Welcome to the Institute of Structural Analysis and Dynamics
Paul-Ehrlich-Straße | Gebäude 14, Raum 553 | 67663 Kaiserslautern
Our Vision
Excellent scientific education and research in the field of structural analysis and dynamics.
General information
HIWIs and research assistants wanted
We, the Department of Statics and Dynamics of Structures, are looking for HIWIs with at least 4h/week and research assistants to strengthen our team.
If you are interested, contact the institute.
more...(german)
Master's degree in Civil Engineering at RPTU in top position in Germany
op according to the CHE Ranking: RPTU's Master's degree programme in Civil Engineering is among the top German universities. In the categories "General study situation", "Support during studies" and "Research funding", RPTU's degree programme is in second place overall. In the area of "Research funding per researcher", it even ranks first in Germany with €186,900 raised per researcher. A clear sign of the quality of our research and teaching. We are delighted with our excellent position in Germany's largest university ranking!
Current & interesting facts
Publications
February 2025
Volume 90 Issue 1 - Special Issue:
50th Anniversary of the Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology (SMiRT) Conference Series;
Guest Editor: Hamid Sadegh-Azar
More information
Promotion of Thomas Tschickardt
February 4, 2025
Congratulations to Thomas Tschickardt on the successful defence of his doctoral thesis. On 4 February 2025, he passed the oral examination as part of his doctoral procedure. His dissertation ‘Contribution for an event-based and drone-supported data acquisition and construction progress control based on a 4D-BIM in bridge construction’ deals with the digitalisation and automation of the construction industry. Through a cooperation with Wayss & Freytag Ingenieurbau AG in this area, science and practice could be closely interlinked. The examination board consisted of Professor Wolfgang Kurz as chairman and Professors Christian Glock and Hamid Sadegh-Azar as first and second assessors. Honorary Professor Prof Dr Michael Blaschko and colleagues from Wayss & Freytag attended the lecture. We congratulate Thomas Tschickardt and wish him all the best for his future career.
Publications
September 2024
Special Issue:
Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology 26
This Special Issue of International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping features selected papers presented at the SMiRT 26 (Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology).
Guest Editors:
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hamid Sadegh-Azar
Dr. Jürgen Sievers
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Weihe Stefan
Dr. Eberhard Altstadt
Dr. Jürgen Rudolph
More information
Dates in 2026
18th European Conference in Earthquake Engineering: Save the Date
We are pleased to announce the "18th European Conference on Earthquake Engineering" from September 14th to 18th, 2026. The German Society for Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics (DGEB) has successfully brought this large conference to Germany.
Against the background of earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, this conference offers an excellent opportunity for experts, researchers, and practitioners to exchange their latest findings and developments in the field of earthquake engineering and seismic-resistant construction.
Further information will follow soon.
Dates in 2025
19th D-A-CH Conference
Earthquake Engineering & Structural Dynamics
The Austrian Society for Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics (OGE) and the Vienna University of Technology in cooperation with the German and Swiss societies (DGEB and SGEB) invite you to the 19th D-A-CH Conference in Vienna. The conference will be hosted by the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) and will take place from 18 to 19 September 2025 in the main university building on Karlsplatz.
Dates and deadlines
Vienna
18 and 19 September 2025
Further information
dach2025.oge.or.at
Structural Analysis - Building Practice Research Colloquium 2025
08 to 11 September 2025 in Bad Boll
As part of the Research Colloquium on Structural Analysis and Construction Practice, young employees of the member institutes of the Research Association for Structural Analysis and Construction Practice are given the opportunity to present interim results of their dissertations and discuss them with their colleagues and professors.
Dates and deadlines
until 30 April 2025
Registration of participants and speakers
by 15 June 2025
Submission of abstracts
SMiRT28 Conference Announcement & Call for Abstracts
SMiRT 28 - 28th International Conference on Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology
- from 10 to 15 August 2025 in Toronto
The SMiRT28 conference will deliberate ways of “harnessing nuclear technologies and innovation as a path to net zero by 2050” in Toronto, “The Nuclear Energy Capital” of Canada, home to two large multi-unit stations in North America, Pickering and Darlington and another multi-unit station in Bruce within 200 km of Toronto. In 2015, the province of Ontario has invested CAD 26 Billion in a 15-year program, one of North America’s most significant clean energy projects. Canada and the US have recently become the focal point of SMR activities. Given all of the above developments, the 28th SMiRT conference in Toronto, Canada, will bring the international community together to learn from each other how to enhance safety and security in the emerging SMR technologies, among other initiatives Canada has embarked upon, such as isotope production in power reactors, decommissioning projects, and the use of innovative technologies in the nuclear industry. We welcome you to SMiRT28 in Toronto and share your research and experiences in harnessing nuclear technologies and innovation as a path to net zero by 2050.
More information / submission deadline
8th VDI Conference on Structural Dynamics 2025
02 - 03 April 2025, Würzburg
Every three years, the VDI symposium ‘Structural Dynamics’ provides information on the current state of knowledge in the determination, assessment and minimisation of dynamic loads on buildings. Receive valuable information on topics such as mitigation measures, calculation models and methods or modern vibration protection on rails, bridges and buildings.
Click here for the website:
Other
Earthquake-resistant construction - on 12 September 2024
Following the reassessment of the earthquake risk for Germany and the introduction of the new National Annex of Eurocode 8 (as the successor to DIN 4149), it is essential for architects and engineers to deal with the issues of earthquake-compatible design and earthquake-proof design. Especially when it comes to earthquake-resistant construction, the co-operation and interaction between architects and engineers is essential.
The seminar ‘Earthquake-proof construction’ will take place at the Rhineland-Palatinate Technical University of Kaiserslautern-Landau on 12 September 2024 in cooperation with the German Society for Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics (DGEB). The seminar will provide a comprehensive insight into the basics of earthquake-compatible design and earthquake-proof construction, from seismology to standard-compliant practical implementation.
The seminar has the character of a further training event and is aimed at engineers and test engineers.
The contact person for this event is
Ing. Nouman Elias
Mail: nouman.elias(at)bauing.rptu.de
Tel.: +49 631 205-4320
More information (german)
18th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering (WCEE 2024)
The 18th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering (WCEE2024) will be organised in Milan, Italy, from June 30 to July 5, 2024. International participation and contributions of both scientific community and practitioners will be appreciated, with a view to share knowledge and ideas in the field of earthquake engineering.
This event is expected to attract almost 4000 participants, from academic/research institutions, industry and the public sector.
World conferences take place once every four years in very different regions.
Date
Milan
June 30 – July 5, 2024
More information:
https://www.wcee2024.it/
SMiRT 27 - 27th International Conference on Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology
The SMiRT 27 in Yokohama Japan will discuss what is "Next Generation Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology" on the bases of lessons learned from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear power plant accident. It will be co-hosted by JASMiRT and Atomic Energy Society of Japan. Plenary lectures, special sessions, tutorials, and workshops will be organized to discuss this topic in addition to the regular sessions. The SMiRT 27 aims to bring together leaders, managers, engineers, plant operators, regulators and academia working in the field of nuclear technology to make greater contribution for achievement of higher reactor performance.
Dates and Registration Period
March 3-8, 2024
Registration Period: October 2, 2023 - March 2, 2024.
More information
https://www.smirt27.com/
SHIBATA EARLY CAREER AWARD
At SMiRT 27 in Yokohama, the Shibata Early Career Award was continued in honour of Prof. Heki Shibata. The aim of the award is to identify and recognise outstanding achievements by young scientists.
The ISC has selected six finalists for the Shibata Early Career Award.
Mohamed Zouatine, research assistant at the University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, received a certificate.
Training school Seismic hazard, fragility, and risk in June 2023
The Institute Static and Dynamics of Structures from the Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität (RPTU) organizes a training school on seismic probabilistic risk assessment (SPRA). The school, tailored to Master, Ph.D., and postdoctoral students, takes place at the RPTU premises in Kaiserslautern from June 22nd and 23rd, 2023. The school focused on introducing the participants to the main components of the probabilistic seismic risk assessment, covering different topics from the whole SPRA chain, currently investigated within the METIS project.
Registration via mail to sdt.sekretariat(at)bauing.uni-kl.de
SMiRT 26 (10.-15. Juli 2022, Berlin/Potsdam)
The “Smirt 26” conference took a place from the 10th to 15th of July 2022 in Potsdam/Berlin at Kongress Hotel, which carried the topic of Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology. The conference was open to the public and roughly 500 people were present. Throughout the event, participants shared different thoughts and opinions about their ongoing research as well as the future of nuclear reactor technology.
Dr. Jörg Aign, Managing Director of TÜV Nord, and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hamid Sadegh Azar, Dean of the civil engineering department at the University of Kaiserslautern, were the key components behind the success of the conference under the current circumstances of the pandemic situation.
Furthermore, Mr. Lars Heibges, a research assistant at the University of Kaiserslautern, won the early career prize called “Heki Shibata” for the best paper at the conference under the name “Methods for Simulation of Hard Projectile Impact on Reinforced Concrete Structures”. In addition, Mr. Lukas Helm, a research assistant at the University of Kaiserslautern, handled two presentations under the titles, “Analytical and Numerical Investigation of Ring Spring Dampers in Seismic Design” and “Design of masonry walls for the out-of-plane behavior under earthquake load”.
More information
https://www.smirt26.com/
Heki Shibata Early Career Award 2022
At SMiRT 26 in Berlin/Potsdam, the Shibata Early Career Award was continued in honour of Prof. Heki Shibata. The aim of the award is to identify and recognise outstanding achievements by young scientists.
The ISC has awarded 3 prizes for the Shibata Early Career Award 2022.
1st Prize: Lars Heibges, research assistant at the University of Kaiserslautern
SDT AT THE 3RD METIS PLENARY MEETING IN ATHENS
The Department of Statics and Dynamics of Structures participated in the third international project meeting of the European research project METIS in Athens, Greece in June 2022. Besides the presentation of the latest research in the fields of seismic hazard, fragility and risk analysis, the current status of the case study was discussed. A hybrid case study is being conducted in which structures of the Ukrainian Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant are being considered at a hybrid site in Tuscany, Italy. The event was followed by a two-day summer school with lectures and practical exercises on seismic fragility analysis.
More information (Link: Newsroom – METIS (metis-h2020.eu))
If you are interested, please do not hesitate to contact us.
METIS
Launch of European research project to develop an advanced approach for the seismic risk assessment of nuclear power plants
The ‘MEthods and Tools Innovations for Seismic risk assessment (METIS)-H2020’ project was officially launched on 29 September 2020. The aim of the research project is to further develop approaches for assessing the seismic safety of nuclear power plants. The consortium has already had a virtual kick-off meeting, which took place over two days from 29 to 30 September 2020 and was attended by 80 participants. On the first day, all work packages (WP) were outlined during the plenary session and discussed in more detail in the WP coordination meetings on the second day.
With the nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan, in 2011, nuclear safety concerns grew and the search for solutions for safe long-term operation of existing European nuclear power plants increased. This project aims to improve the methodology of seismic probabilistic safety assessment and to develop open source tools for this purpose. The needs of industry and scientific findings in the fields of earthquake engineering and data analysis will be taken into account. In this context, METIS is developing further validation strategies for advanced computational models and tools, in particular by combining models with observations and data. Both probabilistic and deterministic assessments are addressed in a comprehensive overall framework for seismic risk assessment.
METIS is an EU-funded project under the Horizon 2020 programme for research and innovation with a duration of 4 years and a total budget of 5 million euros, of which 4 million euros are funded by the European Commission. The project is being carried out by an international consortium comprising 13 European partners from France, Germany, Italy, Greece, the UK, Ukraine and Slovenia, as well as 3 organisations from the USA and Japan. The consortium brings together universities, research organisations and industrial companies to create an ideal environment for research, development, dissemination and application by end users. The advanced processes and methods developed by METIS are made available to the general public in modern, high-performance open source programmes such as OpenQuake, code_aster/salome_meca, OpenSees and SCRAM.
The Institute of Statics and Dynamics at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern will lead the work package on design exceedance and fragility analysis. The entire building-specific part of the probabilistic seismic hazard analysis will be coordinated. Starting with the selection of the appropriate test case, relevant structures will be defined and FE models generated and simplified approaches analysed. Subsequently, the epistemic and aleatory uncertainties are quantified, the influence of aftershocks on buildings and components is analysed and standards and design procedures are brought up to the current state of the art. The department is also involved in further work packages in the areas of further training and research into seismic hazards, multidimensional fragility and risk assessment of structural and non-structural components.
If you are interested, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Contact: konstantin.goldschmidt(at)bauing.uni-kl.de
More information (Link: Newsroom – METIS (metis-h2020.eu))
New Horizon 2020 project launched to develop an advanced approach for Seismic Risk Assessment of Nuclear Power Plants
29th September 2020: The METHODS AND TOOLS INNOVATIONS FOR SEISMIC RISK ASSESSMENT (METIS) H2020 Project has been officially launched opening a promising research collaboration to improve confidence in nuclear safety by advancing the approach utilised for seismic safety assessments for Nuclear Power Plants. METIS is an EU-funded 4-year project under the Horizon 2020 EURATOM Programme for Research and Innovation having a total budget of €5 million, of which €4 million is funded from the European Commission. The project will be delivered by an international consortium gathering 13 European partners from France, Germany, Italy, Greece, UK, Ukraine and Slovenia alongside with 3 organisations from US and Japan. The consortium had a virtual kick off meeting held over two days 29th-30th September 2020 attended by 78 participants. The first day was the plenary session which outlined all the Work Packages’ (WP) and on the second day, there was a WP coordination session for more detailed discussion.
Contact person from our institute for this project is Konstantin Goldschmidt
For further information contact: Emma.Luguterah(at)edfenergy.com or 0208 935 2714
EARTHQUAKE RISK REPORT FOR THE GERMAN BUNDESTAG
n 2019, the Institute of Structural Analysis and Dynamics at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern participated in the earthquake risk analysis of the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance. In cooperation with local and regional administrations, aid organizations, companies, authorities, and experts, a possible earthquake in the greater Cologne area was investigated.
Since earthquakes are local phenomena, the city of Cologne with the nearby Erftsprung was taken as the starting point. At a distance of 25 km from the city center, an earthquake of moment magnitude 6.5 is assumed and the short-term, as well as long-term effects on the region, are investigated.
The Institute of Structural Analysis and Dynamics participated in the analysis as an expert on the effects on the building fabric and critical infrastructure.
The full document is publicly available and can be accessed online at
Drucksache 19/23825 (bundestag.de).
Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology (SMiRT), 10 – 15 July 2022 in Berlin/Potsdam, Germany
BUILDING THE FUTURE ON 50 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of International Conferences on Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology
The future of mankind depends on a progressive energy supply. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of our conference series, SMiRT 26 is set to mark the beginning of a new era and will bring leaders, managers and engineers from around the world together to drive innovation for safe, reliable and efficient nuclear energy in the face of the global energy transition and climate change. The conference will make a significant contribution to the safety and reliability of nuclear facilities all over the world. It will also help to build, advance and retain scientific-technical expertise and to support young engineers and researchers in the area of nuclear safety. The Institute of Structural Analysis and Dynamics of the Technical University of Kaiserslautern is significantly involved in the organization of this conference.
Submit your abstract until 26 September 2021.
Further information can be found here.
Participation in the Quake-Catcher Network
The Institute of Structural Analysis and Dynamics is now a member of the Quake-Catcher Network initiated by the Stanford University (USA). The network is a joint effort for developing the biggest interconnected system that measures earthquakes and vibrations. The Quake-Catcher Network strives to contribute to a better understanding of earthquakes. It is used for research, as a rapid warning system, support of existing emergency systems and disaster control and much more.
Earthquake-proof construction
On September 17, 2019, the first seminar "Earthquake-proof Construction for Architects and Engineers" will take place at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern in cooperation with the DGEB (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Erdbebeningenieurwesen und Baudynamik - German Society for Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics).
The seminar provides a comprehensive insight into the basics of an earthquake-compliant design and an earthquake-proof design, from seismology to standard-compliant practical implementation.
Contact person:
Konstantin Goldschmidt
Technical University of Kaiserslautern
Mail: konstantin.goldschmidt(at)bauing.uni-kl.de
Tel.: +49 631 205-2932
Research project: Innovative methods for determining and reducing seismic risk in Rwanda (InnoRisk)
Innovative methods to identify and reduce Seismic Risk in Rwanda
The goal of InnoRisk is to reduce vulnerability to earthquakes in Rwanda by effective disaster prevention in order to sustainably increase the security of the civilian population.
This goal is supported by three main measures: The determination of the seismic risk in Rwanda using innovative methods (supported by the use of artificial neural networks/deep learning to evaluate satellite images), the development of innovative earthquake-proof construction measures and the development and introduction of seismic design guidelines.
By transferring relevant knowledge and experience from German earthquake safety research, know-how will be transferred to Rwanda and competencies will be developed at local authorities, scientific institutions and companies. As a result, Rwanda and Germany are assuming a pioneering role in the region with regard to innovative, earthquake-proof construction. The know-how created can also be applied in other regions that are confronted with similar challenges in terms of earthquake risks, associated with poor construction practices and materials.
The project is currently carrying out initial vulnerability analyses on buildings in Rwanda. This will include measurements, construction methods, materials used, and other parameters, as well as a quick assessment of earthquake hazards. The data will also be used for detailed vulnerability studies in the further course of the project.
5th annual meeting of the German committee for steel concrete
We are happy to host the 5th annual meeting of the German committe for steel concrete (DAfStb) at our University. We aspire to make you participation in de meeting and your stay in Kaiserslautern as instructive and pleasant as possible.
You can find information about the meeting at www.dafstb2017-kl.de as well as in the flyers below.
(all information is in German)
Attendance: www.dafstb2017-kl.de/anmeldung
- 58._Forschungskolloquium_des_DAfStb__Call_for_Abstracts.pdfDownload 390 KB
