Modelling of settlement induced building damage

This thesis focuses on the modelling of settlement induced damage to masonry buildings. In densely populated areas, the need for new space is nowadays producing a rapid increment of underground excavations. Due to the construction of new metro lines, tunnelling activity in urban areas is growing. One of the consequences is a greater attention to...

Mechanics of Granular Materials: Constitutive Behavior and Pattern Transformation

From pharmaceutical to mining or traveling desert dunes to earthquakes, granular materials are at the heart of many industries and natural phenomena. Improving the efficiency of the machines handling them or, constructing safer buildings requires a critical understanding of their behavior. However, this is not a straightforward task as opposed...

Brownian coagulation at high particle concentrations

The process of Brownian coagulation, whereby particles are brought together by thermal motion and grow by collisions, is one of the most fundamental processes influencing the final properties of particulate matter in a variety of technically important systems. It is of importance in colloids, emulsions, flocculation, air pollution, soot...

2D Modeling and Classification of Extended Objects in a Network of HRR Radars

In this thesis, the modeling of extended objects with low-dimensional representations of their 2D geometry is addressed. The ultimate objective is the classification of the objects using libraries of such compact 2D object models that are much smaller than in the state-of-the-art classification schemes based on (High Range Resolution) HRR data....

Mobility-based Time References for Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless Sensor Networks require small low-cost radios to enable communication among its nodes. Since those radios must be fully integrated to reduce cost and size, integration is required also for their on-board time references, which are needed to achieve synchronization with the other nodes. To deal with the lower accuracy of integrated...

Luminescence dating of storm-surge sediment

Geological evidence of storm surges has the potential to provide vital information on storm-surge risk. Sediment from the coastal dunes of the Netherlands contains evidence of extreme floods that occurred before reliable measurements of water level began. For these sediments to be useful in flood-risk analysis, they need to be reliably dated....

Sand-mud erosion from a soil mechanical perspective

‘Wetlands’ in tidal lagoons and estuaries are among the most valuable ecosystems in the world. Managing these systems requires both a thorough knowledge and validated tools to predict their behavior and development. An important morpho-dynamic process herein is the erosion (‘pick-up’) of the bed, which are in inter-tidal areas often composed of...

Characterization of Low-dimensional Structures by Advanced Transmission Electron Microscopy

This thesis describes method development in TEM-related techniques and their application to the study of nanoprecipitates and low-dimensional structures. The work is divided into two parts. • The first part is focused on the structures of nanoprecipitates found in Al-Co, Al-Ni and Al-Fe-Zr alloys. • The second part describes the effect of...

Morphodynamics of seasonally closed coastal inlets at the central coast of Vietnam

Situated in a monsoon-prone humid tropical region, Vietnam is affected by both oceanic and continental climates causing disasters to the country like riverine flooding and storm induced damage. The coastal districts of Vietnam have a population of about 18 million habitants, account for nearly one fourth of the total population of the country...

Tailoring the mechanical properties of titanium alloys via plasticity induced transformations

Titanium alloys possess good corrosion properties, high temperature stability and high strength-to-weight ratio. However, they fall short in providing the optimum strength-ductility relation in the most demanding structural applications, including the aerospace sector. Inspired by the possibility of enhancing the strength-ductility relation in...

Medium access control and network layer design for 60 GHz wireless personal area networks

The unlicensed frequency band around 60 GHz is a very promising spectrum due to its potential to provide multiple gigabits per second based data rates for short range wireless communication. Hence, 60 GHz radio is an attractive candidate to enable ultra high rate Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs), which are expected to support wireless...

Networking Technologies for Future Home Networks Using 60 GHz Radio

Networking technologies have been changing the life of people in their private residential space. With the arrival of high definition (HD) multimedia services and broadband communications into the living space, future home networks are expected to support high speed device-to-device connectivity with Quality-of-Service (QoS) provisioning. There...

Computational modelling of dynamic failure of cementitious materials

A safe design of civil engineering concrete structures must include dynamic loading conditions. However, the knowledge on crack patterns and tensile failure strength of concrete material as a function of the dynamic loading is not sufficiently understood to accurately predict the risks and consequences of accidents. Concrete is a rate-dependent...

Dynamic Characterization of Silicon Nitride Cantilevers

This thesis describes a series of experiments on dynamical characterization of silicon nitride cantilevers. These devices play an important role in micro-and nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS). They consist of a mechanical part, a sensor or actuator, and an electronic part for readout and control. The core of NEMS and MEMS, the so...