Progressive Collapse Indicator: A tool to indicate a structure's collapse resistance

Progressive collapse is a collapse where a local failure leads to a disproportionate collapse. Different terms like initial failure, propagation of failures and disproportionate damage are important aspects of such collapses. In current design practice, a method to measure a structures’ progressive collapse sensitivity in its early design phase...

Proposal for a tool to design masonry double curved shells: Analysis and optimisation of a shape and generation of the brick pattern

Prefabrication of concrete shells

The Fifties and Sixties of the previous century were the golden era of thin concrete shell roofs. Two characteristics that made these thin shells very popular are the strength, and the architectural exciting forms. After this golden era the construction of these thin concrete shells has stagnated. Reasons for this stagnation could be found in...

Tensairity: The effect of internal stiffeness on the buckling behaviour of an inflatable column

Tensairity is a new lightweight structural concept which can be classified as a pneumatic structure. By adding a compression element and cables to an inflated tube a structural system is obtained in which the strut and cables carry the applied load and the air tube transfers forces between both and stabilises the compression element against...

A structural solution in reinforced concrete for the roof structure of the Al Ghubaiba ferry terminal

The city of Dubai has grown extensively in the last decades. The growth of Dubai’s infrastructure has not kept pace with the growth of the city itself, which results in traffic jams and overcrowding of public transport facilities. To make the Dubai area (city and suburbs) more accessible, a ferry network is being developed to provide...

Uitwisselbaarheid van BIM: Handvat voor de uitwisseling van BIM-modellen

Een veelbelovende innovatie in de bouw is Building Information Modelling (BIM). De ontwikkeling van BIM gaat snel in Nederland en daarbuiten. Meerdere organisaties houden zich bezig met de implementatie of promotie van BIM. Strukton is één van de voorlopers in Nederland die BIM wil toepassen. Theoretisch is BIM deels mogelijk, maar de praktijk...

Ant system based structural design of a roof in ultra-high performance concrete

Objective The recently developed material ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) has compressive strengths of over 150 MPa and a ductile behaviour. It has a higher stiffness and superior durability characteristics in comparison with ordinary concrete. The opportunity emerges to find new optimal structural topologies for this material. The ant...

Evolutionary Optimization of Fabric Formed Structural Elements: Bridging the gap between computational optimization and manufacturability

The field of structural engineering has seen a steady rise in computational optimization, where optimization algorithms attempt to find more optimal solutions to structural design problems. Although some of these optimization tools have found their way to the engineering practice, they generally extend no further than the earliest design stages,...

The structural design for the new Southern hall of Rotterdam Central Station

In this part of the thesis, a study has been done to find a suitable alternative structural concept for the Southern Hall of the new Rotterdam CS. To be able to design a suitable structure, the factors that influence the design have been mapped. First, an introduction to the problem and the problem definition will be given in Chapter 3. Besides...

Analysis of stressed membrane structures: Implementation of non-linear material behaviour in structural analysis

A growing use of tensioned membrane structures requires insight and understanding of the mechanical behaviour of the structure and the membrane material. In current practise the complex material behaviour is simplified due to the uncertainties that exist around the material behaviour. Testing and modelling the membrane material may provide a...

A design tool for timber gridshells: The development of a grid generation tool

In the last few years the timber gridshell has gained popularity. Recently two gridshells were constructed: the Weald and Downland gridshell in 2002 and the Savill Garden gridshell in 2006. These structures are examples from which the benefits of timber gridshells become apparent. A gridshell can display elegance and style, with its slender ribs...

Progressive Collapse Assessment: Non-linear behaviour of concrete structures in damaged state

Progressive collapse is a collapse where local failure leads to a disproportionate collapse. Due to a focus on ease of erection in the construction process and more and more optimisation of design through advanced analysis techniques buildings are believed to have become more vulnerable to loads outside the design envelope over the past decades...

Optimisation of structural transfer zones in multi-use building

Design tools for the virtual wind tunnel: Setting up the geometry for CFD calculations

Momenteel kan de windbelasting op gebouwen op twee manieren worden bepaald: met behulp van de norm (NEN 6702, Eurocode) of door middel van windtunnelproeven. De norm is echter alleen bruikbaar voor eenvoudige vormen; complexe gebouwvormen vereisen windtunnelonderzoek. Dit onderzoek is echter erg duur en zeer tijdrovend, waardoor het nauwelijks...

Parametric associative design for free form architecture

In the last decad es, the computer has taken in a prominent position in the day to day life. Also in many professional worlds, computers have become indispensable for efficient business processes. The field of structural design has followed this tendency. Computers have become a tooI a structural designer cannot do without. For efficient...