TY - CONF A1 - Kemmler, Samuel T1 - Large-scale simulations of piping erosion during suction bucket installations N2 - Piping erosion and related fluidization phenomena present major challenges for the installation of offshore suction bucket foundations. We present a fully-resolved, 3D fluid-coupled micromechanical model using the lattice Boltzmann and discrete element methods to simulate suction installation. Validated against benchmark tests and experimental data, the model captures key fluidization behaviors. This presentation goes beyond prior work by showcasing the first large-scale simulations at real bucket dimensions, offering new insights into local soil-fluid interactions during installation and demonstrating the model's scalability and practical relevance. T2 - Gesinus-Treffen 2025 CY - Munich, Germany DA - 12.06.2025 KW - Micromechanical simulation KW - Suction bucket foundation KW - Piping erosion PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63381 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Baeßler, Matthias T1 - On the Reassessment of Bridge Superstructure Vibrations for High-Speed Traffic N2 - The acceleration thresholds of bridge superstructures remain criti-cal for designing and reassessing railway bridges on high-speed lines, with ballasted track systems historically limited to 3.5 m/s² vertical accelerations due to destabilization risks. As part of the European InBridge4EU project, this study addresses methodological uncertainties in linking vertical bridge vibrations to lateral track creep—a key focus area for modernizing assess-ment protocols. A comparative analysis of two acceleration postprocessing methods (peak identification vs. fatigue-derived rainflow counting) as part of a recently proposed framework was conducted using an example bridge and train combination. Results demonstrate that rainflow counting yields more conservative creep estimates with the bulk of cumulative vibration-induced creep attributable to accelerations exceeding 3 m/s². However, discretizing acceleration ranges into 1 m/s² bins introduced significant errors compared to continuous cycle data, highlighting sensitivity to analysis parameters. These findings underscore the complexity of reconciling laboratory-derived harmonic vibration models with real-world bridge dynamics, where non-uni-form acceleration patterns dominate. The research directly informs ongoing efforts to refine standardized criteria for ballasted track stability, particularly through the InBridge4EU project's systematic re-evaluation of vibration lim-its and their engineering implications. By quantifying discrepancies between computational approaches, this work advances the development of robust protocols for predicting track degradation under high-speed operational loads. T2 - 11th International Conference on Experimental Vibration Analysis for Civil Enginering Structures (EVACES 2025) CY - Porto, Portugal DA - 02.07.2025 KW - Infrastructure KW - Railway bridges KW - Ballasted track KW - Railway bridge dynamics KW - Rainflow counting PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63658 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Baeßler, Matthias T1 - Review of Ballasted Track Destabilization on Shake Table Tests N2 - Shake table tests have been used for a long time to understand the densification and fluidization of granular materials. While purely vertical shaking is quite unlikely to be found in vibration analysis when it comes to granular materials as soils, it has been found that the vertical vibration of railway bridge support structures can affect the fabric of the ballasted track on top. Starting from the experience at French railway lines with destabilizing track conditions on short bridges in high speed lines in the 1990s, various shake table test configurations have been used to investigate the destabiliza-tion of ballast at high acceleration levels. This article describes the effects of the variously investigated dynamic excitations of railway bridges on the bal-lasted track itself. T2 - 11th International Conference on Experimental Vibration Analysis for Civil Enginering Structures (EVACES 2025) CY - Porto, Portugal DA - 02.07.2025 KW - Railway bridge dynamics KW - Acceleration limit KW - Ballast destabilization KW - Shake table tests PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63659 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Baeßler, Matthias A1 - Kannengießer, Thomas T1 - Aktivitäten in Forschung und Zulassung im Bereich Windenergie N2 - Die vielfältigen Tätigkeiten der BAM im Bereich technischer Sicherheit von Windenergieanlagen werden vorgestellt und im Bereich aktueller Entwicklungen in der Fügetechnik detailliert. T2 - Arbeitskreis Gründungsstrukturen und Stahlbau der WAB CY - Online meeting DA - 13.04.2021 KW - BAM Windenergie Fügetechnik PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-53026 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Agasty, Amit T1 - Assessment of the Application of Scaling Concepts for Blast Effects Analysis N2 - Blast testing finds its implementation in several applications, e.g. for the purpose of investigation into accidental or intentional explosions, or for an assessment of the level of protection provided by a certain structural configuration. Analytical and/or semi-empirical methods are generally limited to preliminary assessments prior to blast testing. Applications of numerical simulations with hydrocodes coupled with finite element methods (FEM) can only reduce the amount of blast testing required, as these necessitate fulfillment of the fundamental prerequisites of model verification and that of model validation. Field tests are implemented for contact detonations as well as near-field blast scenarios and shock tube tests for far-field blast scenarios. However, these can be extremely resource intensive. Reliable small-scale experiments are a promising alternative. The concepts of dimensional analysis and similarity based on Buckingham’s Π-theorem (1914) have been applied in different fields. For applications to the phenomenon of shock wave propagation, Hopkinson-Cranz or cube-root scaling is a well-established concept. When it comes to scaling the structural response, research has predominantly focused on structures made of metallic materials. Scaled investigations with concrete or reinforced concrete (RC) structures remain limited. The lack of even the most basic guidelines (far from any ‘standardized scaling methods’ for blast tests) show that scaling as a method is not yet established in blast effects analysis. In this preliminary study, we present a systematic approach and evaluation of scaling of blast effects analysis for RC slabs in order to develop guidelines for resource efficient testing methods. We study the blast scenario at two different scales. The focus of these investigations has been on evaluation of scaling of dynamics using pressure sensors, acceleration sensors and fiber optic sensing cables for distributed acoustic sensing (DAS). Further, the resulting plastic behavior upon blast is characterized by distributed strain sensing (DSS) along the same cables. T2 - 27th International Symposium on Military Aspects of Blast and Shock (MABS27) CY - Colmar, France DA - 06.10.2025 KW - Blast KW - RC-slabs KW - Similarity and scaling PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64616 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Hille, Falk T1 - Structural health monitoring guidelines for bridges in Germany N2 - With the advancement of digitalization and related technological developments, Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) has become a useful and increasingly widespread tool to assist in the maintenance management of bridges and other engineering structures. The process of implementing monitoring requires expertise in many fields such as civil engineering, bridge operation and maintenance, monitoring technology, and data analysis. In recent years, monitoring has moved from method and technology development to standard practice. However, the implementation of monitoring as a standardized process can be an obstacle, especially for bridge operators, due to a lack of practical experience combined with the various expertise required. This can affect several areas, such as determining the cost-effectiveness of a monitoring measure, proper tendering and contracting, quality control, analysis and evaluation of measurement data, and last but not least, data management. In order to support the introduction of monitoring technologies into the practice of infrastructure operators, several guidelines have been developed in Germany in recent years by different interest groups, each with a different focus and essentially complementing each other. This paper aims to provide an overview of four different recently published guidelines and to highlight their strengths and advantages. T2 - 13th International Conference on Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure CY - Graz, Austria DA - 01.09.2025 KW - Structural Health Monitoring KW - Bridge structures KW - Guidelines PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64384 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Baeßler, Matthias T1 - On potentials and challenges of physics-informed SHM for civil engineering structures N2 - Physics-informed structural health monitoring, which incorporates realistic physical models of material behavior, structural response, damage mechanisms, and aging processes, offers a promising framework to enhance monitoring capabilities and inform operation and maintenance planning. Nevertheless, the technical challenges and model requirements associated with this approach are highly context-dependent and can vary significantly across different applications. The presentation focusses on two case studies that highlight challenges and progress in Physics informed SHM. T2 - SHMII-13 CY - Graz, Austria DA - 01.09.2025 KW - SHM KW - Physics informed KW - Hydrogen Stress Corrosion Cracking PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64326 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Hille, Falk T1 - System identification and model calibration of a steel road bridge N2 - Steel box girder bridges with orthotropic deck plates are typically subject to traffic induced fatigue. Prognosis of fatigue is based on structural and traffic load models. Structural models can be updated based on measured response data. This contribution presents operational modal analysis and FE model calibration of a large steel box girder bridge. The identified modal properties show good conformity with the numerical model in frequencies and mode shapes. Model calibration by optimization leads to improved agreement but lacks robustness. Calibrated models are useful for increasing the value of information of monitoring measures, especially regarding digital twins. T2 - 11th International Operational Modal Analysis Conference (IOMAC 2025) CY - Rennes, France DA - 20.05.2025 KW - Steel bridge KW - Operational modal analysis KW - Model calibration PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64418 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Zinas, Orestis T1 - A Modular Gaussian Process Regression Toolbox for Uncertainty Aware Geotechnical Site Characterization N2 - A modular Gaussian Process Regression toolbox for efficient large-scale geotechnical site characterization from sparse 1D data was presented at the Third Future of Machine Learning in Geotechnics (3FOMLIG), Florence, Italy, October 16, 2025. The PyTorch/GPyTorch-based framework enables multivariate modeling of correlated soil properties and joint regression-classification of continuous CPT parameters with categorical soil units through Dirichlet transformations. Stochastic Variational Inference reduces computational complexity from O(N³) to O(M³), enabling GPU-accelerated processing of 100,000+ measurements. Validated on a 33 km² North Sea offshore wind farm site with 100+ sparse investigation points, the toolbox generates uncertainty-aware 3D predictions, supporting univariate, multivariate (LMC), and sequential multi-group modeling strategies. T2 - Third Future of Machine Learning in Geotechnics (3FOMLIG) CY - Florence, Italy DA - 15.10.2025 KW - Probabilistic site-characterization KW - Gaussian process regression KW - Bayesian inference KW - Offshore Wind Farms PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64423 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Kemmler, Samuel T1 - Investigating Piping Erosion during Suction Bucket Installations using Fully-Resolved LBM-DEM Simulations N2 - Suction bucket foundations are an innovative, cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable solution for offshore wind turbine installations. Their deployment relies on generating suction pressure inside the bucket to achieve full embedment into the seabed. However, a critical challenge during installation is piping erosion, a process where particle fluidization beneath the bucket wall tip leads to a sudden drop in suction pressure, potentially causing installation failure. Despite its practical significance, the underlying physics governing piping erosion remain insufficiently understood due to the complex interplay between hydrodynamic forces and sediment transport. To bridge this knowledge gap, we employ a three-dimensional, fully-resolved coupled lattice Boltzmann method - discrete element method simulation to investigate the fundamental mechanisms driving piping erosion. The approach allows the capture of grain-scale interactions with high fidelity, enabling the identification of key parameters influencing erosion onset and progression. However, achieving physically representative problem sizes—comprising hundreds of thousands of grains—requires immense computational resources due to the high-resolution nature of the simulations. To address this computational challenge, simulations are performed on the LUMI supercomputer, leveraging hundreds of GPUs to execute large-scale, high-fidelity calculations. We present simulation results that showcase the method’s capability to resolve the intricate physics of piping erosion, offering new insights into the conditions that trigger erosion and its impact on suction bucket performance. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of suction bucket installation dynamics and support the development of optimized, failure-resistant foundation designs for offshore wind applications. T2 - PARTICLES 2025 CY - Barcelona, Spain DA - 20.10.2025 KW - Micromechanical simulation KW - Suction bucket foundation KW - Piping erosion PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64460 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -