Ehrensenator-Huber-Preis awarded by Karlsruhe Institut für Technologie (KIT) faculty of civil engineering, geosciences and environmental science goes to Ms. Mirka Maurer

On 7th February 2014, the Ehrensenator-Huber-Preis was awarded to Ms. Mirka Maurer in recognition of her outstanding performance during her studies and her diploma thesis in the field of concrete construction.

In her diploma thesis, Ms. Maurer tackled an extremely topical subject: ‘Recalculation of a road bridge followed by development of the requirements for a repair concept taking material fatigue into account’ ('Nach­rech­nung ei­ner Stra­ßen­brü­cke mit an­schlie­ßen­der Aus­ar­bei­tung von An­for­de­run­gen an ein Sa­nie­rungs­kon­zept un­ter Be­rück­sich­ti­gung der Er­mü­dung').

Changed conditions of use, in particular the rapid increase in road traffic, often demand strengthening measures to elements of the infrastructure; these must be designed in accordance with the latest scientific knowledge. The resulting requirements for a repair concept depend on the individual structure.

Due to the reduced budgets available to the federal and state governments, such measures are subject to financial limitations. Taking into account other extremely important aspects such as sustainability, environmental friendliness and acceptance by the public, a decision must be made on whether to modernize the structure or rebuild it.

The technical feasibility of different repair and modernization measures also plays an important role. The use of new materials, increasingly composite materials, and more realistic calculation methods are required to achieve optimal results. The A 98 motorway bridge over the A 5 motorway near Märkt was used as an example in which the technical feasibility of modernization methods was studied in detail.

First, the structure was modeled as a folded plate (see picture ‘Model of the superstructure’) and the results were compared with those from other models, such as a girder grid. After a study of repair and modernization options, the requirements for a modernization concept for the structure were determined.

Ms. Maurer’s diploma thesis was supervised by the KIT institute for concrete construction and construction materials technology and by Dr.-Ing. Ioannis Retzepis, Managing Partner of KREBS+KIEFER Karlsruhe.

We congratulate Ms. Mirka Maurer on this outstanding achievement and are delighted that she is a member of our team in Karlsruhe.

_{Article: ret / 25.02.14 Picture: KIT, Visualizations (3): Mirka Maurer}