After successful completion of the course, students are able to solve a complex problem in civil engineering or in another engineering discipline, by means of modern scientific methods which allow an interdisciplinary merger of mechanics with both chemistry and biology.

Recent challenges for civil engineers require interdisciplinary approaches and the combination of scientific fields which are normally dealt with seperately. For numerous civil engineering applications (hydration of concrete in massive structures, e.g. bridges and dams; shotcrete for tunneling (New Austrian Tunneling Method), behavior of concrete under chemical attacks, e.g. in bridges, dams, or nuclear waste disposals), the consistent integration of physical chemistry and applied mechanics has turned out to be extremely useful in recent years. The lecture covers latest scientific accomplishments in the field of chemoporomechanics, a discipline established some years ago on the basis of thermodynamics of reactive porous media. However, the richness of the respective theories allows generation of knowledge in fields commonly regarded to lie far beyond civil engineering: Also biology can be integrated as a third field into the general approach. As an example, for intriguing new challenges for civil engineers, an investigation of the microstructure and the nanostructure of mineralized tissues will be presented at the end of the course. The most promising field of application in this area is probably the treatment of bone diseases like osteoporosis.

scientific discussion with students on concrete scientific problem

scientific presentation

Profound knowlegde of mechanics, basic knowledge of chemistry and biology.