On 24 – 27 September 2019, the last International Scientific Board of the AdMaS Center was held. The scientists, led by the director, welcomed the board members who came to us from all over Europe: Dr. Andrea Giuseppe Capodaglio from the Italian University of Pavia, Prof. Dr. Ing. Harald Garrecht from the University of Stuttgart, Ass. Prof. Dr. Alfred Strauss from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna and Prof. Dr. Humberto Salazar Amorium Varum from Universidade do Porto.

During their stay, the professors took part in the celebrations of the 120th anniversary of the foundation of the Faculty of Civil Engineering and the evening performance Night at Karlštejn in the Brno City Theater.

Both the AdMaS Center and the Faculty held meetings with individual research groups for two days, whose representatives presented their achievements and ideas for 2019.

Towards the end of the week, the staff of the Center said goodbye to the professors and thanked them for their support, motivation and very friendly yet professional relationships.

 

 

  

On Friday, September 27, 2019, in the evening, the gate of the AdMaS Center opened to visitors of the popular event Scientists’ Night, this time on the theme of Considering the Planet.

The staff of the individual laboratories, in collaboration with students and family members, prepared several sites reflecting the current research conducted in them. They prepared a demonstration of interesting devices for the visitors, explained their use and attracted two hundred guests in the form of a competition or a practical demonstration. The most popular were, as in past years, 3D printer products, a tomograph contest, a drone simulation flight and, of course, the production of asphalt pavement and playing with Liebherr toy cars.

An electric car, bestowed from E.ON,  was also quite acclaimed and admired.

Both young and old guests gained not only new knowledge, but also many ecological souvenirs, the smallest one a favorite sweet surprise.

In August we welcomed 2 foreign trainees to the road laboratory of the AdMaS Research Center.

On August 6, 2019 arrived first student, Arnaud Chuter from France, who is studying civil engineering at EI.CESI University in Angoulême (https://angouleme.cesi.fr/ecoles-formations). Arnaud’s specialization is traffic construction and will stay here until October 25, 2019.

The second student is Riko Sakuda, who came from Japan thanks to the IAESTE organization. Riko is studying at Yokohama National University (Yokohama National University – https://www.ynu.ac.jp/english/) and will be here till mid-October. Her main specialization is urban communications and urban infrastructure.

Both students are very active and have been involved in research activities both at the AdMaS Center and the Institute of Roads. They are also cooperating on solving partial tasks within current research projects. One of them is a project of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic TH04020154 entitled: “Optimization of the construction, repair and operation of asphalt-concrete sealing cladding”. So far we are very satisfied with both students.

Arnaud Chuter already participated in excursion to the mixing plant in Rajhradice, where he assisted in the sampling of aggregates. In the months of September and October, further professional excursions to cooperating companies or directly to the road construction are planned. Last but not least, there is a plan for a joint discussion of students of the 2nd year of the Master’s program with a focus on traffic constructions.

The research group Mathematical Modeling succesfully cooperated with the Institute of Geonics AS CR, specifically with Dr. Leona Vavro and Dr. Martin Vavro, and on 19 September 2019 welcomed an important expert in the field of rock fracture testing, prof. Yuzo Obaru, from Japanese Kumamoto University.

It was on the day of the 120th anniversary of BUT that prof. Obara presented a lecture in the STM Institute and then visited the AdMaS Center in the afternoon. In the lecture “Crack Front Geometry and Stress Intensity Factor of Semi-Circular Bend Specimens with Straight Through and Cracked Chevron Notches” he presented his team’s current results in experiments as well as numerical analysis of the influence of voltage initiator concentrator on stress intensity factor .

By the way, prof. Y. Obara used to be a Director of GeoX CT Center and a Vice-Dean of Faculty of Engineering of Kumamoto University, which also celebrated  120th anniversary of its founding in year 2017. The visit organized Prof. Zbyněk Keršner, Assoc. Stanislav Seitl and Dr. Hana Šimonová.

The picture from the AdMaS area depicts prof. Z. Keršner, prof. Obaru, Dr. L. Vavro and Dr. M. Vavro. Ing. Lucia Osuska from the research group Technology of Building Materials in an eye-catching presentation of the center’s research.

On September 16, 2019, the AdMaS Research Center welcomed members of the Bosnian delegation who visited the Czech Republic as part of their study trip. An excursion mapping the activities of the center in the field of urban engineering with an emphasis on water management infrastructure and geotechnics was prepared in cooperation with GEOtest, a.s.

This company from Brno is currently implementing a project of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic “Assistance in establishing a technology center for innovation” within the Aid for Trade program of the Czech Republic’s official development cooperation with Bosnia and Herzegovina. The aim of the project is to transfer Czech know-how in the field of establishment and operation of technology parks and innovation centers.

In September this year, one of the project activities included a visit to individual technology parks and innovation centers in the Czech Republic, including the AdMaS research center. Among other things, there was an exchange of interesting contacts and discussion of hot topics with the Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Zenica, the Prime Minister of the Canton of Zenicko-Doboj, the Director of the TRA Agency for Tešanj Municipality Development and other delegation participants.

On September 4, 2019, within the ongoing cooperation of the AdMaS Center with CIDEM Hranice, a.s. test specimens of cement-bonded particleboards were prepared and subsequently tested with respect to the assessment of physical-mechanical parameters (bulk density, strength characteristics and flexural modulus), microstructure and combustion heat analysis.

The bodies were manufactured in laboratory. Significantly modified formulas were used for the production of plates, with a view to achieving lower bulk density and improving fire resistance while maintaining minimum standard requirements for utility properties.

Modification of the composition of cement-bonded particleboards was carried out by substitution of primary components (up to 50%) with alternative raw materials (heating slag, waste perlite and dust formed as a by-product during the processing of cement-bonded particleboards).

On September 4, 2019, an excursion of participants in the energetics course took place in the AdMaS Center. The course’s target group are young employees under 35 years of age. During different courses they learn how to uncover energy saving reserves, optimize processes or implement energy-saving measures in the company, thereby contribute to better climate protection.

The organizer of the event, the Czech-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, chose the AdMaS Center not only with regard to its current activities in the area, but also to the technical and technological background of the Center. Supervisors of the EGAR Research Group, Dr. Tomáš Chorazy, Dr. Miroslav Čekon, Dr. Jakub Raček and Ing. Kristýna Velikovská, gradually presented the activities of the center in the field of alternative energy use, eg. Selected technologies and construction elements of buildings leading to energy independence, Gray water recycling for reuse and Recovery of thermal energy from waste water. With respect to the presented topics, there was also an excursion in the AdMaS center and demonstration of individual technologies. The activities of the individual research groups were briefly presented, with an emphasis on the possibilities of comprehensive solutions to problems in the field of construction and resource utilization.

The excursion at the AdMaS Center took place as a practical part of the training in the Young Energy Europe project. This is funded through the European Climate Protection Initiative (EUKI). EUKI is a financial instrument of the Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). The main objective of the EUKI is cooperation within the European Union that will support the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and intensify dialogue and exchange of knowledge and experience within Europe under the Paris Agreement.

On September 3, 2019, Česká televize presented in its program “Events in Regions (Brno)” a reportage “Shelter from Garbage”, where you can get to know an interesting student project Plastic Crystal, in which the MBM research group helps students with the processing of recycled plastics into cladding elements for the cloak sheath.

  

In the summer, the staff of the MBM Research Group (Dr. Černý and Dr. Michalčíková) carried out one of a series of verification experiments of the newly developed liquefied earth utilization technology for self-compacting toppings under real conditions of residential house construction in Brno.

It was about filling the segment of the excavation with the original soil in liquefied form. The technology allows the use of less suitable soils and is gentle on stored installations, which perfectly bypasses. The installation does not have to be complicated to fill and soil is no longer required to be compacted.

Four days after the dressing, the grout was evaluated for homogeneity, moisture, load-bearing capacity and samples were taken to verify the basic parameters that reached the original soil compaction values.