Ing. Milan Macho, MSc., a Ph.D. student at the Department of Mechanics of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, has received a prestigious award for the best diploma thesis in the field of concrete in 2025, which is granted annually by Svenska Betongföreningen (the Swedish Concrete Association) in cooperation with the foundation fund Structorstiftelsen.
The diploma thesis “Thermal Crack Mitigation in Massive Concrete Structures with Cooling Pipes“ was developed as part of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic’s (TA ČR) project “A Quality Control System for the Construction of Concrete Structures of New Nuclear Power Plants in Local Conditions in the Czech Republic“ during Milan Macho’s double degree study at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, under the supervision of Prof. Vít Šmilauer and Doc. Annika Gram.
Each Swedish university specialising in civil engineering can nominate only one diploma thesis for the competition. The theses are evaluated by leading experts in the field of concrete based on their contribution, methodology, and quality of elaboration. The jury valued Milan Mach’s thesis for its precise numerical study on the minimisation of cracks in massive blocks and the consistency of the results with experimental measurements obtained from the construction of the Krounka polder. It also highlighted the high level of elaboration and visualisation of the results.
The awards ceremony took place in Stockholm on October 23, 2025, as part of the Betongdagen conference on concrete.
Congratulations!
Ing. Milan Macho, MSc.
Responsible: prof. Ing. Karel Kabele, CSc.