While the development of safety measures in cars successfully reduced the accident rate overall, the fatality rate of pedestrians is still considerably high, especially in urban environments. In 2013, 22% of all killed persons in traffic accidents in the EU were pedestrians. Furthermore the fatality rate of pedestrians has decreased by only 11% since 2010 compared to the 18% decline of all traffic participants. The majority of pedestrian fatalities in the EU (69 %) arise in urban areas. (European Commission, 2015) Whereas driving simulators have been already for decades a valuable tool for investigations of human behavior and validation of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) – regarding the driver – the development of pedestrian simulators is still in the fledgling stages. These kind of pedestrian simulators are used to investigate human behavior – regarding the pedestrian – in urban traffic scenarios in a reproducible, safe and cost efficient way. They enable studies on pedestrian behavior in hazardous traffic situations (e.g. crossing scenarios). Being an indispensable tool for car manufacturers and OEMs for the investigation of vehicle-pedestrian interactions in the development process of ADAS (pedestrian detection and avoidance), the importance will even grow in the course of the appearance of autonomous and silent cars (e.g. electric vehicle). The French research institute IFSTTAR and the German university TU München have been in this field on the cutting edge from the very beginning. Independently, they developed two different types of pedestrian simulators using different technological approaches. In 2003, the IFSTTAR has been the first research institute in the world building a full-scale pedestrian simulator in which the participants can actually walk to cross streets within a CAVE (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment). In 2014, the TU München built an HMD (Head-Mounted Display) based pedestrian simulator thanks to the technological advances made in the field of virtual reality (VR). This device has the advantages of being cheaper and portable. Whereas other existing pedestrian simulators use locomotive devices such as walk-in-place platforms (e.g. treadmills) or joysticks to simulate the participant’s move in virtual environments, the pedestrian simulators of the two project partners support natural walk. While the participants can physically walk in both simulators, the images and sounds in the two simulators show differences that could affect pedestrians’ behavior. This project aims at answering the question on the validity of the two simulators for pedestrian safety research. By running highly comparable experiments on both simulators, the technological impact on pedestrian behavior will be investigated and a cross-platform validation performed. Furthermore, in order to assess absolute validity, both simulators will be compared to experiments in real life under similar conditions.

GECKO: geostructures and hybrid solar panel coupling for optimized energy storage. Solution for energy positive buildings. 2020 will lead to the generalisation of energy positive buildings, which is a technical and economic challenge. It makes it necessary to implement new solutions, potentially combining several energy sources.Limitation of building energy consumption is a priority. However, the following questions remain to be answered: - Energy positive buidings make it necessary to produce electricity in order to compensate for the electric consumptions of the building (ligntening). How can solar panels for water production take place together with those necessary for electrivity production on a limited roof space? -How to extand the range of applicability of renewable energies, enhance their ability to be implented in various conditions and improve their economic efficiency? - How to bring the summer cooling/chilling, especially for office buildings, hospitals, eledrely housing? Geostructures (or thermo-active fundations) are a renewable solution to reach this goals. The heat is stored in the ground during the summer (while the building is being chilled), and used in the winter to heat the building. This technic uses limited space, which is intereting in dense urban areas. It is respectfull of environnment, It requires local manpower to be implemented. On an economic point of view, these systems have a significant life expectancy and need limited maintenance. The solution is relevant on an economic point of view, when considering the full cost including investment, maintenance and energy consumption of a building. The coming regulations are an opportuity for these systems. They oblige investors to comply with performance levels, and not only investment cost. The potential is therefore significant and the mix between thermo-active fundations and hybrid solar panels shall be a reference solution for energy positive buildings. The GECKO project aims at bringing answers to the structural behaviour of ground and energy piles under thermal fluctuations. It also aims at improving the applicability and economical efficiency of these systems by mixing them together with hybrid solar panels. The two main axis of the project are: 1) Behavior of the ground, ground/pile interface and pile/structure interface under thermal fluctuations. 2) Technical optimisation of the system by mixing it together with hybrid solar panels. The conclusions of the project will be applicable to more traditional use on borehole geothermal systems, or other applications on geo-structures (diaphragm walls, slabs...).

The scouring process represents a significant contributing factor in the destabilising and destruction of civil structures (bridges, earth embankments and buildings) during major flood events, yet our understanding of the mechanisms involved remains highly empirical. The main objective of the SSHEAR project is to improve understanding of this scouring process through the use of innovative observation tools and physical and numerical hydraulic modelling, from laboratory to full-scale, for the purpose of optimising methods specific to diagnostics, advanced warning and general management procedures. This project is intended to create the conditions necessary for an expert opinion to emerge that compensates for, at a national level, a generally acknowledged lack of knowledge. In the case of the French railway network, a comprehensive inventory has been drawn up of infrastructure crossing or located adjacent to waterways. For over 30 years, improvements have continuously been introduced relative to monitoring policy and both the preventive and corrective maintenance of rail and road structures. The practical principles of such monitoring programmes are organised into different actions: periodic and detailed inspections of structures, risk analyses and diagnostics, enhanced surveillance based on the implementation of in situ instrumentation and/or investigation (including bathymetry surveys). However, despite these efforts, a sensitivity classification of structures to the problem of scouring has not been adequately addressed. To overcome this reliance on empiricism, while building general knowledge (especially at the national level) and proposing optimised methods aimed at diagnostics, advanced warning procedures and infrastructure management, SSHEAR sets forth a multi-scale and multi-scientific approach based on: - physical processes of flow and erosion in the vicinity of structures (e.g. bridges, dams, embankments, quay walls), - three laboratory experiments featuring multi-scale observation, - an innovative numerical approach built around a two-phase model, - observations and field recordings of actual structures subjected to hydro-sedimentary forcing imposed due to environmental or anthropogenic actions. The SSHEAR consortium comprises six Partners, whose complementarity offers a major asset to the project, namely: a specialist in soils and fluid mechanics with extensive field practice (Partner 1: Ifsttar); geotechnical and hydraulic engineers together with sedimentologists (Partner 2: Cerema); physicists and engineers focusing on complex systems (Partner 3: FAST); infrastructure management companies (Partner 4: Cofiroute, and Partner 5: SNCF); and a technological research institute, or IRT (Partner 6: Railenium). This combined set of diverse skills makes it possible to conduct a wide range of research on the scouring process and its consequences: - from feedback and measurements in the field to a multi-scale investigation of phenomena - from experimentation to numerical modelling - from fundamental science aspects to engineering aspects - from new knowledge acquisition to practical solutions implemented by end-users.

In the context of demolition programs which are growing rapidly, particularly in the framework of major urban projects, ECOREB (Eco construction with concrete recycling) aims at dealing with recycling issues in the field of construction waste for the future sustainable city. Among the building wastes, only a part of concrete from demolition is currently recycled, mainly for road construction. Recovery of all of these materials as components for the production of recycled concrete is now opening up new environmental, economical and technological prospects but needs to overcome scientific and technological brakes. Reuse of recycled aggregates from demolition / deconstruction can limit the extraction of raw materials and thus contribute to the preservation of natural aggregates. It deals thus primarily with environmental issues. The use of recycled aggregates for the development of new concrete is part of a commitment to sustainable development, partly due to expectations of the “Grenelle de l’Environnement” in France and European regulations. Note also that waste management of building is also a growing market. ECOREB is an industrial research complementary to the National Project RECYBETON. It proposes overcoming fears about the use of recycled aggregates from concrete in the building industry to produce new concretes, using largely experimental results. ECOREB aims, also, at developing new tools dedicated to the study of the water demand due to the presence of cement mortar embedded to aggregates. Moreover ECOREB will make possible the characterization of the interfaces quality between (1) the new concrete and the recycled aggregate and (2) the recycled mortar and the natural aggregate. It also aims at providing a tool for predicting recycled concretes characteristics and especially their behavior under external stresses (mechanical loads, snow, corrosive atmospheres, ...) and under internal stresses (shrinkage, change in humidity or heat of concrete hydration ) and to establish empirical relationships between mechanical parameters and indicators of sustainability in relation to the microstructure which depends on water demand. To achieve these objectives the scientific program is divided into three technical tasks that interact and complement each other. The first "Water and recycled materials" provide recommendations on the formulation of concrete made from recycled materials, the curing of young concrete and the plastic shrinkage phenomenon as well as the associated cracking. The second "Study of mechanical behavior of recycled concrete under static, cyclic, creep and relaxation loadings" will characterize the mechanical behavior of recycled concrete and establish empirical models incorporating microstructural effects. These models will be used by building industry actors to predict the lifetime of the recycled concrete. The third task "durability" will evaluate the freeze / thaw resistance and long-term behavior of concrete recycled regarding to corrosion, chlorides migration and steel corrosion risk. Durability indicators will be assessed. Water and curing effects will be treated. Results of ECOREB will lead to a breakthrough on the reuse of demolished concrete as components of new concrete and, ultimately, to a way in which the use of recycled aggregates in concrete will become part of everyday practices.

The research project ETC (Energy Transitions and Cities) aims to shed light on the long-term stakes, the contents and the social, spatial and environmental consequences of energy transition strategies implemented in a major urban region, as well as the potential for the involvement of actors in these strategies. The project will focus in particular on the interdependent transformations of the built environment, urban infrastructures and social practices called for within these energy transition strategies. Taking the Ile-de-France as a test bed, and based on the long-term energy policy orientations defined in regional strategic planning, the project ETC aims to explore the direct and indirect, intentional and non-intentional, favourable and unfavourable effects of the proposed strategies in terms of: resource, energy and pollutant flows; financial flows; the quality (nature, affordability) of the energy provided. The project will be focused on the study of some of the main instruments, which local authorities can use within their energy transition strategies: - new infrastructures for the supply of energy; - new infrastructures and organization for the transport of people and goods; - major urban projects (cf. the “Grand Paris” project that has recently been launched) - energy renovation of buildings A limited number of contrasted energy futures scenarios will be elaborated, in order to simulate the effects of the use of specific instruments within energy transition strategies. These simulations will be achieved by a model chain combining three models (land use, transport, air quality) which have already been validated for the study on the Ile-de-France region. The sociospatial and environmental effects of the scenarios will be disaggregated in two complementary ways: - according to different social groups (characterized by their income), in order to assess the socially-differentiated effects of scenarios in terms of energy expenditure, exposure to nuisances and energy poverty; - according to different spatial contexts, in order to assess the spatially-differentiated effects of scenarios in terms of energy provision (price, diversity, reliability...), exposure to nuisances and the energy vulnerability of specific spaces. This will also allow to examine local tensions emerging in relation to the implementation of a given energy strategy; the extent to which energy-related practices are questioned or destabilized; emerging forms of sociospatial inequalities or splintering in relation to energy; possible (and possibly desirable) forms of sociospatial differentiation of regional energy strategies. The implementation of the project ETC will rest upon continuous and adequately designed interactions between qualitative and quantitative/modelling approaches as well as with frequent interactions with local governmental actors and bodies with whom long-lasting relationships have already been established. These interactions with local actors will ensure both the relevance of the energy scenarios studied in the project and the societal dissemination of the results of the research project.