IMCS at "FE ohne Schnee" 2026

3 August 2026

From July 29 to August 1, 2026, four members of IMCS participated in the "FE ohne Schnee" seminar at the Söllerhaus near Hirschegg in the Kleinwalsertal valley. Alongside Regina Bühler and Bishr Maradni, Simon Völkl and Benno Schönstein each contributed a talk. Simon Völkl presented physics-informed neural networks for computational contact mechanics, tracing the path from collocation to energy-based and variational formulations. Benno Schönstein presented his work on uncertainty quantification for multiscale damage and failure modeling in fiber-reinforced composite materials.

The contributions of the other participants covered a broad range of topics - from error estimation and topology optimization to material modeling, fracture simulation and data-driven models. With research groups from TU Munich, KIT, RWTH Aachen, the University of Stuttgart, TU Dortmund, Leibniz University Hannover and the University of the Bundeswehr Munich all coming together, the seminar provided a setting for intensive technical exchange across institutional boundaries. Excellent weather also left time for joint hikes at the Kanzelwand and through the Breitachklamm gorge.

We sincerely thank the Institute for Structural Mechanics at the University of Stuttgart, especially Dr.-Ing. Malte von Scheven, for the excellent organization and warm hospitality.

^{The seminar series was founded in 1985 by Professors Ramm, Stein and Wunderlich to foster the exchange of ideas between research groups in the field of (structural) mechanics in the German-speaking countries. It has been held regularly at the Söllerhaus ever since and is organized by the Institute for Structural Mechanics of the University of Stuttgart.}