The institute introduces itself

For more than 100 years the subject 'solid structures' has been taught at the TU Dresden. At the moment two professorships belong to our institute. All studies and research within the institute are focused on experimentation on reinforced concrete in all its various forms. In the field of teaching, we collaborate with many partners of the construction industry. Together we make research findings become part in construction projects.

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Important topics

History

Reinforced concrete construction has a long tradition at the Technische Universität Dresden (TUD). In Germany the first lectures about reinforced concrete were held by Max Förster at the TUD, which was former called Technische Hochschule (TH), at the beginning of the last century. The listed Beyer building was completed in 1913 and is one of the oldest buildings made of reinforced concrete in Dresden. It is about to be restorated.

The staff of the Institute of Concrete Structures

Employees

Currently more than 60 employees are working at the institute. There are two professorships at the institute – the professorship Concrete Structures and the professorship of Special Solid Construction. The Otto Mohr Laboratory is also part of IMB. The research on different topics takes place in six research groups; one team can be reached at their office in the Dresden World Trade Center.

Events

Every year in March we are host of the Dresdner Brückenbausymposium. It is the most renowned symposium all over Germany concerning the topic of bridge construction. Every two years the German Bridge Construction Prize is awarded within the frame of the symposium. Additional to that we organise the symposium ‘Experimental study of building constructions’ every two years as well.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Ulrich Häußler-Combe und Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr.-Ing. E.h. Manfred Curbach

Today - meeting of past and future

[Foreword from the Institute's 2018 Annual Report]

On the occasion of Barack Obama's speech to the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on 25 May 2011, the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, said the following remarkable sentences:

"History is more than the path left by the past. It influences the present and can shape the future."

The Institute of Concrete Structures is very aware of its own history, especially through the excellent collection of sources by Dr.-Ing. Hans Wiese, Chief Engineer at the Institute from 1993 to 1999, who passed away forever in January 2019. His collection of information will also help us in the future to write down the history of the institute. In addition, there is a research project - financed by the German Research Foundation - on the person Willy Gehler, a personality whose professional work in four different political systems threatened to fall into oblivion. Through his research at the Technische Universität Dresden, Willy Gehler has in many places clearly advanced concrete construction, but through his political involvement has almost disappeared from the collective memory of civil engineers.

Today, research work on carbon concrete, impact, multi-axial stresses and bridge construction dominates at the Institute of Concrete Structures, with the aim of making our contribution to the future.

If you look at the problems of the past and the solutions found then, you can see how similar the strategies are for finding solutions, e.g. the bond between reinforcement (whether steel, glass, basalt or carbon) and concrete. A look back at the past can therefore have an accelerating effect in solving today's challenges.

In addition to our traditional tasks in teaching, we take it for granted that we also give students an insight into the history of concrete construction. Because our predecessors often had the decisive courage to implement new findings, which today is kept to a minimum by so many cautions and regulations.

We thank you all:
the employees of the institute, the inclined readers, the partners at our Technische Universität Dresden and in all other universities, the companies and offices that trust us, as well as our building administration.

We wish you a pleasant reading with the Annual Report 2018.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr.-Ing. E.h. Manfred Curbach and Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Ulrich Häußler-Combe