Dr.-Ing., M.Sc.(hons)
Michael
Kraus
Currently I am a Postdoctoral / Senior Researcher at ETH Zurich with the department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering.
I am working with Prof. Dr. Walter Kaufmann (Bridge Design and Concrete Structures) and other members of the Institute of Structural Analysis and Construction (IBK). I also hold the position of co-leader of the new Immersive Design Lab (IDL) within the Design++ initiative at ETHZ.
M&M Network-Ing UG
Research
Philisophy and Mission Statement
Is it possible for a civil engineer and member of a university to pursue both, a successful teaching career and future-oriented science while serving as a link between research and practice application? And can a civil engineer make significant research contributions in other fields such as architecture or computer science? From my previous experience as a post-doctoral researcher at Stanford and ETH Zurich, I can answer this question with a bright YES.
I conduct research at the boundary of structural engineering, architecture and computer sciences with the aim of further establishing digital methods and in particular Artificial Intelligence (AI) as well as providing novel computational tools for a sustainable, appealing yet reliable design and analysis of critical structures of the built environment. As an engineer working in academia, my research follows the strictest scientific principles, research results translate into concrete and actionable recommendations for practice, in addition to professional publications.
Research Projects
Scientific Machine Learning | AI-based analysis & optimization of concrete structures
Conceptual structural design today relies heavily on the intuition and experience of the structural engineer, often includes an investigation of similar reference projects, and is mostly a time-consuming and demanding task that is characterized by many iteration...
Scientific Machine Learning | Physics-Informed Deep Learning and Loss Balancing
Physics Informed Neural Networks (PINN) are algorithms from deep learning leveraging physical laws by including partial differential equations (PDE) together with a respective set of boundary and initial conditions (BC / IC) as penalty terms into their loss function....
Scientific Machine Learning | The Bridge-Genome-Data-Project
Conceptual structural design today relies heavily on the intuition and experience of the structural engineer, often includes an investigation of similar reference projects, and is mostly a time-consuming and demanding task that is characterized by many iteration...
Latest Publications
Strength Lab AI: A Mixture-of-Experts Deep Learning Approach for Limit State Analysis and Design of Monolithic and Laminate Structures made of Glass
The demand for transparent building envelopes, particularly glass facades, is rising in modern architecture. These facades are expected to meet multiple objectives, including aesthetic appeal, durability, quick installation, transparency, and both economic and...
Physics-Informed Neural Networks for Nonlinear Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Beams
Reinforced concrete (RC) beams are a common structural component in buildings and bridges and play a pivotal role in design and verification processes. Current structural computations often rely on linear elastic analyses which potentially yield overly conservative...
SOUNDLAB AI Tool-Machine learning for sound insulation value predictions
Modern architecture promotes a high demand for transparent building envelopes. Typically, glass façades are designed under a variety of objectives, one of which is to meet sound insulation requirements. Reliable and fairly accurate estimation of the sound insulation...
In Bavaria we don’t say “thanks for the great collaboration” but ” let’s have some beers together” and I think that’s beautiful.
Teaching
For me, teaching is to not only deliver material or provide answers to my student audience, but rather to pass on fundamental knowledge in breadth and depth, the skills to be able to discuss this knowledge critically and to implement it correctly and efficiently in engineering applications, and to pass on a piece of my enthusiasm for simulation and application of Scientific Machine Learning (SciML) in engineering in every teaching and mentoring situation.
Courses / Lectures
Scientific Machine and Deep Learning for Design and Construction in Civil Engineering
In recent years, the Artificial Intelligence technology was introduced to the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. Numerous application achievments have since been reached in this interdisciplinary field. However, yet today fundamental questions...
Frontiers in Machine Learning Applied to Civil, Env. And Geospatial Engineering
With the increasing amount of data collected in various domains, the importance of data science in many disciplines, such as infrastructure monitoring and management, transportation, spatial planning, structural and environmental engineering, has been increasing. The...
Artificial Intelligence for the Building Industry
Attempts to develop artificial intelligence have been underway for decades. As early as 1950, Alan Turing developed the famous Turing test and was the first serious proposal in the philosophy of artificial intelligence.For most of the time since then, machine learning...
Experience
Descending from an entrepreneurial family rooted in carpentry, i truly believe, that my scientific work has to translate with passion into applications, which benefit business and our environment at the same time to welfare our society in a sustainable and reliable fashion. My companies’ mission statements are to bring latest methods of computational mechanics, Scientific Machine Learning and structural engineering into beautiful design through projects. From my past experience I can state, that this fashion circles back ideas and research questions from practice into science but also raises awareness about the lastest scientific developments among engineers, politicians, clients and the general public.