Details about Albrecht Gilka-Bötzow

Key Topics

• Sustainability of Building Materials
• Concrete Technology
• Lightweight and Foamed Concretes
• Structural Damage
• Building Physics of Materials

Career

Double degree in Civil Engineering from TU Dresden and the University of Trento. Earned a Ph.D. in 2016 at the Institute for Construction Materials at TU Darmstadt, where he served as a senior research associate until 2021. Holder of an E-certificate. In 2019, he managed a precast concrete plant. In 2020, he was appointed Professor of Construction Materials Science in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences. In addition, he works as an R&D project developer and serves as an expert consultant.

Research Projects

(Selection of projects in which I played a significant role)

• Construction Laboratory for Development and Training in Sustainable Automation and Robotics - BEAVAR
  (4 a, Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space)
• Lightweight Precast Concrete Infrastructure Elements for Civil Engineering - LIfT
  (2 a, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy)
• Residue-free, recyclable sandwich element made of non-combustible, purely mineral materials—CO2 avoidance and CO2 sequestration in concrete applications—“|2CO2|sandwich”
  (2 a, German Federal Environmental Foundation—DBU)
• CO₂ reduction in cement and concrete production through a dual closed-loop recycling system
  (3 a, Dr. Edith and Klaus Dyckerhoff Foundation)
• Lightweight concrete construction with LAC+: Thermally insulating ultralightweight concrete building envelope with an integrated, high-load-bearing lightweight steel structural framework
  (2 a, AiF, ZIM)
• ETA Factory: Energy-Efficient Factory for Interdisciplinary Technology and Application Research
  (5 a, BMWi: 5th Energy Research Program)
• TU Darmstadt’s Competition Entry “Plus-Energy House” BMVI: Design Competition for a Plus-Energy House with E-Mobility
  (ZukunftBau)

Publications

• ORCID
• ResearchGate

Suggested Topics for Theses

(09/26)

• Engineering Research: Industrial Processes for Producing MgO from Olivine for the Manufacture of Cement Substitutes - Transparent Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Potential
• Concrete for Novel Reinforcement Systems with Low pH Values
• Isothermal and Adeabatic Reaction Calorimetry for Measuring the Reactivity of Alternative Binders 
• Clay as a Load-Bearing Building Material
• Wood-Concrete Composite Slabs from a Concrete Technology Perspective
• Glass Powder as a Geopolymer Raw Material
• Easily compactable concrete with high proportions of ungraded concrete rubble
• Concretes with high proportions of ungraded concrete rubble
• Use of image processing techniques to determine air void parameters in hardened concrete
• Research on: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions through the renovation of single-family homes
• Self-compacting white concrete without white cement for FT production
  Comparison of measurement methods for determining the air content in fresh lightweight concrete
• Comparison of measurement methods for determining the water content in fresh concrete
• Comparison of non-destructive methods for determining the mechanical properties of hardened concrete
• Research on: yield stress calculated from the mini-slump flow
• Material-based comparative assessment of bridge condition in Germany
• Energy simulation of A12 with and without a new facade

The topics listed above are only general areas of focus and will be discussed together. Based on that, I will develop a clear and tailored assignment. The projects listed below can serve as inspiration.

I'd be happy to hear from you.

Completed Theses

(Selection) 

• Irina Skubakova (Master’s), 2025, Optimization of the packing density of binder-reduced concrete using a rotary compactor
• Julian Fecher (Master’s), 2025, Effects of using clinker-reduced cements in precast concrete plants
• Norman Kempf (Bachelor’s), 2025, Development of a material-efficient brick concrete with a fracture-mechanically optimized matrix
• Henning Grau (Master’s), 2024, Rational mix design for tamped concrete for unreinforced flexural members with short spans
• Jan Häberle (Master’s), 2024, Principles of material-appropriate design using the example of a control cell
• Christoph Lepper (Master’s), 2024, Methodological Analysis of Various Energy-Efficiency Renovation Levels for Residential Buildings Constructed Between 1982 and 1990 from the Perspectives of Economic Viability and Environmental Quality
• Andre Stehle (Master’s), 2023, Glass Powder Waste as a Pozzolanic Admixture in Concrete (Dyckerhoff Award 2023)
• Mark Sartorius (Bachelor’s), 2023, Construction and Testing of an Adiabatic Concrete Calorimeter
• Nick Pursche (Bachelor’s), 2023, Solid Construction with Optimized Rammed Earth in Modern Building Practice
• Florentina Pietsch (Master’s), 2022, Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences as a Training Center for Certified Planners
• Mahmoud Faker (Master’s), 2022, Durability of a Self-Compacting Structural Lightweight Concrete
• Anja Ohling (Master’s), 2021: Ecological Sustainability Assessment of a Novel Prefabricated Construction Method Using the Example of a Specific Single-Family Housing Development
• Jana Ott (Master’s), 2021: Possibilities and Potential for pH Reduction in Concrete
• Ranek Blumrich (Master’s), 2021: Concrete Reinforced with Reused Plastic Fibers
• Eva Hamelmann (Bachelor’s), 2021: Methodological Development of a Self-Compacting Lightweight Concrete
• Alexander Münch (Bachelor’s), 2021: Self-compacting concrete based on unclassified recycled aggregate
• Lavinia Lorenz (Master’s), 2021: Crack-bridging membranes in concretes with high water penetration resistance: Classification in terms of materials technology and construction operations (Hesse Construction Industry Sponsored Award, 2021, 2nd place, Civil Engineering category)
• Safiullah Azimi (Master’s), 2021: Ultra-lightweight, porous lightweight concrete with a foam-modified binder matrix as a stiffening filler in a sheet steel structural system.
• Sven Böhm (Bachelor’s), 2021: Development of a durable recycled concrete with a maximized recycled sand content: Testing and modeling durability using standard tests (Dyckerhoff Award 2022)