Safety and security

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

© Bernd Müller/Fraunhofer

Robust buildings and tunnels

Planning buildings to include specially adapted construction materials and structures ensures that they will be better able to withstand accidents and attacks. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft develops technologies for the physical protection of buildings, for instance using energy-absorbing bioconcrete or walls fitted with sensors. 

Projects

  • Safe glass facades

    link: picture download

    Glass facades are attractive, but they also have to be safe. Say if a bomb were to go off nearby, would they withstand the blast? Researchers are using a shock tube to find out, and one of their projects is a new building complex in San Francisco.

  • Protection of critical infrastructure

    The protection of critical infrastructure is a central topic in the business segment security. The main focus lies on technologies to physically protect critical infrastructure. In order to analyze the functional chain concerning structure load and response, fluid- and structural dynamic computing methods are used. The RHT model developed at EMI to describe the dynamic behavior of concrete is used worldwide in the hydrocode AUTODYN. Especially developed engineering codes allow for the calculation of destruction characteristics for conventional reinforced concrete, masonry, glass and their possible fortifications as well as special concretes.

Further information

  • Fraunhofer Group for Defense and Security

    This group has been formed by Fraunhofer institutes as a means of coordinating their research activities and defining common goals in the area of »Defense and Security«.