RWTH

Description of RWTH
The Institute of Steel Construction at the University of Technology Aachen (RWTH Aachen) works in various fields with particular emphasis on the promotion of steel in the structural area. There are various working groups dealing with

• Steel and composite structures containing bridges, buildings, industrial structures, special structures, product development, fatigue life expectancy, dynamics of structures, fire regulations and crane structures
• Material science containing fatigue design, fracture mechanics, FRP (GFRP/CFRP), high strength concrete in composite structures, high strength steel, deep temperature behaviour, viscosity and bonding techniques
• Wind engineering containing wind tunnel tests, design features against critical vibration, inner flow in plants, full scale measurements, theoretical vibration analysis and natural ventilation of buildings
• Structural glassing containing design concepts, consent in individual cases, general supervision license, tests, quality assurance, product development and refitting concepts
• Building physics containing thermal insulation and comfort and solar irradiation and illuminance
• Software development containing CoP (Design of the connections), DYNACS (Dynamic non-linear analysis of composite and steel structures), MEPHISTO (Multibody systems with elastic-plastic hinges and changeable structure organisations), Kanet (Design of canal networks) and Kamin (Design of steel chimneys)

The Institute of Steel Construction has also been involved in the development of various Eurocodes and national standards, e.g.

• Eurocode 0 - Basis of design
• Eurocode 1 - Action on structures
• Eurocode 3 - Design of steel structures
• Eurocode 4 - Design of composite steel and concrete structures
• Eurocode 8 - Design provisions for earthquake resistance of structures
• Eurocode 9 - Design of aluminium alloy structures
• Richtlinie fuer tragende Glasbauteile
• DASt-Richtlinie 009 - Choice of steel grade
• ENV 1090 - Design

The Institute comprises a staff of about 76 employed members both in the theoretical field and in the laboratory with a testing field and is one of the largest Institute of Steel Structures embedded in an university in Europe.

Description of subcontractor PSP

PSP is a medium-sized engineering consultancy. Together with a staff of about 18 employees and 6 executive personnel in three offices a yearly turnover of about 2 million € is achieved.
There are 2 companies of PSP with 3 offices:

• PSP Planung und Entwicklung im Bauwesen GmbH
  Office BerlinPettenkoferstrasse 16-1810247 BerlinTel. 0049-(0)30-2386639 Fax 0049-(0)30-2386658E-mail: psp-berlin@t-link.de Office AachenLagerhausstrasse 2752064 AachenTel. 0049-(0)241-162095 Fax 0049-(0)241-167786E-mail: psp-ac@t-online.de
• PSP Technologien im Bauwesen GmbH
  Office AachenPauwelsstrasse 1952074 AachenTel. 0049-(0)241-9632480 Fax 0049-(0)241-9632490E-mail: psp-tech@t-online.de

The consultancy "PSP, Prof. Sedlacek & Partner GmbH" was founded in 1990 by Prof. Gerhard Sedlacek and Prof. Dieter Ungermann for both design and development services.

The main fields of engineering work of PSP are:

• Bridge engineering
• Steel-concrete composite structures
• Building construction
• Wind structural engineering
• Glass engineering
• Platform building
• Independent proving of calculations for steel structures and steel bridges
• Development and refinement of design codes
• Development of specialised technical computer programs

PSP have initiated new developments in assessment, repair and strengthening of existing structures as well as innovative technologies in bridge structures like new fatigue resistant types of orthotropic decks and the use of cast elements and carbon fibres. PSP was involved in the development of the new national design code DIN FB 103 for the design of steel bridges, in the European recommendation for the "Assessment of Existing Steel Structures" and in the development of computer program CoP, which allow an easy and effective pre-design and design of all kinds of connections according to EN1993-1-8.

The main office is in Berlin, but nowadays more than half of the staff is located in branches in Aachen where the close co-operation with the Institute for Steel Structures at the RWTH Aachen and joint ventures with other consultants leads to the possibility to deliver the whole range of engineering service for any given major project.

A considerable part of PSP's revenues originates from national work where PSP's specialised knowledge in the design of composite, arched and other medium span bridges and the assessment of existing road and railway bridges as well as wind- and glass-engineering for high-rise buildings and sport stadiums is required. Current members of PSP are licensed professional engineers, which are experienced in the application of national and international design codes. Most of the PSP staff is multi-lingual and can prepare designs in the language required.