Alfred Steinle (1936-2017) turned the lecture notes of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Volker Hahn, which dated from the early 1970s, into a manuscript that became the starting point for this book. After a number of years in bridge-building, Alfred Steinle also became heavily involved in precast concrete construction at Züblin. His theoretical work covered bridge-building with torsion and section deformations in box-girder bridges and in precast concrete structures within the scope of the 6M system with corbels, notched beam ends and pocket foundations. In addition, he was a key figure in many precast concrete projects such as the 6M schools, the University of Riyadh, schools with foamed concrete wall panels in Iraq, Züblin House and the construction of a modern automated precasting plant. Alfred Steinle retired in 1999 and by that time he had risen to the post of authorised signatory in the engineering office at Züblin's head office.Hubert Bachmann (b. 1959) began his career in a precasting plant in 1976 as an apprentice for concrete and precast concrete construction. After studying structural engineering and completing his doctorate at the University of Karlsruhe, he accepted a post in the structural engineering office of Ed. Züblin AG in Stuttgart in 1993, where he has worked ever since. His duties have included the detailed design of structures of all kinds plus research and development in the civil and structural engineering sectors. He has been presenting the series of Hahn lectures on precast concrete structures at the University of Stuttgart since 2003.Mathias Tillmann (b. 1970) has been an engineering and standards consultant at Fachvereinigung Deutscher Betonfertigteilbau e.V. (FDB) since 2007 and technical director since 2008. He specialised in structural engineering during his studies at RWTH Aachen University. After attaining his diploma, he worked as a project engineer, structural engineer and designer. Mathias Tillmann has written numerous brochures, advisory documents and specialist articles on the subject of precast concrete.The authors are involved in the technical committees of construction industry associations and in national and international standards committees.
