in line

for those who are waiting for more news from abroad, please be patient. i have a tight schedule on the westcoast of the united states. you will read and see more soon, i promise!

greetings from LA

BIGGER bang

do you see the bigger beams on the left side? they don't break the lab's floor, but they might break your neck! testing this week, beginning today. posted video coming up soon.

you want to know what that picture shows?

this is a "small" WTC-core-column cross-section (so it is just a small piece of the whole part) welded together of 12.5cm thick solid steel plates. here are the dimensions. we got one piece in our lab, it's unbelieveable.

country feat. coyote

as promised i proudly present pictures and videos from a country-bar in raleigh. to make the journey a little bit more exciting i didn't post the pictures directly. you should be able to enjoy step by step.

to introduce the european guys: it's not that the united states are full of cowboys and rodeos. nor wear lots of americans cowboy-hats. that's children's fairy tales. actually as i understood, this type of american, who looks like that, is supposed to be called a redneck. everybody understands that being a stupid southern guy, riding a horse and getting a sunburn on his neck (to make a comparison, it's an expression like a "GTI-Prolo").

so, we went into that bar and were waiting for the countrydancers. please, you always have to watch the details when looking at those links!
whatever it is, countrydance, linedance, squaredance... we saw different types.
the mechanical rodeo-bull on the stage in citylimits (the name of the bar) was not very heavy loaded, there was not boys riding...
..... now you know, i totally agree: if you want to see beautiful girls, go to that bar. and it's not stupid "Prolo-"girls, that night was college night, although i have to admit, i haven't talked to them yet... but i also haven't left raleigh yet. actually the bar is quite close to our place - now i know...
as proof that i do not exaggerate, please have a look at that ;)
if you want to see more, just visit me in vienna... i still have better videos from citylimits.

announcement: coyote ugly

after 7 weeks i was finally in one of those bars i was waiting to visit...
if u want to watch a big party, wait for the next post this weekend!

Washington DC

back from washington dc last weekend i'd like to show u a couple of impressions i got.
friday night after arrival at 10.30pm we went on a bar-tour to explore dc at night. i might speak for some more people telling you that it was more flop than top. but i don't have to mention that we had fun though.
the most common "problem" for us in the states is the prohibition of drinking alcohol in most places. you are not even allowed to drink one beer in the hostel we stayed in dc.

the next day it wasn't only us who had a hangover. the weather could have been more sunny. although we were sweating as usual. the climate is as hot and humid as in raleigh, 90-100 degree fahrenheit (-32*5/9= 32-38 degr. C) and 40-85% humidity, which makes it even worse.

you will recognize the washington monument on the left and the white house below. those two of about 20 buildings are in a huge area in the middle of washington. as you see on the picture there is always a big lawn in between the buildings. the lawns close to the white house are not supposed to be used by people. that makes it a quite clean but also cold area.


and we received the impression to be dangerous for the president. the streets in front of the white house are closed and police is patrolling everywhere.
since we had only one day and two nights in dc it wasn't possible to visit all the big museums around the centre.

in one of the comments i was asked about all the beautiful girls from raleigh. here you go:

these are "my" girls and me - all interns staying in raleigh.

after a chuck-out-morning (caused by slow-motion-guides) i decided to keep the day relaxed and to visit only the museum of modern art.
last but not least i passed the u.s. capitol accompanied by a beautiful spanish chica.

action / big bang in the lab

hey guys,
for everybody who missed the busy day with many tests in the lab and who is interested in how a high-tensile-steel reinforced concrete beam fails...
watch the bang!
if your movie-player can not deal with the .mov-file, get the quicktime player from the links on the right sidebar for free.

cu soon

lab-watching

news from the lab

have a look at our live-lab-webcam:
http://www.ce.ncsu.edu/centers/cfl/Webcam/index.html

today is very busy. there are several tests on the schedule. so you might catch one, which is usually quite difficult.
one is already done. but there are two more columns under pressure... made out of 2 concentric tubes of glass fiber filled with some kind of pu-foam for the alaskian department of transportation (freeze free construction?). the test is on the very right edge of the picture.
on the left side you can see a concrete beam with high tensile steel spliced in the middle of the highest part of the moment-curvature.
and in the middle of the picture you might see me preparing three steel beams for the next tests.

report #1

hey guys,
here comes my first report shot out from a small desktop in the middle of raleigh, north carolina (nc), united states of america - for those who are not aware of me staying abroad this summer.

just for information: i am allright and i have a good time here in raleigh during the week and on several places in the united states during the weekends.
the left picture shows me on the east coast of nc in wilmington after a visit on the carolina beach (an "impressive" picture will follow) waiting for a pleasant dinner in a fancy restaurant.





what i do? i got a job in the constructed facilities laboratory - a part of the department of civil, construction and environmental engineering - at the north carolina state university (ncsu).

amongst others i am working on a phd-research-project testing carbon fiber splices on a carbon fiber supported steel beam.


in the last couple of weeks i got to know a bunch of people i am hanging out with in my freetime.
there are a couple of people from all over europe; finnland, germany, austria, croatia. and from africa; tunesia, camerun. and from asia; china. the rest is - of course - from the us.