Topology and variable optimization of a planar quasi-zero stiffness mechanism for motion isolation during the installation of wind turbine blades

Current service and installation activities for offshore wind turbines are carried out by jack-up vessels, which eliminate wave disturbances to a large extent. The use of these vessels imposes several disadvantages, including high operational costs and the limitation of operating in restricted water depths. An alternative is a crane mounted on a...

Exploring the Correlation Between Functional Gradients in Material Properties and Solute Diffusion Across the Osteochondral Interface

The solute transport across the osteochondral (OC) interface is of crucial metabolic importance for a normal function of articular cartilage, and, therefore, for the OC interface as a whole. A better understanding how the mechanical- and physiological properties of the OC interface affect the solute transport across the OC interface could lead...

A hydrodynamic study on floating export cable systems: Using finite element method modelling to study the hydrodynamic behaviour and optimise the design of floating export cable systems

During ‘float-out’ installation of export cables, the cable is pulled to shore while floating, supported by inflatable floaters. Understanding the hydrodynamic behaviour of these cable-floater-systems (CFS’s) is important, to be able to relate the hydraulic environment to the cable stresses and determine the maximum allowed hydraulic conditions...

Property-based functional gradients for biomimetic composites

Functional gradients in hard-soft interfaces are abundant in nature, and we often mimic them to create strong and tough composites. A powerful tool for the designs and fabrication of biomimetic composites is voxel-based multi-material 3D printing. Earlier researches mainly focused on using this technique in the creation of gradients based on...

Steering towards Stiffness: A preliminary analysis method for local deformations in a yacht structure caused by wave-induced loads

The superyacht industry faces an increasing trend of larger dimensions, more open spaces, larger hull openings and more exotic shapes. This puts more effort on the structural design and especially for superyacht longitudinal stiffness is important, since the luxurious interior and delicate systems installed in a superyachts are not allowed to...

Skewed slab highway bridges: A parametric study on the design of reinforced concrete, simply supported skewed slab highway bridges

In situations with spatial limitations where a bridge is desired, a skewed bridge is a solution. The bridge deck of a skewed bridge has the shape of a parallelogram, in which the angle that remains in the acute corners is defined as the skew angle. This thesis focuses on the design of reinforced concrete skewed slab highway bridges that are...

An Integrated Machine Learning and Finite Element Analysis Framework, Applied to Composite Substructures including Damage

Engineering fields such as aerospace rely heavily on the Finite Element Method (FEM) as a modelling tool. In combination with the scale and complexity of the structures typically involved here, computational cost remains a traditional issue. To perform FEM analyses of such structures efficiently nonetheless, engineers rely on techniques such as...