Prof. Dr. Arno Zang
Wednesday, 9:15 - 10:00 h
Acoustic emission measurements in granitic rock for geothermal purposes: in-situ hydraulic testing at Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory, Sweden and laboratory cyclic fatigue experiments

For more than 30 years, I work at German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ. In the beginning, I helped building a rock deformation laboratory including tri-axial testing of rock cores with acoustic emission measurements and post mortem fracture analysis. Last 15 years, I moved to design and perform underground experiments for efficient geothermal heat extraction. We use German, French and Swedish underground research facilities. I am teaching at Potsdam University as Professor of Geophysics and Rock Mechanics courses in Fracture Mechanics, Rock Physics and Stress Analysis.

More details and full list of publications accessible via the webpage of GFZ Potsdam

Dr. Ernst Niederleithinger
Wednesday, 10:00 - 10:45 h
Breaking barriers, not just pencil mines: The route ahead for combining active and passive acoustic measurements for damage detection in concrete constructions.

Ernst Niederleithinger is a geophysicist. He is currently head of Department 8.2 "Non-destructive testing methods for the construction industry", an interdisciplinary group of around 30 scientists, engineers, technicians and students in BAM, the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing.

He is a member of various bodies and committees that deal with standards and regulations for non-destructive testing in the construction industry. Ernst Niederleithinger has been working on active ultrasound monitoring and coda wave interferometry, among other things, since 2012.

More details on LinkedIn.

Prof. Dr. Nathalie Godin
Prize Winner - Adrian Pollock Award
Thursday, 8:30 - 9:15 h
From damage diagnosis to service life estimation by acoustic emission: interests, limitations and contribution of modelling

Nathalie Godin is an Associate Professor at the National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA) in Lyon (France) since 1996 and conducts research at MATEIS lab. She received her PhD degree from the University of Bordeaux in 1994 and her HDR (Habilitation to conduct researches), delivered by INSA of Lyon and the University Claude Bernard Lyon, in  2009.

She has more than 25 years of experience in acoustic emission and its application for the analysis of damage in various classes of materials, in particular fiber-reinforced composites. The main topics of her research concern the durability of composite materials and the prediction of their fatigue lifetime under mechanical or thermomechanical tests with acoustic emission.  

She has co-authored over 80 articles, 5 book chapters and 2 books. She has supervised 35 MSc students and 28 PhD students.

Prof. Dr. Torsten Dahm
Friday, 9:00 - 09:45 h
Seismicity during Unrest: Exploring the Physical State and Geological Structures of the Earth

Torsten Dahm studied geophysics at the Technical University Karlsruhe and obtained his doctor’s degree in geophysics in Karlsruhe in 1994. After holding an assistant lectureship in the group of Prof. Müller, University of Frankfurt, and after his habilitation in 2000, he became Professor in marine seismology at the University of Hamburg. Since 2012 he is Professor in Geophysics at the University of Potsdam and head of the GFZ section 2.1 “Physics of Earthquakes and Volcanoes”.

Prof. Dahm has a broad background in seismology and volcano physics and is involved in different research initiatives in these fields. His main areas of interest cover earthquake source processes, physics of fluid-filled fractures, and theoretical and experimental seismology.

More details and full list of publications accessible via the webpage of GFZ Potsdam

Photo: Stefan Gröschel

Dr.-Ing. Chongjie Kang
Friday, 9:45 - 10:30 h
Digital twin in bridge maintenance

Dresden University of Technology, Institute of Concrete Structures, Dresden, Germany

Dr. Kang is provisional research area leader at the Institute of Concrete Structures at Dresden University of Technology. His research focuses on bridges; his dissertation also dealt with the topic: Proof of track resistance taking into account the track-bridge interaction. 
The keynote will present the concept and the main components of a digital twin. The potential of digital twins for the maintenance and extension of the service life of existing structures will be demonstrated.
More details on LinkedIn.