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At any given moment, our life, our health and our environment depend on the safety of buildings, transport, energy supply and many other systems and processes. They have become indispensable to us. But we currently rely on technological systems which have existed for only a few decades, often only for a few years. These systems have to be safe. Dams must withstand rising sea levels, wind energy systems must bear gusts and storms.
Ever since its foundation, BAM has been making important contributions to the safe operation of technological systems and processes by developing and validating test and assessment methods. If damage and materials failure are to be prevented, the interactions of materials, design and load must be examined. Data from the examination of samples must be applicable to production components. Tests that work correctly under laboratory conditions must also work in production environments such as manufacturing processes. The 'portability' of parameters plays a crucial role in BAM's research work.
Wind power plant
Just like organisms, machinery and buildings have a discrete service life. They must be monitored so that material fatigue or malfunctions over time do not diminish their mechanical safety. The BAM experts promote the use of permanent precision monitoring systems. Many of the methods developed at BAM are used to monitor infrastructure systems such as bridges or buildings. Increasingly, the question "Could we keep it for a little longer?" is asked about structures which are at the end of their intended service life. This is understandable, as replacement is always expensive. But affirming this question always carries an immense responsibility.
Autoclaves for examining ageing resistance of materials
Systems and processes should be designed such that if a malfunction occurs, they always fail safe – and they should provide intrinsic safety. This also means that controllers and protective systems should be redundant. Redundancy guarantees that a failure within one control area can be compensated by another in a controlled fashion.
Public safety institutions like BAM make substantial efforts to help create standards and policies for industry and testing authorities – supporting and defining Europe's high safety standards.