The Institute of Structures and Design (BT) has its origins at Stuttgart Airport. The German Institute for Helicopters and Vertical Flight Technology (DSH) laid the foundations for today's BT at the airport in 1958 with its four departments for fl ight physics, transport industries, aerodynamics and flight mechanics. In 1969, the Institute BT emerged from the Department of Applied Flight Physics. Today, the research that began more than 50 years ago is continued at two locations according to the latest standards.
STUTTGART
The site in Stuttgart is located on the premises of the University of Stuttgart-Vaihingen. The scientific work here ranges from the development and optimization of materials and their manufacturing and joining technologies to new design approaches and the construction of full-scale demonstrators. Of course, their testing and validation in specific test facilities and in flight tests is also part of the daily work. The focus is placed on fibre-reinforced ceramic, polymeric and hybrid composites. Research into new multidisciplinary design tools and digital models forms the basis for the development of hardware.
AUGSBURG
At the Augsburg site, which is located within the Innovation Park, work focuses on the development of lightweight production methods ready for industrial applications. Here everything revolves around the robot-based production of lightweight structures and process-integrated quality assurance and its feedback with structural technology and design. The main strategic lines are research along process chains, full-scale capability and the consistent digital integration of all elements in line with Industry 4.0. The acquisition, processing and analysis of large amounts of data form the basis for the Institute's digitalisation strategy. This enables questions that arise from research and industry to be answered quickly and flexibly. Together with the site in Stade, our Department in Augsburg also forms the DLR Center for Lightweight Production Technology (ZLP).