TU Dresden has a great tradition in structural durability. Already in the mid-1970s, experimental halls of the former Faculty of Aircraft Design were handed over to the Chairs of Engineering Mechanics, thus enabling research in the domain of structural durability. These research activities have continued up to today. The combination of theory and experiment, as well as basic research and industrial application has traditionally been the focus of the research area.

Research activities in the framework of structural durability and experimental mechanics are usually characterised by their interdisciplinary character. In addition to theoretical work on the improvement of fatigue life assessment or for the computerised determination of load assumptions, work in the field of control engineering and dynamics of testing and measuring equipment are of great interest.

The Structural Durability Group is part of the Institute of Solid Mechanics. It is responsible for basic education in the study course "Engineering Mechanics", as well as for teaching in the subjects "Structural Durability" and "Experimental Mechanics" in the main study course (Hauptstudium). A particular feature of the research group is the high number of practical lessons, representing an excellent addition to the predominantly numerical simulations at the institute.