Glass Bottle Earth Bricks for Wall Constructions: Turning Waste into an Eco-Friendly Building Solution

Many countries such as Brazil, have a low percentage of recycled container glass due to multiple factors, such as inadequate waste collection and recycling infrastructure, low public awareness about recycling’s significance, and insufficient laws to promote it. In addition, the country faces high levels of homelessness and inadequate housing. As...

Timber terraced housing: Assessment of transverse stability

The transverse stability of timber terraced houses can be provided by CLT stability walls where decoupled timber terraced houses are preferred to meet acoustic requirements leading to rather large thicknesses for the CLT stability walls and many large connections for anchorage to the foundation. The main goal of this research was to investigate...

Strength of naturally aged glass units determined by experimental testing: Glass Reuse

The reuse of insulating glass plays a crucial role in promoting sustainability and circularity within the construction sector. CO2 emissions must be reduced according to the Climate Agreement. Reusing materials can help achieve this goal. Reusing glass without reheating it can provide environmental and cost benefits, making it a suitable option....

The business-case and environmental impact score for the preliminary structural design of a reclaimed steel low-rise office building: Developing a tool that generates and evaluates reclaimed steel design alternatives.

To stick to climate change targets and reduce global carbon emissions, the building sector needs to adopt a circular economy. In the steel sector, reuse or elements can reduce carbon emissions which are created in today's steel scrap recycling practices. This thesis contributes to closing the knowledge gap on design, costs, and environmental...

Exploring the potential reuse of glass bottles in structural columns: Investigating the Structural Behaviour of Glass Columns Containing Glass Bottles through FE-modelling and Physical testing

Very little research has been done on the potential use of glass bottles in a structural system. Knowledge gathered from past projects showed that individuals or communities usually tend to create structures with glass bottles with a cementitious material, which is usually concrete or mortar. Under vertical compressive loading, the corresponding...

Efficiently including reclaimed steel elements in a truss bridge design by performing a stock-constrained shape and topology optimization

To climb up the circular economy hierarchy and meet the goals of the European Green policy in the construction sector, steel profiles may be reused instead of recycled, which is currently the most common practice. An overarching digital database to efficiently match supply and demand of reclaimed structural elements will stimulate their...

Development of an Analytical Method to determine Cavity Pressure in Cold-Bent Insulating Glass Units

Cold-bent insulating glass units (IGU) have the potential to be one of the answers to current needs and wishes of modern and sustainable architecture. Curved glass is stiffer against out-of-plane loads and therefore the structural behaviour of cold-bent IGU’s is different compared to flat IGU’s. Structural behaviour of flat glass in buildings is...

Methodology for the prediction of the strength of naturally aged glass based on surface flaw characterization

Flat glass is a material which is used extensively in almost all the buildings, mainly as infill for windows or facade panels. However, neither glass production nor its recycling are sustainable processes, as both incorporate the use of gas furnaces, which produce high amounts of CO2 emissions. Thus, the re-use of glass seems the only way to...

Structural Utilization of Reclaimed Timber in a Reciprocal Frame Canopy: A Sustainable Design Strategy for the Reuse of Timber

The buildings construction industry is demanded to reduce its ecological footprint to mitigate its contribution to climate change. In this context, a novel sustainable design strategy for the reuse of timber was developed in this Master thesis. The design strategy focuses on the utilization of the material “reclaimed timber” (RT) in the...

Exploring the possibilities of structural cast glass in the consolidation of historic buildings

The search for a transparent, reusable, innovative, architecturally aesthetical, structural material that could be used as consolidation system for decayed historic buildings led to the ambition to test a topological interlocking (osteomorphic) design by using numerical calculations. In the last decennia glass has evolved to be a structural...

Withdrawal strength of self-tapping screws in tropical hardwood

Self-tapping screws are popular tools used in timber engineering. The axial withdrawal strength of self-tapping screws could be used in timber structures as an active or passive application. An example of an active application is the use as a fastener in wall to wall connections. An example of a passive application is the use as reinforcement...

Design of a demountable structural glass pavilion

Glass is a fascinating material that has also been used as a primary construction material in various remarkable buildings since the last century. Unfortunately, a lot of carbon dioxide is released during the production of glass because of the extreme heat required. The construction industry accounts for ten per cent of global CO2 emissions. If...

Tubular Glass Columns: Design and Engineering of Structural, Robust, Fireproof Tubular Glass Columns.

Glass has become ever more popular in the building industry. Glass is already used in facades, staircases, fins, floors, and beams. Nevertheless, free-standing load-bearing glass columns are rarely used. It needs to be robust, which means that it needs to give a warning before failure so that people can evacuate. Glass is a brittle material and...

Experimental Validation of a Structural Glass Window Design for In-plane Seismic Strengthening: Numerical predictions and experimental validation of unreinforced masonry structures in Groningen area

Gas extractions are responsible for mostly all induced earthquakes in the Groningen area and this leads to damage of houses and buildings and issues regarding safety. Current strengthening measurements are mostly very visible. However, this can change by using the window frame as part of the structure, particularly interesting for Dutch houses...

Multidisciplinary Design Optimization of Timber High-Rise: Research and Development of a Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Tool

There are two main challenges in the construction industry: carbon emissions and densification in cities. Timber high-rise might prove as a suitable solution to both these challenges. However, there is a lack of implementation of timber high-rise. This research argues that a lack of thorough analysis of timber design alternatives in the...