The Use of Timber in a Temporary Multi-storey Car Park: Proof of Concept for a Structural System for a Temporary Multi-storey Car Park

<b>Problem definition:</b> In the car park industry, a new trend has emerged, shifting the demand for parking from permanent one-of-a-kind parking structures towards temporary modular structures (Drenth, 2020). Meanwhile, the building industry faces a transition into a more sustainable industry. This requires rethinking of the design process,...

Design and material selection for lowering the environmental impact of Dutch office buildings: Investigating the impact of clients' initial and future requirements on the final design and material composition of a building's load bearing structure

In order to help the building and construction sector move towards a Circular Economy and lower its environmental impact, a better founded choice regarding the design and selection of building materials for a building’s load bearing structure is required. By investigating different design strategies that focus on optimizing various aspects of...

Environmental and economic impact assessment of innovative concrete recycling systems

Over the last few years, the construction sector has experienced increasing demand for raw materials due to the rapid growth of the urban population. At the same time, most of the post-war buildings in Europe have reached the end of their service life. As a consequence, a period of intense demolition activities with<br/>significant waste...

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...

Reusability of viaduct girders: Classifying a range of applications for reuse of existing concrete viaducts girders

We are currently facing a transition of economy. Previous years were focused on a linear economy, consisting of the make-waste concept. The products that are made with raw materials are thrown away after its use. Unfortunately the Earth does not contain an unlimited source of materials and we need to focus on reusing materials. Concluding to...

Shadow cost optimization of the main bearing construction of industrial halls: Development of an optimization methodology for industrial halls that combines shadow price data with a structural parametric model and generative design

The purpose of this thesis is to determine the most optimal material use and configuration of structural elements with regard to minimizing shadow costs associated with the main bearing construction of industrial halls. Central themes in thesis are reusability, parametric modelling and generative design. <br/><br/>The construction sector is...

Strengthening monumental timber floors with a reversible intervention to accommodate acoustic measures

For centuries timber has been the most commonly used material for constructions. All over the world examples of timber structures that date back from a few centuries are still standing today. The Netherlands feature about 60,000 national monuments with internally timber structures. These timber structures often need strengthening due to...

Structural Optimization of Stiffened Plates: Application on an Orthotropic Steel Bridge Deck

The orthotropic steel deck (OSD) is a deck system applied regularly in steel bridges all around the world. It consists of a steel deck plate which is stiffened by structural elements placed in two orthogonal directions. The deck plate can be used as an integral part of the structure, causing OSDs to achieve a high material efficiency and...

Truss topology optimization with reused steel elements: An optimization tool for designing steel trusses with a set of reclaimed elements

Recycling and reuse of structures and elements is important to reduce the carbon footprint of the building industry. Reuse requires much less energy than recycling and therefore has much potential. However, reuse is still rarely put in practice due to the many challenges constructing with reuse involves. One of these challenges is the complex...

The wind-induced dynamic load on high-rise structures by the use of CFD

During the last decades, the development of high-rise increased quickly. The Eurocode is frequently used to make wind calculations for high-rise structures. To make those calculations, the dynamic wind load is simplified to a conservative equivalent static load. An alternative to calculate wind loads is a physical wind tunnel test. Wind tunnel...

Shear Strengthening of Prestressed Concrete I-Girders: Using Externally Bonded Carbon-Fibre Reinforced Polymers

The innovative shear strengthening method using externally bonded CFRP reinforcement to strengthen prestressed concrete I-girders has been investigated in this thesis. These girders potentially have insufficient shear capacity because of the combination of thin webs and insufficient shear reinforcement. Shear failure of these girders should be...

Circular façades: Investigatig the design and assessment of circular façades

A transition towards a circular economy is proposed by initiators like the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and architect Thomas Rau, in order to preserve and enhance natural capital, optimise resource yields, and minimise system risks. A circular economy seeks to ultimately decouple global economic development from the consumption of non-renewable...

Towards BIM-based automation of the vertical load calculation

The work processes of structural engineers have been changing over the last decades. Digitalisation and automation play an important role in this change. One of the major developments in this context has been the introduction of Building Information Modelling (BIM). In a BIM model the geometry of the actual building is represented. To this...

Shape optimisation of residential mid-rise buildings for reduction of energy demand in temperate climate

Shape has long been an important parameter in improving the internal comfort of buildings and reducing energy demand. This can be seen from historical vernacular architectural typologies, like igloos, which have minimal thermal loss surface to provide a comfortable internal climate.  Using a shape factor to reduce the...

An Eco-Effective Structure: A qualitative approach into eco-effective structural design perspectives, criteria, and strategies both in theory as in practice

Globally the construction is a major contributor to the severity of the anthropogenic environmental impact. The sector emits 39% of the global CO2 and is responsible of 40-50% of material flows. The focus of reducing the environmental impact in buildings is, in the past, mostly attributed to the operational energy. However, due to increasing...

Structural consolidation of historic monuments by interlocking cast glass components: A computational analysis of interlocking cast glass brickwork

The search for a transparent, reversible, and reusable consolidation system for monuments led to the ambition to test possible cast glass interlocking brick designs using numerical calculations. The focus of this research is hence the design, simulation and evaluation of a possible cast glass interlocking geometry using Finite Element Analysis ...