Lowering ECI/MPG value by implementing sustainable foundations for houses

This research addresses the environmental impact of foundations in lightweight housing units, focusing on BAM's timber house concept, FLOW. While the engineered timber superstructure is environmentally conscious, the foundation's contribution is often overlooked. The study aims to minimise the Environmental Cost Indicator (ECI) of FLOW houses by...

Environmental trade-offs of aerostructures: A prospective lifecycle assessment of wing ribs

Emerging in the domain of composite manufacturing, thermoplastic polymers can enable the reduction of process times, costs, and waste. In this study, lifecycle assessment (LCA) is used to evaluate a design for a carbon fibre-reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP) wing rib, made from carbon fibre and polyetherketoneketone (CF/PEKK). The CF/PEKK rib is...

High-Throughput Quality Inspection of Solar Cells Using Deep Learning Under Consideration of Its Sustainability Impact

To meet global market demands, it will remain important to further scale up photovoltaics (PV) production. During the production of solar cells, several defects can occur. Current approaches in quality inspection are reaching their speed limits. This thesis project evaluates the feasibility of faster quality inspection by using deep learning...

Efficiency of new high capacity self-stabilising modules in mid-rise residential buildings: A contribution in the transition to a sustainable way of construction

The aim of this thesis is to investigate and quantify the efficiency of high capacity self-stabilising modules in mid-rise residential buildings. These modules have a higher stabilising capacity than modules that are currently being used in the Netherlands and other countries and can therefore be used for more storeys without requiring an...

Quantifying the environmental impacts due to resource consumption in cities: Case study of the Hague

In the past few decades, we have witnessed unprecedented impacts of climate change. The increase in Green house gas emissions due to human activities has disastrous implications for earth including an increase in global mean temperatures, rise in sea level and melting of polar ice caps. Climate change has<br/>impacted all forms of human life on...

The road to sustainable load bearing glass designs: possibilities and limitations of current glass design with focus on the connections

Despite the increased popularity of the application of load bearing glass in the built environment, its design does rarely address sustainable or circular aspects. This Master’s Thesis analyses what the influence of connections is on the sustainable performance of structural glass and informs about the limitations and possibilities of sustainable...

A decision support model for analysing the reuse potential of hollow-core slab floor components

This thesis ‘A decision support model for analysing the reuse potential of hollow-core slab floor components’ describes the development of a decision support model to investigate the reuse potential of a structural building component. For this research, the hollow-core slab floor component is chosen as the structural building component to be...

When energy savings become a waste: How the environmental- and energy performance requirements of buildings can stimulate the building industry towards sustainable design of office facades in the Netherlands

The life cycle of a building has a tremendous impact on the environment. This is due to its energy demand, production and transportation of building materials, and its maintenance. Actually, the building industry is one of the most polluting industries that contribute to climate change. In the Netherlands alone, this sector is chargeable for 50%...

Designing a sustainable high-rise structure: Research into the material environmental impact of the main load-bearing structure of the building for the European Patent Office

This research investigated in which ways the material environmental impact of the main load-bearing structure of a high-rise building can be reduced. To determine this material environmental impact, the shadow price for each material and product has been determined by using ten environmental impact categories. One of these categories is global...

Floating Community Manila: The design of a floating module for a resilient community in the flood-risk context of Manila, Philippines.

Urban populations in coastal contexts suffer increasingly from both environmental and spatial risks. Major flooding events, storms, fires, landslides and earthquakes coupled with the unorganized urban fabric located at the locations most at-risk to these hazards render millions of people extremely vulnerable. The externalities in terms of...

Application and environmental evaluation of fibre reinforced polymers in movable bridge design

This thesis consists of a research study concerning the application and environmental performance of Fibre Reinforced Polymers (FRP) for application in movable bridge design. The research is accompanied by a proposed redesign exploiting the advantageous properties of FRP and a life cycle assessment (LCA) of multiple FRP variants’ environmental...