Dr. Ulrich Lotz:
Today’s guest is Professor Dominik Kueres, since this year the coordinator and head of the technical program for BetonTage. A task he has taken over from Professor Hans Joachim Walter, who supervised it for 20 years. […] We are very happy that we have found a young colleague who simply brings a bit of new ideas into the change of the event. The motto for 2024 is “Shaping transformation”. […] First question: The BetonTage format, what does that mean to you and how should that also be presented and developed to some extent?
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dominik Kueres:
Yes, first of all thank you very much for the invitation, I’m very happy to actually be here in the new capacity. Yes, the BetonTage […] have always remained a very good memory for me and even now, a long time ago, when I did my doctorate, I actually like to come there again every year, because for me it is like an old class reunion. You meet a lot of former companions, these are now former scientific employees who are scattered all over the country, whom you then meet at least once a year and can exchange ideas.
But also many contacts that came about at all through the BetonTage and are still coming about. I meet new exciting people every year with whom you can have a good exchange and then you also look forward to seeing each other again the following year at the latest.
[…] This is a very important event from my point of view and also unique in Germany.
In terms of the topics, I have to say that I always find it good that a wide range is offered. There is actually something for everyone: […] for the structural engineer, for the materials scientist, for the construction industry, for the supplier industry. And Mr. Walther has always done a great job in the past years or decades, also together with you, of getting a very good program off the ground, and I am pleased to be able to follow in his footsteps now, even if they are of course very big.
Dr. Ulrich Lotz:
The topic of “serial and modular” will play a role, […] then we have the topic of RC concrete in the new 1045 in the standardization, but of course we will again see many examples of how to build leaner with alternative reinforcement (carbon is of course always a big keyword).
And we will have, I’ll say this now, an opening that makes “digital” the theme, a bit outside the box. The speaker is Jörg Heynckes, an entrepreneur and well-known keynoter […]. He will say, “We can only save the world digitally, or not at all.”
How do you see this as a structural engineer or coordinator?
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dominik Kueres:
From the perspective of structural design, it must be said that there are different levels of digitality. I will say that several decades ago, everything was calculated by hand in terms of positional statics, and there were tables that somehow worked. The buildings are still standing nowadays. Then came FE, in the beginning nobody knew exactly how to do it, how was the computer capacity, nowadays it is established, so without FE we don’t calculate anymore, we actually only calculate numerically in structural design.
Now we have the next big topic in front of us, which in my view is definitely much more complex for structural engineering than for other specialist planners: BIM. So how do we actually deal with all this information in a meaningful way in structural design now?
But I am sure at the moment that the road is relatively rocky and all structural engineers who are currently working with it know that you end up paying a relatively high price when you manage such a project.
But in 20 years, this will also be standard from my point of view, which means that we have to keep moving forward, this applies to structural design, the topic of BIM for example, but it also applies in production, in manufacturing, for production methods and so on and immediately.
Dr. Ulrich Lotz:
One piece of transformation, of course, is leaner building, lighter building. We have already mentioned carbon, and now there is a guideline for non-metallic reinforcement, which perhaps makes handling a little easier, a little more self-evident. What is the problem, or are there simply mental barriers to radically changing the construction method as a whole?
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dominik Kueres:
I have to be honest and say that I have not yet dealt with carbon concrete in my research, but I have played a fly on the wall with my colleagues from time to time, because carbon concrete is of course a central research topic in Aachen, just as it is in Dresden.
This year at the BetonTage, I also saw how this guideline was presented and of course there were again relatively many restrictions in it, when I may not use it and so on and immediately and then you have a guideline with which you can build, but for many applications, the guideline is then again not suitable or must now be further developed again.
In other words, in terms of application, I believe we are still a long way from actually using this building material across the board. But there are certainly many good applications, and some demonstrators have already been produced, for which this construction method is certainly predestined and perhaps even better suited than the conventional reinforced concrete construction method.
With regard to the mental restrictions – I’ll just call it that now – of users, it is of course the case that if I build very thinly, then perhaps one also has a feeling of non-security. Because simply the slenderness of the component deviates from the slenderness known so far. This means that you might have to break through a few mental barriers first. […] But I think we will find ways and means to prepare society for this, so that they are a bit more open.
Dr. Ulrich Lotz:
We also have the housing issue, which will also play a stronger role in serial and modular. Politically, we don’t even come close. Can the serial be a booster that we build faster and more?
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dominik Kueres:
So I think it’s the only way actually. I think it will be difficult to realize the 400,000 apartments that are politically desired in cast-in-place concrete, as we are currently seeing. And if you put a high degree of prefabrication in the factory with very good quality assurance, then that is definitely a method to be able to build faster and we currently have to build faster, that is simply an issue.
Dr. Ulrich Lotz:
Very clear! We also have political guests at the BetonTage, for example the head of the department for lightweight construction, who, interestingly enough, is not with Ms. Geywitz but with Mr. Habeck: Werner Loscheider will be there. He will also present these support programs, how lightweight construction is actually supported, and there […] the call-up rate is modest to go in there. So that’s what we’re going to show, of course, and we’re going to show a lot of architecture as well, again with sustainable examples with our colleagues from IZB […].
Once again inside is lightweight construction with lightweight concrete. A somewhat different approach to the topic of lightweight construction, there are also many new ideas about it again.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dominik Kueres:
Yes, so the submissions until then, they look very good in any case, so that we could actually overstaff a complete podium again next year, as the submissions currently are. But infralight concrete or lightweight concrete in general is, of course, a good alternative for house construction. We can build single-shell wall systems that really implement the energy-saving directives and thus save ourselves a lot of hazardous waste by slapping any kind of insulating material on our houses afterwards.
So concrete as a material is conceived quite differently: not from the concept of “it has a high compressive strength, can absorb high forces”, but actually conceived the other way around. Very cleverly used, you always have to know where to use which building material. I will not be able to use infralight concrete for a bridge.
Dr. Ulrich Lotz:
Sure, so that’s a reflection of diversity, and we’re really looking forward to being together in May.
I’m spoiling something else: There is always a great desire, especially from exhibitors, to go back to the first quarter. And we can already say that in 2025 we will have made the leap into the first quarter with the beginning of March, we are also discussing the format at the moment, so there is a lot going on, also at the BetonTage and we are looking forward to working together.
The details will follow later, thank you Dominik Kueres.
