Reliable function has always been a basic requirement for products and represents a key scientific orientation of the Fraunhofer LBF. We develop new methods and tools for the reliable design of materials, components and systems. In doing so, our research and development activities aim to understand and describe all phases of product creation, use and utilization ever more comprehensively with their interactions, so that validation and assurance processes can be continuously moved forward into the early design process.
Achieving more with less in terms of complexity, stability and reliability.
Ever lighter material solutions and structures on the one hand and ever more complex products and systems on the other are shaping product development in many industrial sectors. At the same time, however, the requirements regarding the reliability of such systems are increasing. After all, malfunctions and failures in this context can quickly have critical economic, ecological or health effects.
The Reliability Design area of expertise represents a key scientific focus of Fraunhofer LBF. This is not just a matter of ensuring the service life of materials, components and products. Rather, the research and development activities in this area of expertise are aimed at understanding and describing all phases of product development, use and application along with their interactions, in an increasingly comprehensive manner, so that validation and assurance processes can be continuously moved forward into the early design process. In the spirit of “design to reliability”, digital engineering solutions are linked with new design and simulation methods. Based on realistic application data in relation to typical mechanical, climatic, electrical and combined multiphysical loads, tools and processes are being developed that take into account the reliable design of structures as early as the design stage. In this way, “safety margins”, which, in many cases, are still common today, can be reduced further and further in the future while maintaining or increasing the reliability of materials, components and products, thus enabling modern solutions that push the limits of what is feasible.