Numerical Analysis of Angled IRJs

For railway travel the Insulated Rail Joint (IRJ) is a critical part in most railway safety systems but at the same time also considered a weak link. The IRJ creates a discontinuity in stiffness and geometry that leads to wheel-rail impact forces. The angled IRJ is a proposal to reduce these impact forces. Despite the real-world experiences with...

Rocking revisited 4: Analysis of rocking-induced stresses for concrete breakwater armour units

When a breakwater is under heavy wave attack, the concrete armour units will occasionally move, causing a collision between two concrete armour units. This process is called rocking, and induces stresses in the concrete, that may lead to breakage of the concrete armour units. This MSc Thesis provides a probabilistic method to predict breakage of...

Wave impacts on storm walls, a study on scale effects

Low-lying countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands are naturally susceptible to overtopping wave attacks. Coastal regions are therefore facing the threat of such events causing damage to dike-positioned structures and buildings. Research in this filed is often conducted using scaled-down 2D hydraulic physical models, which introduces so...

Design of a new type of impact hammer: Focusing on the drive system of the ram

The number of wind farms that are commissioned, being installed, or prepared is still increasing due to a growing demand for green energy. To benefit from the higher wind velocities, which can be found at sea, and to prevent the pollution of the horizon, wind farms are being built offshore and installed in an ever increasing water depth. The...