Your Expectations are our Benchmark

Current Projects

design:

Mercator One Duisburg

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review:

New Kattwyk Bridge Hamburg

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monitoring:

Squaire Frankfurt

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Publications

Iconic Campus of the Zayed University Abu Dhabi - Steel Construction 5, No. 2, 2012, 2012

Iconic Campus of the Zayed University Abu Dhabi

Steel Construction 5, No. 2, 2012

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Summary

The new Zayed University Campus in Abu Dhabi is a successful example of international cooperation between designers and builders from multiple continents, demonstrates the potential of the main contractor philosophy and showcases the benefits from BIM-equivalent design approaches. Apart from the extreme time constraints, the project required mastery of numerous engineering challenges. It required an understanding of different design and construction philosophies, management of difficult interfaces between design and construction works and consideration of the demand of a construction site with up to 8,000 workers running in parallel to the design works. Together with the employees and students of Zayed University, the main contractor and the architects, we are happy that our shared goal could be achieved in such a short time.

Authors

Christian Böttcher, Matthias Frenz, Henning Kaufmann

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Use of innovative materials in the European building construction industry - Integral free-form structures in fibre composite materials - Deutsches Ingenieurblatt 4, 2014, 2014

Use of innovative materials in the European building construction industry - Integral free-form structures in fibre composite materials

Deutsches Ingenieurblatt 4, 2014

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Summary

Using modern planning and fabrication methods whilst employing innovative materials resulted in a complex and highly precise geometry in the production of the free-form sculpture Virtual Tectonics 1. The project met all of the highest requirements for stability and sustainability and the sculpture is entirely fit for purpose. As a symbol for the possible applications of fibre composite materials especially of CFRP and GFRP) in the building construction industry, the experiences gained and lessons learned in the course of the project are a sound foundation for the further development of entire structures made from fibre composite materials.

Authors

Christian Böttcher, Henning Kaufmann, Julia-Elise Hoins, Arnd-Benedikt Willert-Klasing, Martin Kacza, Gunnar Merz

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Development of the Ericusspitze in Hamburg, Part 2: Superstructure - Bautechnik 88, No. 7, 2011, 2011

Development of the Ericusspitze in Hamburg, Part 2: Superstructure

Bautechnik 88, No. 7, 2011

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Summary

Die Bebauung der Ericusspitze mit der neuen Zentrale des Spiegel-Verlages und mit dem Ericus-Contor ist ein gelungenes Beispiel für die frühe Bildung eines schlagkräftigen Teams aus Investoren und Planern und zugleich für das städtebaulich-architektonisch moderne wie nachhaltige Bauen. Neben zahlreichen Besonderheiten des Baugrundstücks waren dabei immerhin ein Investorenwettbewerb, ein internationaler Architektenwettbewerb, ein Bebauungsplanverfahren, eine aufwendige Planungs- und Vergabephase mit unzähligen Beteiligten, eine in die laufende Planung zu integrierende Nachhaltigkeitszertifizierung, ein Architektenwechsel, ungewöhnliche Aufgabenteilungen in der Planung sowie eine Großbaustelle mit zahlreichen ingenieurtechnischen Herausforderungen und terminlich bedingten Schnittstellen zu meistern.

Authors

Christian Böttcher, Werner Nagel, Raphael Schreiber

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Subsoil movements due to boring of shallow tunnels with shield machines – application of finite elements in connection with a universally formulated material model - Geomechanics and Tunneling 2, No. 4, 2009, 2009

Subsoil movements due to boring of shallow tunnels with shield machines – application of finite elements in connection with a universally formulated material model

Geomechanics and Tunneling 2, No. 4, 2009

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Summary

Many infrastructure projects at the moment include the planning of shallow tunnels to be bored with a shield machine. The extent of the settlement trough with the resulting settlement and inclination of buildings often represent an important problem. Calculations of these deformations are based on an empirical approximation process or finite element methods. The reliability of a FE calculation relies significantly on the quality and calibration of the material model used. A material model with a universal approach for all soils, whose parameters can be determined very simply from standardised laboratory tests, has been developed as a contribution to this problem. The practicality of the material model has been demonstrated in a multitude of specialised civil engineering projects where no damage occurred, and where the calculations performed at the design stage were confirmed by measurements during the construction phase. The process is illustrated through the example of construction projects in Hamburg. The geology there is characterised by Pleistocene and Holocene sands as well as mica silt, illite and till of varying consolidation resulting from preloading during ice ages.

Authors

Christian Böttcher, Klaus Fabricius, Henning Kaufmann

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