GRK 2075:  Modelling the constitutional evolution of building materials and structures with respect to aging

• Subject Area: Construction Engineering and Architecture
• Term: from 2015 to 2024
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 255042459

Civil engineering structures are designed and built for use according to plan during life-time. The design is usually performed under the assumption of an ideal state of structures and building materials during the total life-time. Yet, the state of materials and thus the properties of buildings are changing over the period of use, eventually degrading the reliability and quality of the building during life-time and may lead to a potential reduction of safety with respect to loads and usage. The evolution of the properties of building materials and structures may be caused by physical or chemical processes occuring on different spatial and temporal scales. The fundamental goal of the research programme is the development of scientific approaches to describe and to evaluate the evolution of properties and quality of buildings and infrastructures with respect to physical and chemical induced degradation. The multi-coupled pro cesses are described by modeling equations on different spatial and temporal scales based on the theory of continuum mechanics and the theory of porous media. The developed models will serve as a basis for prognoses of the development of building materials and structures by means of advanced simulations validated by experimental data. The multi-scale models to be developed describe the different phenomena of aging as a coupled process, typically requiring a direct coupling of the individual processes in space and time, in order to appropriately the interaction of processes and to integrate all information for an evaluation of the quality of buildings. In an extension of the current approaches on the macroscopical scale, the mechanisms of transport as well as physical and chemical damage shall be investigated experimentally and shall be modelled on different scales of materials and buildings. Based on experimental and numerical investigations simplified engineering approaches shall be developed, which serve as a basis for future industrial applications. The scientific training of the doctoral-students is based on a structured programme of workshops, seminars and publications, which motivate the students to achieve the international research level. The programme contains scientific studies in the field of experimental work, mathematical modelling of physical and chemical processes and structural analysis, and the training of key skills in the field of scientific work and scientific management. Based on the broad education regarding different building materials the doctoral-students will get the possibility to understand and to evaluate completely different phenomena and to describe them by advanced models for life-time-prognosis of civil engineering structures.

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität Braunschweig
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dr.-Ing. Dieter Dinkler, until 9/2021; Professor Dr.-Ing. Martin Empelmann; Professor Dr.-Ing. Martin Christian Geier; Professor Dr.-Ing. Ralf Jänicke, since 3/2022; Professor Dr.-Ing. Bohumil Kasal; Professorin Dr.-Ing. Ursula Kowalsky; Professorin Dr.-Ing. Sabine C. Langer; Professorin Dr. Laura De Lorenzis, until 12/2020; Professor Dr.-Ing. Dirk Lowke; Professor Dr.-Ing. Ulrich Römer; Professor Dr.-Ing. Klaus Thiele; Professor Dr.-Ing. Henning Wessels, since 3/2022; Professor Dr.-Ing. Roland Wüchner, since 3/2022; Professor Dr.-Ing. Libo Yan, Ph.D.
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr.-Ing. Manfred Krafczyk