Sustainability & Durability

Corrosion not only impacts economy and safety, but can also have severe consequences for the environment. Examples are failures of pipes and tanks that may release harmful substances into the environment or the consumption of resources upon premature repair of infrastructures.

We aim to lay the scientific basis in order to forecast the performance of structures over their lifetime and to thus enable the quantification of service life costs and environmental footprint. We develop concepts, test methods and models to support engineers in the planning stage of new structures, e.g. with respect to material selection to ensure durability while optimizing costs and minimizing the impact on environment. Such guidance is becoming increasingly important in a world of increasing complexity in terms of variety of available materials and construction methods (additive manufacturing, digital construction) as well as regulative boundary conditions.

Additionally, we develop concepts, test methods and models to support decision takers at the infrastructure management level, e.g. to allow for “predictive maintenance”.

To ensure technology transfer, we collaborate with industrial partners and national and international authorities and agencies. Moreover, we are engaged in standardization.

For a complete list of ongoing projects, please click here.

A list of completed projects can be found here.