Department I – Structural Engineering
Department I reunites all structural engineering sections and the Structural Design Control Authority.
From earth work and foundation engineering to mass wall, metal, timber, masonry and glass construction, from reinforcement and fixings to facades and load-bearing plastics, from structural design approvals to topics such as safety theory, fire and seismic design – structural design is our focus in Department I. Come rain, hail or snow, structures in Germany are safe, not least thanks to the approval and assessment work of DIBt.
Section I 1 – Concrete and Reinforced Concrete Construction, Prestressed Concrete Construction

Dr Lars Eckfeldt
Head of Section – Concrete and Reinforced Concrete Construction, Prestressed Concrete Construction
Phone +49 30 78730-363
Fax +49 30 78730-11363
Email lec(at)dibt(.)de
Fields of Activity
Concrete and reinforced concrete
- Construction techniques for walls
- Construction techniques for floors
- solid concrete slabs
- voided slabs
- Reinforcing elements
- punching shear reinforcement
- lattice girders
- steel supports for concrete components
- Special designs
- knife-edge bearings
- spun concrete poles and masts
Prestressed concrete
- Prestressing techniques
- bonded post-tensioning
- internal unbonded post-tensioning
- external post-tensioning
- in situ grouts and temporary corrosion protection
- cable-stay techniques
- Construction techniques for prestressed floors
- prestressed hollow core slabs
- prestressed floors made of precast elements and in situ concrete
- prestressed floors with structural concrete overlay
Steel-fibre reinforced concrete
- Precast products and construction techniques
- electrical substations
- floor slabs
- walls
- prestressed and non-prestressed precast elements
Strengthening of concrete members
- Steel plates / CFRP strips
- strengthening with externally bonded steel plates
- strengthening with externally bonded carbon fibre reinforced polymer strips (CFRP strips)
- strengthening with CFRP strips bonded into slits
- CF sheets
- strengthening of tanks with laminated carbon fibre sheets
- Textile-reinforced concrete
- strengthening with textile-reinforced concrete
Section I 2 – Fastening and Reinforcing Techniques, Stairs

Beatrix Wittstock
Head of Section – Fastening and Reinforcing Techniques, Stairs
Phone +49 30 78730-267
Email bwi(at)dibt(.)de
Fields of Activity
Anchorages and fixings for use in concrete and masonry
- Metal fasteners
- Bonded fasteners
- Plastic fasteners
- Special fasteners
- Powder actuated fasteners
- Anchor channels
- Headed bolts
- Scaffold anchors
- Wire rope loop systems
Reinforcing steel and couplings for reinforcing steel
Slab connectors, stair connectors, shear dowels
Stairs
- Stair systems
- Individual components for staircases
Section I 3 – Bearings, Glass Construction, Scaffolds, Racking Systems

Andreas Schult
Head of Section – Bearings, Glass Construction, Scaffolds, Racking Systems
Phone +49 30 78730-252
Email asc(at)dibt(.)de
Fields of Activity
Bearings
- Bridge bearings
- Bearings in building construction
- Vibration isolation of buildings
Special structures
- Scaffolds and scaffold components
- Free-standing steel chimneys
- Towers and masts
- Temporary structures
Glass in building
- Structural sealant glazing systems
- Point-supported vertical glazing
- Overhead glazing
- Linearly supported vertical glazing
- Barrier glazing
- Walk-on glazing
Racking systems
Section I 4 – Concrete Technology

Dr Wilhelm Hintzen
Head of Section – Concrete Technology
Phone +49 30 78730-328
Email whi(at)dibt(.)de
Fields of Activity
Concrete technology
- Concrete constituents
- binders
- admixtures
- additives/additions
- fibres
- aggregates
- Special concretes and mortars
- mass concrete
- grouting mortars/concretes
- reaction resin mortars
- other special concretes
- Protection and repair of concrete components
- protective measures for trafficable concrete surfaces
- repair products with special properties
Fibre cement with non-metallic fibres
- Construction products and members
- fibre cement flat sheet kits
- fibre cement profiled sheet kits
- special boards
Section I 5 – Timber Construction

Anja Dewitt
Head of Section – Timber Construction
Phone +49 30 78730-317
Email adw(at)dibt(.)de
Fields of Activity
Timber construction
- Timber construction and timber products
- solid timber
- modified timber
- finger-jointed solid timber
- glued solid timber, glued laminated timber
- cross laminated timber
- laminated veneer timber
- hybrid elements
- wood-based stressed skin panels
- mechanically jointed timber elements (e.g. using fasteners)
- particle boards (organic and mineral)
- OSB-boards
- plywood
- solid wood panels
- fibre boards (organic)
- gypsum boards
- solid timber beams
- I-beams
- panel construction
- formwork beams
- Timber fasteners
- dowel-type fasteners: nails, screws and staples
- carpentry joints
- punched metal plate fasteners
- plane steel plates
- three-dimensional fasteners
- other fasteners
- Composite systems
- wood-concrete composite systems
- Adhesives and bonded connections
- adhesives for load-bearing timber elements
- adhesives for bonded connections
- adhesives for repair of timber elements
- glued-in fasteners
- screw-press bonding
- Moisture-variable diffusion-inhibiting layers
Wood preservation
- Preventive wood preservatives without biocides
- Curative wood preservatives without biocides
Non-load-bearing internal partitions
Section I 6 – Masonry, Earth Work and Foundation Engineering, Waterproofing of Buildings

Bettina Hemme
Head of Section – Masonry, Earth Work and Foundation Engineering, Waterproofing of Buildings
Phone +49 30 78730-322
Email bhm(at)dibt(.)de
Fields of Activity
Masonry
- Masonry units and bricks
- Masonry mortars
- Prefabricated masonry wall elements
- Construction techniques with shuttering blocks
- Dry masonry
- Reinforced masonry
- Lintels
- Accessories
Earth work and foundation engineering
- Ground anchors
- Soil nailing
- Piles
- Pile couplers
- Soil injections
- Deep-mixing (mixed-in-place)
- Soil reinforced with geotextiles
Waterproofing of buildings and roofs
- Waterproofing of buildings and roofs
- bitumen sheets, plastic sheets, elastomeric sheets
- liquid applied products such as polymer-modified bituminous thick coatings, mineral sealing slurries, dispersions and reaction resins
- Construction techniques comprising pre-applied flexible sheets that fully bond to the in situ concrete
- Sealing of joints and transitions for waterproof concrete members
- coated and uncoated metal joint sheets
- injection hose systems
- plastic and elastomeric joint sealing tapes, exterior and interior
- transitions with adhesive properties
- transitions with built-in parts
- Waterproofing of bridge decks
- bitumen sheets
- liquid applied products on the basis of reaction resins
- Expansion joints for bridges
Section I 7 – Plastics Construction, Facades

Renée Kamanzi-Fechner
Head of Section – Plastics Construction, Facades
Phone +49 30 78730 -394
Email rka(at)dibt(.)de
Fields of Activity
Facades
- Exterior wall claddings
- ventilated and non-ventilated exterior wall claddings made of organic, inorganic and/or composite materials
- exterior wall claddings consisting of supporting boards with render or bonded cladding panels
- Exterior wall claddings made of insulation composite elements
Load-bearing plastics
- Translucent elements (skylights etc.)
- translucent elements or systems for roofs
- translucent elements or systems for walls
- Sandwich panels
- thermally insulating claddings with fire compartmentation function
- thermally insulating roof units with fire compartmentation function
- Membrane structures
- load-bearing membrane structures made of coated fabrics without load-bearing substructures
- special load-bearing membrane structures made of films
- Swimming pools
- glass fibre reinforced swimming pool elements
- Water slides
- glass fibre reinforced water slide elements
- Strengthening of timber components
- products and methods for the repair of load-bearing timber structures
- Adhesive bonding
- adhesive bonding to force-fit two building components together
- bonded claddings
- glass-concrete composites
- adhesive bonding of prefabricated concrete building elements
- Metal plastic composite profiles
- Polymer concrete
- polymer-concrete containing binders, mostly synthetic (e.g. polymethyl methacrylate)
- reinforced balcony slabs
Section I 8 – Structural Design Control Authority, Metal Construction, Composite Construction

Dr Ronald Schwuchow
Head of Section – Structural Design Control Authority, Metal Construction, Composite Construction
Phone +49 30 78730 -274
Email rsw(at)dibt(.)de
Fields of Activity
Granting structural design type approvals
Coordination and general policy matters in the following areas:
- structural design and structural analysis
- fire design (resistance-to-fire)
- seismic design
- safety theory in construction
- design loads and actions
- Eurocodes
- wind turbines (e.g. DIBt Guideline on Wind Turbines and related comments)
Evaluation and development of provisions for national technical approvals and European Technical Assessments concerning the resistance-to-fire of structures
Steel and metal construction
- Steel construction
- bulk containers
- connectors
- steel framing
- tension members
- anchor devices for personal fall protection systems
- Light metal construction
- connectors
- cold rolled steel girders
- profiled sheets
- suspended metal ceilings
- Connections and connectors
Materials for metal construction
- Metallic products and components made of
- stainless steel
- thermomechanically rolled fine-grained steel
- creep-resistant steels
- Welding
- prefabricated steel and aluminium elements
- construction products welded using special methods
- Corrosion protection
Composite construction
- Composite components
- composite floors
- composite columns
- composite girders
- Shear connectors