Interdisciplinary workshop brings together researchers from TU Braunschweig

What do more than 20 researchers from four faculties at TU Braunschweig have in common? They work on porous media such as batteries, soil and concrete, but also on materials such as wood and insulation. Last Monday, the scientists from TU Braunschweig and an external guest from TU Hamburg met for an interdisciplinary workshop to exchange ideas on their specialist topics.

The workshop is part of the project “Adaptive mesh criteria for highly nonlinear partially saturated concrete”, in which Dr. Knut Andreas Meyer (Institute of Applied Mechanics) and Dr. Cordula Reisch (Institute of Partial Differential Equations) are investigating possibilities for the numerical simulation of porous media such as concrete. This project is funded by the TU Braunschweig Seedfunding Programme “Interdisciplinary Collaboration”.

The eight talks focused on numerical methods, including parallelisation (Ilhan Özgen-Xian, IGÖ) or the simulation of battery electrodes (David Rollin, IAM), but also on experimental projects in geophysics (Matthias Bücker & Andreas Hördt). Tobias Ring (Institute of Acoustics) presented results of data-based modelling in the field of acoustics, combining acoustic and geometric material properties. Marius Milatz (TU Hamburg) and Knut Andreas Meyer (IAM) used CT scans to provide information on the physical processes in porous media and thus the possibility to validate simulations with experimental data. The talks were framed by short contributions from the organisers presenting the interdisciplinary project. The participants also expressed great interest in follow-up events.

Even the initiators did not expect such a great response within the TU Braunschweig: “The workshop has impressively shown how different the perspectives on a highly complex topic can be, but also how similar questions become again on a more abstract level. Each presentation was followed by numerous questions from the audience, and we probably could have discussed together for hours more,” said Dr Cordula Reisch.

“The large number of participants and the positive feedback show that the interest in interdisciplinary cooperation at the TU Braunschweig is very high. In order to further expand the potential of interdisciplinary exchange, we are very pleased that the Seedfunding Programme will be continued,” commented Prof. Katja Koch, Vice-President for Organisational Development and Teacher Training.

The Seedfunding Programme will soon enter its second round. On 6 December 2023, the Project House will again host a matchmaking workshop. Teams will then be able to submit their interdisciplinary research ideas.