Dr. Dirk Zapf is Head of the Department for Underground Constructions at the Institute for Geotechnical Engineering, Leibniz University Hannover (Germany). His research focuses on tunneling, the material behavior of shotcrete, and the mechanics of rock salt. He has extensive experience in the numerical and analytical assessment of underground structures, particularly in the development of dimensioning concepts for salt caverns and other subsurface storage facilities.
His current work addresses the mechanical and time-dependent behavior of rock salt under low deviatoric stresses, with a special focus on the long-term stability and integrity of storage caverns for energy carriers such as hydrogen. Dr. Zapf is also engaged in interdisciplinary research on the sustainable use of the underground space and the transfer of geotechnical knowledge into engineering practice.
