Future Bank: Transformation of the National Bank of Belgium

The graduation studio of Interiors Buildings Cities 2021/2022 revolves around the transformation of the National Bank of Belgium, a 90.000 m2 triangular building block which contains the offices of a public institution that controls and regulates a capitalist economy, independent from the government, between the lower and higher part of the...

Many-revolution Earth-centred solar-sail trajectory optimisation using differential dynamic programming

This thesis demonstrates the usability of differential dynamic programming (DDP) to obtain, for the first time, globally optimal Earth-centred solar-sail trajectories. To this end, DDP is combined with a global optimisation heuristic, monotonic basin hopping. The dynamical model is implemented as a two-body problem, augmented with an ideal solar...

Characterization of non-linear compliant shell mechanisms: To enhance the design process of a compliant scoliosis brace

Compliant shell mechanisms utilize spatially curved thin-walled structures to transfer or transmit force, motion or energy through elastic deformation. To design with spatial mechanisms designers need non-linear characterization methods. This work introduces a comprehensive non-linear characterization method and framework which is experimentally...