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Current news from the Institute of Concrete Structures

We are delighted that the thesis of our graduate and student assistant Sara Schulz has been awarded the Sustainability Prize! 

The prize, which has been awarded by Bochum University of Applied Sciences in cooperation with VfL Bochum 1848 GmbH & Co. KGaA since this year, recognizes outstanding theses with a clear reference to sustainable development.

In her thesis, Ms Schulz developed a method for the automated arrangement of optimized void formers in reinforced concrete slabs that takes into account both variable slab geometries and different load scenarios.

Void formers specifically displace concrete in those areas of a structure where it only has a minor impact on load-bearing capacity and serviceability. In this way, they make a significant contribution to resource-saving construction methods and enable considerable amounts of material and greenhouse gas emissions to be saved. 

The work was carried out in cooperation with our long-standing research partner Unidome Group and as part of the joint research project 'air-Kon-Matrizen' funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. It was supervised by Thilo Schmidt and Andrej Albert.

We are proud to play an active role in shaping the transformation towards sustainable constructions in the construction industry with projects like this and congratulate Ms. Schulz on her award!

We are currently supporting an approval process for semi-precast slabs with factory-integrated void formers of the type Unidome XP and XP+. In addition to large scale tests already carried out with regard to the shear force capacity of the slabs, additional tests have been carried out in the past few days. The focus here was on the influence of the lattice girders on the shear force capacity of the slabs.

We would like to thank Unidome Group and fdu GmbH & Co. KG for the cooperative collaboration.

From September 11. to 13. 2024 the fib International Conference on Concrete Sustainability (fib ICCS) took place at University of Minho in Guimaraes, Portugal. The institute of concrete structures was represented with two contributions which were presented in person by Clara Walsemann and Thilo Schmidt. We would like to thank the organizing committee and the team from University of Minho for hosting this event and providing the basis for an excellent conferenc on a highly important topic. Obrigado!

https://fibiccs.org/
https://www.eng.uminho.pt/pt

In the current issue 119(9) of the journal “Beton- und Stahlbetonbau”, Thilo Schmidt, Lion Feldick, Andreas Dridiger and Andrej Albert are represented with a contribution. The article presents a method generating a constant shear force without an additional bending moment in reinforced concrete beams. Results of three component tests are discussed and compared to corresponding nonlinear finite element analyses (access to the article).

The 68th BetonTage, the leading congress of the concrete and precast concrete industry and the largest specialist congress in this field, took place in Ulm from May 14 to 16, 2024. On 16 May, Thilo Schmidt gave a presentation on the joint research project “air-Kon-Matrizen” entitled “Resource conservation in foundation slabs with optimized void formers”.

Together with Andrej Albert and the Chair of Concrete Structures of Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB), Schmidt presented innovative approaches to conserving resources in the construction industry. The lecture focused on the advantages of optimized void formers in foundation slabs.

https://betontage.de/en/

Outstanding semester theses of students have been awarded with a sponsorship prize by the German association of precast concrete structures ("Fachvereinigung Deutscher Betonfertigteile", FDB).

Thilo Schmidt and Andrej Albert are represented with a contribution in the issue 118(12) of the journal “Beton- und Stahlbetonbau”. The article presents a method of optimizing void former shapes in biaxial reinforced concrete slabs for arbitrary combinations of bending moments and shear forces (access to the article).

A new joint research project between Unidome Deutschland GmbH and Bochum University of Applied Sciences has been funded by “Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt” (DBU). We are looking forward to a successful collaboration!