GRK 2250:  Mineral-bonded composites for enhanced structural impact safety

• Subject Area: Construction Engineering and Architecture
• Term: since 2017
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 287321140

Existing reinforced concrete structures feature, as a rule, a relatively low resistance to various sorts of impact loading, such as shock, collision, or explosion. The primary goal of the intended Research Training Group is to bring substantial improvements in the impact resistance of existing buildings by applying thin layers of strengthening material. By using innovative, mineral-bonded composites, public safety and the reliability of vitally important infrastructure should be significantly enhanced. The scientific basis to be developed will additionally enable to build new, impact-resistant structures economically and ecologically.The vision of the Research Training Group consists of six parts, covering the entire span from construction materials to the structures themselves. More specifically, it concerns the development of:• New mineral-based composites, i.e., fine-grained concretes with different types of fibre reinforcement to yield especially high resistance to impact loading;• building concepts and measurement principles for the strengthening of existing concrete structures through thin layers of novel, highly ductile composites;• appropriate measuring and evaluation methods for the analysis of the processes occurring during impact, such as wave propagation, deformation, fracture etc.;• methods for numerically simulating the behavior of new concrete types and strengthened structures subjected to impact loading by means of the coupling of different space and time scales;• fundamentals for resilience evaluations, for assessing the economical and ecological aspects of strengthened measures, and principles for increasing the efficiency of evaluation and assessment methods as well;• methods for data-driven prediction of the properties and design of concrete structures with high impact resistance.The realization of scientific projects by the doctoral students enrolled at the Research Training Group is an integral part of the comprehensive qualification and supervision concept. The curriculum of the structured, three-year doctoral study program contains a course of lectures developed especially for the training group plus in-depth and complementary courses from among the current DRESDEN-concept institutions as well. The entire research training group program is rounded off by Annual workshops and summer schools, an international summer school per cohort, and a three-month research visit abroad at a distinguished international tutor.

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität Dresden
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr.-Ing. Viktor Mechtcherine
• Participating Researchers: Professorin Dr.-Ing. Birgit Beckmann; Professor Dr.-Ing. Chokri Cherif; Professor Dr.-Ing. Manfred Curbach; Professorin Dr. Edeltraud Günther; Professor Dr.-Ing. Steffen Ihlenfeldt; Professor Dr.-Ing. Michael Kaliske; Professor Dr.-Ing. Stefan Löhnert; Professor Dr. Hans-Gerd Maas; Dr.-Ing. Silke Scheerer; Professorin Dr.-Ing. Christina Scheffler