The research activities at our TUHH are anchored in basic engineering research. One indicator of the success of basic research and its quality is the allocation of research funding by the German Research Foundation (DFG). To date, four Collaborative Research Centers, four Research Units, four Research Training Groups and various Priority Programs have been established at the TUHH.

Spokeperson: Prof. Rüdiger Bormann

Duration: 1994 - 2003

GEPRIS Info

In the CRC 371 "Micromechanics of multiphase materials", materials scientists from various scientific disciplines at the TUHH worked together with the Institute for Materials Research at the GKSS Research Center. The aim of the SFB was the knowledge-based optimization of conventional and the development of new construction materials with increased performance.

Spokeperson: Prof. Joachim Werther

Duration: 1986 - 2000

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The CRC 238 "Process-oriented measurement technology and system-dynamic modeling for multiphase systems" existed from 1986 to 2000 and was divided into three areas: sensors and measurement principles, measurement systems and processes and applications. The first area focused on the first link in the measurement chain, the sensor. Measuring systems were grouped together in the second project area. Physicists, electrical engineers, process engineers, biotechnologists and energy engineers were involved in CRC 238.

Spokeperson: Prof. Rainer Stegmann

Duration: 1989 - 2000

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The CRC 188 "Cleaning contaminated soils" was divided into four areas: chemical-physical process development, fundamentals and evaluation criteria, biological and scientific fundamentals for process development. In addition to the investigation and development of cleaning processes, analytical and metrological methods were developed and optimized in order to enable a rapid and comprehensive description of the processes taking place in the soil/pollutant/water/air system. Work focuses with a strong practical orientation were integrated.

Spokeperson: Prof. Margarete Jarchow

Duration: 2005 - 2014

GEPRIS Info

The aim of the Research Training Group Art and Technology - Material and Form in Artistic and Technical Design Processes is to bring together research areas in engineering and the humanities through overarching questions.

The joint research interest focuses on the significance of material and form in art and technology. The focus is on the question of form-finding and the interdependencies between the technical properties of materials and the possibilities of design. Special attention is also paid to the design processes (procedures and production methods) in art and technology, their differentiation and comparability, their border and overlapping zones and the parallel developments caused by mutual inspiration or impulses.

Research in the research group is both interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary and aims to create an understanding between scientific-technical and artistic-humanities disciplines.

Spokeperson: Prof. Jürgen Grabe

Duration: 2004 - 2014

GEPRIS Info

The German Research Foundation has approved the application of the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) to set up a research training group on the topic of Harbours for Container Ships of Future Generations.

Enormous growth rates in container handling are being recorded worldwide. The largest ship units are currently 8,000 TEU. There are already design studies for ship sizes of 18,000 TEU with a length of over 400 m, a width of 70 m and a draught of 21 m. This poses enormous challenges for the construction of seaports in the future. The maneuverability of these giant ships in shallow water conditions in narrow waterways is obviously difficult. The probability of these ships coming into contact with or colliding with port facilities is increasing. The use of powerful bow thrusters can create deep scours, which in turn have a negative impact on the load-bearing capacity of the port facilities. The docking pressure of the ships on the quay is considerably greater than for small units. Furthermore, the ships can cause surge and port resonances in complex port geometries. The large ship units require high handling capacities of the container gantry cranes. This results in higher dynamic loads for the quay structure. Concepts for reinforcing and deepening existing quay structures need to be developed. For the increased demands on seaports of future container ship generations, basic research is required in the field of interaction between ship, fluid, structure and soil. A research training group approved by the German Research Foundation (DFG) is to develop these basic principles. The research program is thematically divided into issues relating to the manufacture of large-scale quay constructions, operational load conditions and extreme load situations. Due to the complexity, interdisciplinary cooperation between researchers from the fields of shipbuilding, mechanics and marine engineering, steel and solid construction and geotechnics is planned. This holistic approach is innovative and a necessary prerequisite for overcoming the global challenges facing seaport construction for container ships of future generations.

Spokeperson: Prof. Otto von Estorff

Duration: 1995 - 2004

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The Research Training Group "Ocean Engineering Structures" was established in 1995 and came to an end in 2004. The research program encompassed issues that were divided into six areas: fluid dynamic loading, dynamic behavior, structural design and calculation, foundations of marine structures, damage detection and repair.

Spokeperson: Prof. Volker Kasche

Duration: 1990 - 2001

The Research Training Group  Biotechnology began its work in 1990 and came to an end in 2001. Biotechnology is the integrated application of chemistry, biology and process engineering. It pursues the goal of achieving or improving the technical application of the potential of microorganisms, cell and tissue cultures for the production or targeted conversion of necessary substances.

Spokeperson: Prof. Michael Schlüter

Duration: 2014 - 2021

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Spokeperson: Prof. Stefan Heinrich

Duration: 2013-2020

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Spokeperson: Prof. Dr. Frerich Keil

Duration: 2011 - 2019

GEPRIS Info

The problem of handling transport processes and reactions in porous media has been part of process engineering since the 1930s. Catalyst carriers, membranes, adsorbents, chromatography columns and materials to be dried, such as coal or peat, are porous. The porous solid structure was initially modeled as an effective medium. At the beginning of the 1950s, more detailed modeling of the pore structure slowly began, which took off rapidly in the 1990s. For the first time, about five groups worldwide solved optimization problems based on pore structures according to predefined criteria, which clearly showed that the optimization of pore structures is worthwhile, e.g. to increase the yields of catalysis processes. However, there was one major obstacle: it was not possible to produce the optimum structures in a targeted manner.

This situation has changed drastically in the last ten years. By using new template techniques, new precursors, polymer-controlled phase separation with e.g. polyethlyene oxide (PEO), direct foaming processes and lithographic methods etc., it has now become possible to produce pore structures on the nano, meso and macro scale according to specifications. This enables the controlled synthesis of calculated optimal structures. The term "engineered porous materials" has therefore been coined in recent years. Furthermore, significant progress has been made in the characterization of porous materials in recent years, on the one hand due to significantly better models, such as the non-local density functional theory (NLDFT), and on the other hand due to imaging techniques, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), multidimensional NMR or the combination of physisorption experiments with small-angle X-ray scattering (in situ SANS/SAXS physisorption). MRI allows in-situ observation of gas compositions and liquid distributions inside individual pellets with a local resolution that was not possible a few years ago, as well as the measurement of diffusion coefficients. In recent months, it has been possible for the first time to describe reactions in zeolites at the molecular level, including diffusion processes up to the reactor, using multi-scale methods.

The new possibilities of synthesis, characterization and modelling are to be used for process engineering applications in the proposed focus area. To this end, process engineers and relevant synthesis chemists as well as materials scientists will jointly explore the potential of defined pore structures in process engineering. The main areas will be modeling, applications and synthesis of defined pore structures in process engineering. Some paradigmatic examples will be used as applications, mainly from the field of environmental protection and energy technology, e.g. adsorption of fluids, membrane separations and reactors, drying technology, catalytic multiphase reactors, purification of power plant exhaust gases. The porous materials used are to be synthesized according to the specifications of optimal process engineering requirements and then tested in operation. In order to gain deeper insights into the relationships between pore structure and properties, detailed pore models and models of the reaction/diffusion processes are to be created, in individual cases down to molecular resolution (Monte Carlo, molecular dynamics, DFT), the data of which are to be tested using the measurement methods mentioned. In particular, analogies in the modeling of various process engineering applications are to be worked out.

Spokeperson: Prof. Dr. Hermann Rohling

Duration: 2004 - 2010

GEPRIS Info

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) transmission technology is so popular today because it exhibits robust behavior in broadband radio channels with multipath propagation effects. The aim of the DFG 1163 priority program TakeOFDM, which has been active since 2004, is the observation and analysis of OFDM-based communication systems.

Cross-layer procedures and algorithms are designed as models and their interaction is examined in detail. Within the framework of the program, the protocols, multiple access procedures and link adaptation techniques on the data link layer are analyzed and redesigned in detail, but always together and in coordination with the issues of the OFDM-based physical layer. The priority program is interdisciplinary because the topic urgently requires it. Scientists and experts from the fields of high-frequency technology, communications engineering, protocol architecture, coding theory and network security are therefore working together, and joint projects are therefore being funded in particular. In total, scientists from 18 German universities are participating in this priority program. So far, 37 sub-projects have been funded. Some exemplary research topics are listed below:

    Multi-antenna systems based on OFDM transmission technology to significantly increase the data rate,
    joint optimization of the physical and data link layer (DLC),
    flexible multiple access techniques and self-organizing resource allocation for OFDM systems, also in cellular networks,
    new channel coding, synchronization and equalization concepts for OFDM-based systems.

Flexibility and adaptivity issues are considered in detail in the system designs. In addition, implementation aspects are also considered, which often set important and non-negligible boundary conditions for the behavior and economic significance of the systems under consideration.

Spokeperson: Prof. Dr. Frerich Keil

Duration: 2003 - 2009

GEPRIS Info

In process engineering, phenomenological methods have mainly been used for modeling up to now, but their possibilities have now been explored in many areas. In contrast, molecular methods offer new possibilities for process engineering, the potential of which has hardly been exploited to date. In order for molecular methods to find their way into process engineering practice, better quantitative models of intermolecular interactions and efficient simulation methods that meet technical accuracy requirements at a reasonable cost must be developed. These objectives are to be pursued in the proposed priority area through projects in fields in which classical approaches fail or only deliver unsatisfactory results.

The main areas of work are

•     Predictive substance data models, e.g. for electrolyte and surfactant solutions,
•     Processes in metastable phases, e.g. nucleation and growth,
•     Processes at fluid-solid interfaces, e.g. during adsorption,
•     Processes in porous media such as zeolites, e.g. diffusion, reaction, phase transitions, permeability, selectivity,
•     Membrane processes and materials, e.g. diffusion, reaction, permeability, selectivity, conductivity.

The lack of models and simulation tools in these areas hinders the development of many new processes and products. A breakthrough here is only possible with molecular methods, as only these allow insight into the processes actually taking place, so that a targeted design of a process is possible. The aim of the focus area is to provide the methodological basis for this.

With its aim of building a bridge between molecular properties and macroscopic material behavior, the focus area proposed here is part of the DFG project group "From molecule to material". The objectives of the priority program can only be achieved through close interdisciplinary cooperation, in which the central tasks lie at the interfaces between the fields of process engineering, chemistry and physics.

High-performing groups from neighboring countries are involved in the priority program. This strengthens the international profile and sustainable development of the research area.

The establishment of the focus area is particularly important at the present time because there is an acute need to catch up in research and teaching in the field of the application of molecular methods in engineering in Germany compared to other industrialized countries. The internationally oriented focus would create favorable conditions for actively shaping developments in this forward-looking field. Without the targeted bundling and expansion of activities in the focus area and its impact in neighboring areas, we run the risk of losing touch with the international leaders in this field of research.

Spokeperson: Prof. Ernst Brinkmeyer

Duration: 2006 - 2015

GEPRIS Info

Silicon photonics has been an attractive subfield of integrated optics for more than a decade, but it has developed particularly rapidly in recent years (see, for example, G.T. Reed "The optical age of silicon" in Nature, 2004). The full compatibility of silicon-on-insulator photonics with the processes of microelectronics opens up the prospect of being able to achieve a highly compact integration of electronic and photonic components on a common substrate in the medium term. The high index contrast of SOI waveguides promises the smallest radii of curvature and the most compact components with low waveguide attenuations down to less than 0.1 dB/cm. Key material properties are the broad optical transparency range from near to far infrared and the very good suitability for photonic crystal structures. Recent fascinating advances suggest that SOI technology will establish itself as a platform for integrated optics in the future.

In a first phase, the research projects of the DFG research group will address central issues that are currently still hindering the breakthrough of SOI photonics. In particular, efficient optical amplifiers and lasers based on stimulated Raman scattering are to be realized, tuning and modulation possibilities using micromechanical means as well as those based on organic and inorganic electro-optical cladding materials are to be investigated, realized and compared, important basic components such as Bragg gratings, deflection mirrors and long-period gratings are to be developed and fundamental applications such as programmable resonators, tunable dispersion compensators and pulse shapers are to be demonstrated. In a subsequent phase, these and, if necessary, other novel components and subsystems will be combined to form a complex integrated optical system in order to demonstrate integration on a very small area in a process technology compatible with microelectronics.

Spokeperson: Prof. Jörg Weißmüller

Duration: 2006 - 2012

GEPRIS Info

Metals with a crystallite size in the range of 30 nm and below are characterized by unique mechanical properties with considerable application potential. This is due to the modified or even completely new mechanisms that cause deformation at such small grain sizes and thus determine the strength and ductility of the material. As there is currently only a rudimentary understanding of these mechanisms, their investigation has recently attracted intense scientific interest.

The research group "Plasticity in Nanocrystalline Metals and Alloys" has extensive expertise in the fields of nanomaterials and mechanical properties, and the participating institutions are integrated into a unique scientific environment. The research activities in the fields of production, characterization and modelling are aimed at answering the following questions:

    What are the dominant deformation mechanisms for a material with a given grain size, alloy composition and stacking fault energy under given deformation conditions such as temperature, strain rate or stress state?
    What are the resulting constitutive material laws, and
    Which strategies in the design of the microstructure and composition lead to materials with optimal properties in terms of manufacturability and mechanical behavior.

The research project focuses on the little-studied material class at the lower end of the grain size scale, single-phase nanocrystalline bulk materials with a crystallite size in the range of 30 nm and smaller.

In addition to elementary metals, nanocrystalline solid solutions are being systematically investigated for the first time and systematic series of measurements are being carried out. Different deformation and characterization methods are used for identically produced samples in order to ensure the greatest possible comparability with regard to the microstructure. This allows a comparative discussion of the results. One focus of work is on in-situ methods using X-ray diffraction with synchrotron radiation, transmission and scanning electron microscopy. The research covers the areas of production and characterization of nanocrystalline materials, experimental investigation of plasticity and its modelling.

Spokeperson: Prof. Klaus Schünemann

Duration: 2003 - 2009

GEPRIS Info

In September 1998, the German Research Foundation (DFG) established the "Submillimeterwellen-Schaltungstechnologie" research group at the TU for a period of eight years.

The aim of this research group was to open up the frequency range of submillimeter waves (which, according to the common definition, extends from 100 to 1000 billion Hertz) for technical applications, after it has only been used to date for scientific applications (radio astronomy). The lower frequency range of millimeter waves has already been largely developed for technical applications, e.g. for communication links via telecommunications satellites and radar systems for weather observation, for imaging the earth's surface and for environmental monitoring.

The DFG research group "Schadensforschung und Schadensbeseitigung an Stahlkonstruktionen im Wasser" worked until 1999. The research objective was to gain new insights into the repair requirements and repair technologies of steel structures in water and to carry out investigations in order to be able to estimate the quality and service life of repaired steel structures.