to Patrick Staubach from Bauhaus University Weimar for his dissertation "On the numerical modelling of pile installation". 2nd place went to Kai Rosenbrock from Ramboll Deutschland GmbH, whose Master's thesis dealt with the topic "Investigations into the behaviour of open steel pipe piles in refilled boreholes using large-scale model tests". For the first time in the history of the Frankignoul Prize, there was a split 3rd place. This went to Lilli Feske from Helmut Schmidt University / University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, who dedicated her bachelor thesis to "Investigations of various pile systems with regard to sustainability supported by the methods of Building Information Modelling", and to Johannes Berndt from Dr.-Ing. J. Henne Geotechnik GmbH for his dissertation on "Investigations into the load-bearing behaviour of ductile-ram piles".
For the winners, the prize has a special meaning: "The opportunity to present this work at the pile symposium is a great way to share this knowledge with the professional world," Kai Rosenbrock is pleased to say. For Lilli Feske, who unfortunately could not be there in person, the honour also has a personal significance: "It shows me that my achievement as a young scientist is recognised and has given me an enormous boost of motivation for my Master's thesis".
Promoting young talent in special civil engineering
Promoting young scientists in the field of pile foundations has been an important concern for Stump-Franki for years. "The sponsorship award recognises outstanding achievements of young people who have particularly distinguished themselves - even in the early years of their professional careers" says Benjamin Kalthoff, representative of Stump-Franki. We are already looking forward to the interesting research work and applications in the coming years. The Edgard Frankignoul Prize will probably be awarded again in two years' time.