Glass is gaining popularity as a structural material, this is mainly based on its transparent character. But due to its brittle failure behaviour the safety of these structures is an issue. Several concepts are found to guarantee the safety during the development of its structural application. One of these developments is to reinforce glass with other materials, this concept is known from concrete structures. After fracture of the glass (initial failure), the reinforcement will function as a tension element in order for the beam to maintain its integrity. This creates an additional load transfer mechanism, preventing total collapse of the structural system (ultimate failure) if designed properly. The objective of this thesis is to further develop reinforced glass beams. In Chapter 1 this is started by defining an abstract concept called the ideal glass beam. This concept is defined as a glass beam which has increased initial failure resistance, ability to maintain its integrity, freedom in manufacturing and all without disturbing the clean transparency of the glass. For the reason of transparency potential all concepts are fibreglass based. Freedom in manufacturing is realised by the use of fibreglass fabric which can be cut as desired and laminated together with the glass panes, just as is done with fully integrated (GFRP) reinforcement. This results in the three reinforcement concepts; post-tensioned fibreglass reinforcement; fibreglass fabric reinforcement; and transparent fibreglass reinforcement. All these three concepts are not yet or only partially developed and thus require research. However only post-tension and fibreglass fabric are chosen to be elaborated in this thesis. The application of transparent fibreglass is briefly discussed in order to assess its plausibility. Next to these design concepts, some issues exist regarding numerical calculations of glass systems. Most non-linear analysis run into convergence problems. Or computational intensive methods to account for the snap-back constitutive relation. This is due to the relative low fracture energy and high tensile strength with respect to concrete. A new kind of analysing method is in development which uses a series of linear analysis together with a damage model, reducing the material properties at each iteration. This method is called sequential linear analysis (SLA). The stability if this method creates the opportunity to analyse how alterations in design and numerical model influence the performance. These alterations come from differences in modelling approach in previous research, developments in SLA from research in concrete and design possibilities. The design strategy and philosophy of a reinforced glass beams is different from the current design approach, where additional panes are used to prevent ultimate failure. What these differences are and how a reinforced glass beam should be designed is elaborated in Chapter 3. Here the initial and ultimate failure strength capacities are discussed, how their resistance in affected and how they should be designed in order to create a safe system. In Chapter 4 the origin, feasibility and validation of the concepts are elaborated. In order to validate the concepts and numerical method some validation goals are drafted partially consisting on the former mentioned design philosophy. These goals result in desired data requirements which is subsequently used to describe the experiments to acquire this data. Initially only two bending experiments are required, for validation of both post-tension and fibreglass reinforcement. Both are validated using a reference experiment, for post-tension this is a specimen without applied normal force and the fibreglass fabric reinforcement is validated using integrated GFRP strips. In addition to these experiments tensile data of the different reinforcements is obtained to be used as input during numerical modelling. Also pull-out experiments are done for the fibreglass reinforcements to have a more direct comparing approach and to spread the risk of unsuccessful execution of either experiment. In Chapter 5 the experiments are designed based on the former mentioned requirements using analytical calculations. This is done to ensure theoretical feasibility of the experiments and to estimate the behaviour. The post-tensioned design consist of GFRP strips adhered on top and bottom after tensioning in order for them to function as reinforcement. No eccentricity is used te prevent crushing of the glass edges as the tensioning is introduced by head sections on either edge. These steel components function as actuators to introduce the normal force on the glass. The fibreglass fabric beams are designed to have equal ultimate failure resistance as the reference specimen. In the experimental research in Chapter 6 the validation goals are repeated and each experiment is treated. Starting with the tensile experiments, ordinary force displacement experiments are executed on the Fibrolux GFRP strips. These experiments failed at lower values of tensile strength and Youngs’ modulus than expected based on the values given by the manufacturer. This is explained by stress concentrations due to the rectangular geometry and relative low uni-directional (UD) fabric within the composite, according to the manufacturer. The fibreglass composite experiment also failed at a lower resistance than expected. After failure loose fibres are visible implying full saturation is not achieved. Using the theoretical strength of the SentryGlass (SG) it is calculated that approximately 30% of the fibres contributed in the strength resistance. The pull-out experiments are designed as a double pull-out with one lower resistance side which should fail by de-bonding. The difference in resistance can be compared with a reference set which has equal shear resistance to analyse the bonding performance. But due to the same saturation issue as the tensile fibreglass specimen, these fibreglass specimen also failed earlier. Thus making it unable to compare the different reinforcements. The GFRO pull-out specimen did fail properly as is expected from the reference set. Furthermore, the bending experiment using fibreglass fabric reinforcement did perform accordingly. Despite the same internal slipping of the fibreglass, the specimen showed almost sufficient ultimate resistance. After the occurrence of the first crack, the resistance increases again but after some deflection a decrease is observed. This is the consequence of the same internal slip due partial saturation. The final experiment regarding post-tensioning had a fault during the post-tensioning process, resulting in an insufficient posttension force. The experiments did therefore shown no increase in initial failure. Although the post-tension experiment did not succeed, still a GFRP reinforced beam was experimented and a different failure was observed. This different failure mode occurred due to the low stiffness of the reinforcement resulting in high crack opening and earlier failure of the system. The numerical analysis is done in Chapter 7. This chapter contains two parts, first the analysis part and secondly the validation part. During the first part a study is done on different parameter and design considerations. This study is based on an experimental data set from former research, this set is also used on a sequential linear analysis (SLA) and non-linear analysis (NLA) validation and is therefore the ideal case to advance the developments. A reference model is made based on starting points from previous research and each aspect is applied on this reference model to analysis the performance differences. This performance differences are analysed based on four aspects: Resistance, deformation, crack density and amount of cracks. After each analysis a conclusion is made using these performance aspects and is graded with respect to the reference case. Two major objectives in this study is to implement the lacking resistance of the SG interlayer and post-tensioning. For the interlayer, the characteristics of SLA are used to construct an equivalent post-cracked resistance using the reduction branches. The post-tension should be implemented as initial stress/strain conditions but as SLA is still in development this is not yet available. A two solutions are found based on the transformation of the material properties. Both result in the increased initial failure, but only one represents the post-cracked behaviour of a post-tension beam in the correct manner. The numerical models of the reference case and post-tension experiments are validated in the second part of this chapter. Initially the fibreglass fabric experiment were planned to be used as validation, but this is not done. Based on the complex behaviour of the reinforcement, numerical analysis of this experiment does not contributed to the objective. The validation of the numerical analysis is done based on the deviation which represents the difference in ultimate resistance with respect to the experiment. For the reference case the deviation in resistance and deflection to the experiments decreased when the findings are applied to the reference model. However the crack pattern is still an issue as T-shaped crack occurred where V-shaped cracks were expected. Also in the validation of the post-tension experiment this V-crack is not present, but due to the absence of SG the cracking pattern is lot more conform the observations in the experiment. This case not only has small deviations in resistance and deflection, but failed in equal manner as the specimen. All results are summarised and discussed in Chapter 8, from this discussion the conclusions regarding the stated research objectives in the outline are drawn in Chapter 9. In this chapter is concluded that the suitability of GFRP post-tensioning could not be validated due to the fault in the process and the low Young’s modulus resulted in higher crack opening and earlier reaching of ultimate failure. The fibreglass fabric did achieve a fair ultimate failure resistance but as they did not have a higher resistance as the initial fracture they did not pass the validation criteria. This was due to insufficient saturation of fibreglass with SG, causing the fibres to slip on one each other, hence not able to reach their full capacity. The analysis of different aspects using SLA resulted in a development in analysing method. Using a grading system the influences on the performance of each aspect are indicated. Creating insight of the influences of different design and modelling considerations. To finalise some recommendations are in place, as this is only the beginning of a broad subject. Obviously, it is recommended to research the third concept as this could not be included in this thesis, to even further develop the ideal reinforced glass beam. But regarding the post-tensioning, more effective systems are recommended as the initial failure increase in the post-tensioned design was quite low, for example, higher eccentricity and more stable structures. Solutions for higher saturation in the fibreglass fabric to decrease the slip and increase the resistance. Regarding the numerical analysis, implementation of SLA in 3D brick elements and a better more physical correct plasticity model are recommended. Next to these independent subjects reinforced glass in general requires the definition of different failure modes and the prevention of brittle failure modes. Also would it be important to perform force-controlled experiments, possibly in combination with an impact load. Since this is the major reason to apply reinforcements. More recommendations and conclusions are found in Chapter 9. So in conclusion all the independent subjects converge to the contribution in the developments in reinforced glass beams. The freedom and benefits in application of integrated fabric reinforcement are known and more knowledge is obtained regarding design of reinforced glass structures and influences of (in)correct numerical modelling.

This report includes all the research conducted during the last phase of the Master of Science Building Engineering within the faculty of Civil Engineering. The main aim is to form a strategy for designing demountable unitized curtain walls; one that could actually be used in practice by future engineers and architects. This is why this graduation project includes an application on 4 chosen adaptive concepts. Having already been applied in a comparison study of these quite complicated and costly designs, this framework can provide one extra consideration that will be critical in the near future at the very early stages of designing a building: the Design for Disassembly.

The main topic of this thesis is the design of arch with components made up of glass and reinforced concrete. Parametric process as well as experiment is carried out in this research. In this thesis, bond strength between glass and fly ash concrete are studied.

Glass is a fascinating material which has been used for load bearing structures in the past decades. The development of structural glass has been moving towards more transparent structures. The thermal properties of glass can be used to create heat bonds. Heat bonds can be produced in two ways: welding and fusing. With welding, the regions that are to be connected are locally heated. With kiln formed fusing, the elements to be bonded will be globally heated in an oven. This results in the research question: What is the best method, among glass welding and kiln formed glass fusing, to produce heat bonded systems for applications in glass structures? In theory, safety measures consist of three basic strategies: creating secondary load transfer mechanisms, protectioning and overdimensioning. These strategies can be used on the scale of the system and the structure. The heat bonded system could theoretically be laminated, reinforced and tempered. On a structural level, safety can be ensured by a combination of the strategies. To produce glass welds, the glass is preheated in an oven. A small opening in the oven is made and a line burner is used to heat the to be welded area from both sides. One element is pressed down on the other to make the connection. The oven is closed and the specimen is annealed. Finite element models have been used to analyze thermal shock failure during the weld production process. The recommendations for production were to use an additional flame on the bottom of the specimen or to maintain the surroundings at elevated temperature. The latter option is applied in the experiments. The results were three transparent, all-glass, soda lime T-shaped objects. Little residual stress remained in the products. The fused objects were globally heated in an oven. The glass was fused in moulds, made of a gypsum plaster. The products were translucent, all-glass, soda lime, T-shaped objects. The objects deformed significantly during production. Little residual stress remained in the products. Throughout the experiments, factors have changed. An aspect with no direct influence on the product was quenching after maximum temperature. Adapting the mould and polishing the glass edges prior to fusing had an influence on the objects' shape or texture. None of the factors influenced the order of magnitude of the deformation or the seam between the elements. A structural test has been performed to compare the specimens with a glass T-shape bonded with transparent UV-curing adhesive. The connections were loaded in shear. The results of the failure loads and stress at failure are of the same order of magnitude. The largest spread was among the fused specimens, the smallest among the welded. The cause of failure is most probably a combination of elevated stress due to the stiffness and support of the test set-up and peak stress due to irregularities on the glass surface. Other causes could have contributed to failure. The welded glass product requires most time, energy, skill and money. The adhesive product requires least time and energy. The welded and fused objects had neither acceptable dimensional accuracy, nor a smooth fillet in the joint. In the current state of development, glass fusion results in less residual stress, requires less skill and is cheaper to produce. Glass welding results in a transparent glass to glass connection and its structural performance is promising. Further research is encouraged into the heat bonded and adhesive connections to create fully transparent connections for structural glass.

In April 2018, a graduation project in the field of architecture was concluded. The project entailed the design of a temporary community centre in the earthquake-damaged historic town centre of L’Aquila, Italy. The underlying social concept was focused on participation of the local population in the construction of the community centre. The design includes a grid-like timber shell structure, built-up out of a repetition of only two main structural and light-weight elements: the members and the joints. The load-bearing structure of this architectural design formed the basis for this graduation thesis, which is aimed at its optimisation. The optimisation is carried out focused on many objectives, e.g. its weight, its environmental impact, its structural validity. The goal of this thesis can be summarised by the following research question. Given the architectural design, how can the main load-bearing structure be optimised for seismic contexts using parametric modelling, considering the following objectives: maximal demountability and structural simplicity, minimal material use, structural weight and environmental impact? An optimisation method has been chosen combining automated and manual processes, as this gives a high sense of control to the designer. Using computational and parametric modelling techniques (Rhino, Grasshopper and Karamba), a database comprising 10 836 different structural configurations has been generated with different geometries and materials. The database contains the generated outcomes to structural and environmental analyses for each of the structural configurations. The database entries have been ranked manually based on structural, architectural and social demands, resulting in a top 28 models. Having defined a ranked set of structural configurations, manual checks and iterations can take place. The first step is checking the global and local stability using proposed joint designs as input. The next step is checking the safety of the structure during seismic events using a response spectrum analysis. As the Top-1 design passed all analyses, no iterations were deemed necessary. In conclusion, with regard to the design, further structural optimisation could take place by reconsidering the shape of the structure. However, the process of automated database generation followed by manual exclusion, ranking and iterations give a great sense of control compared to automated optimisation alternatives. This optimisation process has proven to be very effective in finding a design that balances all objectives well.

In the far south of the Netherlands, the erratic river Meuse flows through the landscape. It recently flooded twice in the 1990s, causing much economical damage. Emergency measures, such as a demountable flood wall, were taken to prevent future flooding. And while this solution was to the liking of the inhabitants, the update in the flood safety standard called for a more permanent structure. In the search for an alternative and permanent solution, a glass flood wall was suggested. Nowadays there are not many examples of glass used in a flood defence in Dutch practice, and certainly not as part of a primary flood defence. It can be classified as an innovation, from which little is known from a structural safety perspective. Glass is used globally to retain water in numerous applications such as aquaria, under water glazing, glass bottom boats, etc; therefore water pressure is not seen as a high risk to the glass. What happens when floating debris hits the glass structure? Impact on glass can result in immediate failure, where the water retaining function could be lost. This thesis aims to answer this question, by theory and later on by impact experiments in a dry setting.

This master's graduation project researches the potential of upcycling waste glass into glass-ceramic components through casting techniques and thermal treatments. To explore its potential and possibilities, the process of crystallization, the material glass-ceramic and influencing parameters are studied at first. A glass-ceramic is a glassy yet crystalline material consisting of inorganic and non-metallic compounds. A glass-ceramic can be produced through different controlled crystallization methods, whereas in this research heat treatment of casted components is applied. Upon heat treatment, crystallization occurs when the right temperatures are applied for the two-steps in crystallization; nucleation and crystal growth. Crystallization may occur spontaneously or along preferential sites, whereas this research makes use of the latter. Many parameters affect the crystallization process, whereas this research only focusses on glass composition, temperature and dwell time. The parameters are set through literature study and trial and error of melting experiments. This research focusses on the crystallization of soda-lime-silica bottle glass, the results of each melting experiment show the effect of the parameters. Each glass from another manufacturing has another glass composition. The amounts of glass formers, modifiers and fluxes are various, resulting in diverse temperature curves and thus diverse melting temperatures and crystallization temperatures. Through the melting experiments are noticeable that the applied melting temperature were of bigger influence than the crystallization temperature. A melting temperature too low resulted in an undesired fused sample, while a too high melting temperature resulted in no or little preferential sites for crystallization to occur. Through the results of the splitting experiment the mechanical characteristics could be observed, which are fracture toughness and fracture behaviour in this research. The fracture toughness seems better of samples with a higher quality crystal polymorph or with a higher amount of crystallinity or high amounts of glassy phases, whereby the material acts as one material upon loading rather than as a composite. While for samples with little and unconnected crystallization it does not seem to benefit its fracture toughness. The fracture propagation through glassy and crystalline phases is very different. A fracture propagation through a glassy phase is conchoidal, while the fracture propagation in the crystalline phase follows the crystalline structure, reaching its extremities or can be conchoidal, depending on the crystal polymorph. Observable from the fracture propagation from glassy to crystalline and from crystalline back to glassy is the discontinuity. The crystal or crystalline surface acts like an obstacle once the failure propagation reaches from the glassy phase. The failure does propagate but once it continues over to the glassy phase again, a change in energy and direction is noticeable. All by all, there do is potential in upcycling waste glass into structural cast glass-ceramic components. Crystallization does influence the fracture toughness and fracture behaviour in a cast glass-ceramic component, but the effect is highly dependent on the amount and distribution of glassy and crystalline phases.

Building failure incidents are occurring within the Netherlands and these incidents can be a valuable source of technical data regarding improvements in structural safety. This research has attempted to utilize this information gained to develop a tool to aid the building construction sector in identifying hazards during building construction projects. For that purpose, this research has investigated risk assessments and structural failure incidents. To be able to develop a tool, deeper knowledge of risk assessments is required and therefore risk assessments were studied to understand how they should be performed and what characteristics makes them effective. The research of Terwel (2012) on the Cobouw database formed the basis for the analysis of structural failure incidents. This thesis investigated how other research used structural failure databases to improve structural safety and studied the data available from the Cobouw database for developing a tool. The analysis of risk assessments has shown that identifying hazards is a crucial step in the assessment process. It was concluded that it would be beneficial to a project team if it had information on which hazards related to structural failure can occur, the probability of occurrence of hazards and the possible impact they can have. An investigation into structural failure databases showed that no other research could provide a tool that fulfilled the above requirements and in addition it was concluded that the database available to this research was only sufficient to provide information on which hazards can occur. There was not enough data available to make a justified estimate regarding the consequences of a hazard or probability of occurrence. Therefore it was chosen to use a different approach to analyze the database. The Cobouw database has been restructured into a fault tree format, to relate hazards to specific components of a building structure. Afterwards an attempt was made to discover why many hazards have occurred or which building components were prone to hazards. There was not enough data available to draw conclusions on that subject either. Finally this research concluded that the most efficient way of developing a tool, from the data available to this research, is to create a guide which can be used during the design phase to caution the project team about frequently occurring hazards. The method that was used to create the tool can also be used as an inspiration for future research, because this research was limited not only by the amount of available incidents, but also by the source of the incidents, which was from a news site that would most likely not focus on low-profile failure incidents and the reporting of precise technical details. Therefore the most important recommendation this research has, is to introduce a large scale collaboration in the construction industry focused on gathering accurate data on structural failure incidents.

The construction sector contributes to a significant portion of global energy consumption, CO2 emissions and the use of material resources. As climate change escalates with rapidly increasing temperatures, more extreme weather patterns and rising sea levels, an urge to reduce the environmental impact is evident. A discrepancy is visible between early structural design and the required information for performing an environmental assessment. The first phase of design is an excellent time to steer the design to be more sustainable. However, today's procedures, involving LCA, only provides feedback at a later phase. This is due to the required highly detailed information for performing this complex and time consuming assessment. An assessment tool that supports the conceptual design would help to reduce the environmental impact. The research project aims to show the feasibility of sustainability feedback using analytical methods on stored building data in early design. It provides LCA feedback in the conceptual design phase. A proof-of-concept is developed on industrial warehouses showcasing the functionality of the framework. Lacking the required building data and LCA scoring, a fully automated script is created with the parametric plugin Grasshopper, to generate the warehouse data. Due to time constrains and performance limitations, the scope was limited to the structural system of beams, columns, purlins and braces. The script randomly iterates over its parameter domain, automatically changing the geometry, performing a structural optimisation and calculating the LCA. This assessment is limited to a cradle-to-gate system boundary. Data is automatically written to a web-hosted database on the Packhunt.io platform of White Lioness technologies. The feedback is based on retrieving data from the database, applying a performance based algorithm, and finding the parameter that decreases the LCA score the most. Results are visualised to the user. The result is the Interactive Design Assist (IDA) prototype that suggests parameters to the engineer in reducing the LCA score. This information provides guidance in the conceptual design phase on structural design of industrial warehouses. It demonstrates the large potential of reusing 'knowledge' inside the design process to improve building designs.

A study on the fire safety concepts used in car parks. To asses the possible damage as a result of a fire, case studies were performed and changes in the car industry were analysed. The new type of fuel systems have resulted in new risks, which are not yet covered in the current design methodology. To understand the probability of a car park fire an analysis was done on occurred fires in car parks. The changes in the car industry had resulted in larger fires and bigger fires will likely occur in the near future.

Fibre reinforced polymers, or FRP, are increasingly used in structural engineering applications. Permeating the construction field from the aerospace industry, FRP are applied in both the rehabilitation of existing degrading structures as well as the conception of new projects such as pedestrian and traffic bridges or building facades. The increase of interest and use in FRP in recent decades is driven by the material’s advantageous properties. Its tailorable mechanical properties, long-term durability, customizable free-form design, and its light-weight feature have engrained FRP as a noteworthy alternative to traditional construction materials such as concrete, steel, or timber. This is of paramount importance in light of the climate change challenge facing structural engineers today. While the material properties have been extensively investigated over the past decades, the structural use in FRP have remained limited to specific applications. As such, FRP, material of the future, has fallen short of its aspirations, disappointing its most ardent proponents. A rift is identified between the academic setting of laboratory testing and the pragmatic essence of the construction industry. This research situates itself as part of the efforts interrogating the industry limits and attempting to bridge these two spheres. It proposes to answer the following research question: What strategies capitalize on FRP’s favorable mechanical properties in order to promote formal exploration with the material in the preliminary phase of a design considering its durable and sustainable potential? This research proposes then a tool that capitalizes on the advantageous mechanical properties of FRP and encourages formal exploration in FRP at the conception phase of a design. Considering the climate change threat, the stakes of such a catalyst framework are high. The Wilhelminaberg Viewpoint, a landmark project in Landgraaf (NL) designed by Ney & Partners, is used as case-study to implement the proposed framework. It also allows to draw a contrast between what is structurally feasible in FRP and what is realistically buildable in FRP. A multi-step single-objective optimization is developed. First, stiffness for a certain design boundary is maximized. Using a brute force algorithm, the first level iterates through all the possible laminate layup combinations to find the combination which generates the stiffest structure. The second level of the optimization finds the lightest geometries using a genetic algorithm. This suggested framework offers an answer to the research question, mentioned hereinabove. Completely integrated in one interface (Grasshopper 3D), the developed tool stimulates formal exploration in FRP structures exhibiting shell-like behavior. The user defines the design boundaries, design constraints, load-cases, and material properties and implements the framework.

The Segment barrier is a conceptual design for a storm surge barrier consisting of individual concrete segments which can be combined to form a barrier. The structure is designed with the ability to expand in size to deal with the uncertainties of global mean sea level rise by stacking the individual segments into various configurations. At its core, the Segment barrier is a temporary structure that can be assembled before the advent of a storm surge and dismantled afterwards with the intent of mitigating the long-term environmental and ecological impact associated with permanently fixed hydraulic structures. However, the Segment barrier is equally able to function as a typical structure with a long design life if necessary. Long Island Sound served as a case study for the development of this concept. The severity and frequency of annual hurricanes is expected to increase within this century and recent examples of hurricanes have already shown the devastating impact to New York City and the wider coastal region. The area of Long Island Sound is expected to have a crucial role in providing protection for millions of people through the development of flood protection measures. The development of this concept involved analyses on the structure’s overall stability, local wave climate, structural design of prestressed concrete elements and the applicability of the barrier for this region. An important aspect of this concept is optimization for which a number of suggestions are provided to inspire further research and design efforts. This thesis establishes the foundation for a new type of storm surge barrier and aims to convey the potential of this concept for wider applicability around the world.

Timber and complex designs are making a move in the building industry, as the building industry is on the brink of a significant change toward a 100% customized, more sustainable architecture. Robotic fabrication and Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) can play an important role in this change, but there is a lot of uncertainty and ignorance about the design process of robotically fabricated CLT elements. This uncertainty is primarily caused by the application of linear workflows instead of integral ones. Within the fields of robotic fabrication and CLT, the research narrows down to the robotic milling process of CLT connection panels. Therefore, this research intends to answer the following question by means of four different parts: What does an integral workflow for robotically fabricated customized CLT connection panels look like, that promote exploration of the structural performance of CLT structures in the preliminary design phase? Part I Literature Study Part II Pilot Study Part III Integral Workflow Development Part IV Discussions The Literature Study focusses on two fields, namely the field of CLT and the field of robotic fabrication. In the final chapter of this part, the mutual affordances and constraints of these fields are discussed as these significantly influence the design space of the integral workflow. The second part concerns the production of a small mock-up to explore the process of robotic fabrication. The literature and pilot study together serve as input for the development of the integral workflow in the third part of the research. This workflow is developed in the parametric environment of Grasshopper and is divided in three modules: Global Structure, Joint Design, Robotic Fabrication. For the Joint Design, focus is laid on CLT connection panels of which the principle is derived from a reference project in Alblasserdam (NL). The main conclusions on the research question consist of the relationships and (in)dependencies between the different modules. Another important conclusion is that one cannot apply CLT in the outdoor environment without applying shedding to ensure complete moisture control. To increase the integrality of the workflow as developed in this research, more feedback loops across the three modules should be integrated. For instance, the affordances and constraints of the robotic fabrication process should be integrated within the relationships between the three modules. Hence, if doing so, this information was available in an early stage of the design process and would decrease the uncertainty of it. This implementation could be investigated by producing a mock-up study along the integral workflow.

Glass is a commonly used material for façades and roofs. Recently even structural glass elements have been developed and the application of glass in structural elements is becoming more common. The ongoing development of new glass types and different production and processing methods resulted in the manufacturing of thin chemically strengthened aluminosilicate glass by AGC. Thin glass is mainly applied in the electronics industry, but the increased strength, optical properties, toughness, bending resistance and weather resistance make it a promising material for application in buildings. The Netherlands is the globe’s number two food exporter and more than half of the nation’s land area is used for agriculture and horticulture. Research on the optimisation of greenhouse designs is a hot topic in the Netherlands to maintain this leading position. The greenhouse industry provides an appropriate application for flat thin glass panels, because of the possibility to increase both light transmittance and structural performance. The goal of the research presented in this report is to determine the feasibility of the application of thin chemically strengthened aluminosilicate glass in greenhouse coverings. The research was divided into four topics that are relevant for greenhouse designs: building physics, structural properties, structural behaviour and economics. The building physics research was conducted in collaboration with the Greenhouse Technology team of the Wageningen University & Research. The light transmittance results showed an increased hemispherical light transmittance for thin glass when compared to regular float glass. The investigation of the structural properties of thin chemically strengthened aluminosilicate glass was based on available literature and the material properties provided by the producer. For this research a characteristic bending tensile strength of 260 MPa has been assumed. However, further research is recommended for the determination of the accurate bending tensile strength and design impact strength of thin glass. The structural behaviour of a thin glass panel in a greenhouse covering was investigated by executing both numerical and experimental analyses. The numerical analysis of the reference system showed that it is necessary to stiffen the thin glass panel for flat application in a Venlo greenhouse system. Multiple variants were designed and studied by numerical and experimental analyses. The IGU panel turned out to be the most promising variant for future application of thin chemically strengthened aluminosilicate glass in greenhouse coverings. As a main outcome it was concluded that thin chemically strengthened aluminosilicate glass has a better light transmittance, higher bending strength and increased impact strength than regular float glass. This leads to a higher crop yield and lower costs for transportation, construction, maintenance and insurance which makes thin glass an attractive alternative. At this moment, however, the material costs are very high and the decreased thickness and increased flexibility resulted in a lower stiffness. It is therefore not likely that a single layer of uncoated thin chemically strengthened aluminosilicate glass will result in a feasible greenhouse covering design. Nevertheless, the use of thin chemically strengthened aluminosilicate glass can result in an optimised greenhouse covering design when applied as an insulating (IGU) panel.

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 warming potential. In this research the material environmental impact of the main load-bearing structure for the building for the European Patent Office has been determined and optimized. The originally designed main load-bearing structure for this building consists mainly of steel columns and beams, and Slimline floors. The optimisation has been done for a design lifespan of 50 years and for 200 years. Additionally, a higher live load that creates more flexibility for the 200-year scenario is examined. The original function for the building is “office” and the other considered function is “meeting”. As alternatives for the beams and columns, steel, concrete, and timber elements have been considered. Hollow core slabs and Lignatur floors were explored as alternatives for the Slimline floors. In this research it has been found that it is beneficial to prolong the design lifespan of building. The environmental impact per year is much lower for a lifespan of 200 years than for a lifespan of 50 years. In order to increase the chance of a longer lifespan, it is wise to create flexibility concerning the function of the building. A higher live load will result in slightly more material needed, but still, the environmental impact per year is much lower than for 50 years. Additionally, there can be looked at choosing the best material for each application. For a design lifespan of 50 years, the difference between the materials is such small, that no preference can be determined. For a lifespan of 200 years the differences are still small, but an entire steel structure or a combination of steel beams and concrete columns result in the smallest environmental impact. For floors, no matter the lifespan, with a big span and where no in-situ concrete can be used, hollow core slab floors proved to be the best choice.

The sustainability of high-rise buildings is always a point of debate and doubt in current research and literature. Several studies have been performed about the zero-energy potential for skyscrapers, however taking into consideration single functions, particularly office and housing buildings. Realistic and modern tall building design however always involves a combination of uses (offices, accommodation, commercial and retail) for the project to be economically viable. On the basis of the Trias Energetica, the primary goal of the early design for sustainable buildings must be to minimize the demand for energy (heating, cooling, hot water, electricity) by means of active or passive techniques. This translates into design guidelines for the shape, orientation, building envelope and climate properties, parameters that have been already widely investigated by researchers and designers in practice. However, an important feature in order to improve the sustainable profile of a building is to employ circular techniques that aim to avoid wasting energy and re-use / re-purpose it. The main objective of this graduation research is to determine the zero-energy potential for high-rise buildings by taking advantage of a mixed-use scheme and examining the possibilities for energy exchange and cooperation between different functions by means of storing energy in the form of warm and cold-water tanks. This research aims to determine which synergetic combinations between functions can be performed, what type of building systems and technology can be used and, by establishing a complete energy simulation, conclude on what are the energy benefits for the building on a yearly basis . The results will be an important addition to the sustainable design for “MEGA” scale projects, according to the forthcoming Dutch regulation that after 2020 all newly built buildings must comply with the nearly zero energy guidelines.

The prediction of structural vibrations in vibration sensitive laboratory structures is a complex problem involving computationally heavy 3D models with long computational times. However, in the early design phases of a project long computational times are undesirable. Therefore the problem statement of this Master thesis concerns the development of a practical engineering tool which can be used in the early design phase of a vibration sensitive laboratory structure. The resulting tool is called EDDABuSgs (Early Design Dynamic Analysis of Building Structures by Gerwin Schut) and is the final product of the thesis research. The main focus of EDDABuSgs is on structural vibrations induced by heavy traffic at geological locations with soft soils (e.g. Amsterdam, the Netherlands). The thesis research concerns the four interrelating parts: source of vibrations (truck), transmission of vibrations (soil), soil-structure interaction and the structure (receiver of vibrations). The software FEMIX is used for computing the 3D soil response (source and transmission). The soil response is then used as input for EDDABuSGS, which computes the 2D structural vibrations by the aid of a Python script. The global structural response is computed from a rigid 3DoF system which is supported elastically by the soil and a pile foundation. The local structural response (ground floor) is computed from a flexible frame, composed of the analytical solutions of Euler-Bernoulli beam elements. The flexible frame is excited by the global 3DoF structural response by means of the boundary- and interface conditions. The results of FEMIX and EDDABuSgs show good agreement with the used verification projects. Several iterations have been made using EDDABuSgs to see how several parameters change the 2D structural response. The results of these iterations are well in line with general known theory about structural dynamics. From this Master thesis research one can conclude that soft soils excited by heavy traffic have a responsive frequency spectrum generally in-between 3 and 15 Hz. Therefore it generally holds that the eigenfrequencies of the global building response should be made relatively low (< 3 Hz), while the eigenfrequencies of the local structural elements (e.g. floors) should be made relatively high (> 12 Hz). Additionally, the resistance against vibrations (impedances) of the structural elements should to be as large as possible, which might sometimes contradict the preferred shift of the eigenfrequencies.

Researchers of TU Delft have been designing and engineering with columns created out of multiple glass rods that are bundled together to form a single column. These aesthetically attractive and slender columns were tested to ensure safety before implementation in the real structure: the Glass Truss Bridge located at the campus of the university. However, the ultimate capacity and structural behaviour of such columns remained unknown. In this studies the structural behaviour of two designs of such columns is researched. It appeared that, among others, the differences in length between the rods within the columns caused an unequal distribution of stresses. This resulted in a large range of ultimate capacities of bundled glass columns that were designed according to the same design principles. Using a special approach in finite element modelling of the glass until failure, furthermore, resulted in more thorough knowledge regarding the failure behaviour of glass and the best way to model this behaviour.

Nowadays glass is more commonly applied as structural element, either as a replacement for, or in collaboration with conventional building materials such as steel, aluminium, timber and concrete. Key arguments to opt for glass in structural design are sustainability, aesthetics and transparency. As for all structural elements, glass elements are required to be structurally safe, even in extreme conditions such as during a fire. Building regulations demand a structural element to be able to withstand a fire for at least 30 minutes. There is however a lack of experimental results on the material properties and performance of structural glass elements at elevated temperatures. One of the key material properties that determines the performance of glass at elevated temperatures is its stiffness (Young’s modulus). In this research the Young’s modulus of both Sola Lime Silica (SLS) and Borosilicate (BS) glass is experimentally determined for temperatures up to 700°C. The transmittance time of high-frequency sound waves (ultrasound) is measured for both BS as SLS glass rods during heating in a tube furnace. From this data the Young’s modulus has been derived mathematically. Additionally, the effect of a low-E coating and an intumescent coating on the performance of laminated glass panels is experimentally determined and assessed. During heating of only one side of the laminated glass panels, the time until the interlayer starts to form gas bubbles is recorded, whereas the temperature of the glass has been measured on both sides of the glass panels. From the experiments it is observed that glass performs well up to temperatures of 500 °C, provided there are no distributed thermal stresses present in the glass. Given this condition, the remaining stiffness at a temperature of 500 °C is 90% for SLS glass and 102% for BS glass. As for structural steel this is only 60%, it is concluded that both SLS and BS glass outperform steel in terms of relative stiffness at elevated temperatures. Between 500 and 600 °C a sudden deformation is observed. Therefore the structural safety of a glass element cannot be guaranteed for temperatures beyond 500 °C. The heating of a glass element can be delayed by the application of an intumescent coating. For low-E coating, an improvement in fire resistance is however not proven in this research. Instead, a negative effect has been observed and therefore the application of low-E coating is not recommended. It was shown that the PVB interlayer is the weakest point of the glass element. At temperatures of 200 °C the PVB interlayer is already completely molten, while at 500 °C the glass is still intact. The fire resistance can be improved by applying glass without an interlayer.

A traditional Trombe wall is known as a high thermal-mass wall, situated behind a window of a room and separated by an air cavity. The idea behind using a Trombe wall is that heat, ventilation and comfort can be passively generated by using the ‘free’ energy of the sun. The surface of the wall absorbs solar radiation when the sun shines, stores the energy and releases the heat at night to the room, when the occupants need it (Saadatian, Lim, Sopian, & Salleh, 2013). In addition, a Trombe wall can be used as natural ventilation system, of which its power is generated by the buoyancy effect in the cavity. Because a traditional Trombe wall is heavy, blocks daylight and cannot be adjusted to changing environmental conditions and seasonal differences, a new and innovative version was devised by the Double Face research team (4TU). The innovative version is called a lightweight translucent adaptable Trombe wall (LTATW) and is about five times lighter than a traditional Trombe wall. In addition, the wall is translucent and can rotate around its axes. The lower weight and translucent character are achieved by applying a phase change material in combination with aerogel, instead of stone or bricks. Phase change materials can store a large amount of (latent) heat during the change from solid to liquid state and thus, increase the thermal inertia of the system. The translucent elements are located in front of a glass façade and act as a thermal buffer in both winter and summer by rotating the elements towards the source of incoming heat or towards the sink for heat release (4TU.Bouw, 2014). In the winter, the layer of PCM is oriented towards the outdoor environment at daytime and is thermally charged by the low winter sun. At night, the system rotates and releases the accumulated heat to the interior. In the summer, the LTATW is oriented towards the interior at daytime to store the interior heat loads and during the night, it rotates again and releases the heat to the outside environment by means of (passive) night ventilation (4TU.Bouw, 2014).In this thesis, the results of a numerical spin-off study of the Double Face research project are shown, in which the influence of eight parameters (climate, building function, orientation, age, building method, room size, window size and type of glazing) on the energy and comfort performance of the innovative Trombe wall has been studied. First, an initial simulation model was developed in Matlab/Simulink, which was subsequently validated using a cross-comparison with results from DesignBuilder. After validation, the initial model has been extended to a suitable and reliable final version, with which more than 6000 different situations were simulated. The results of the simulations are values for the reduction or increase in energy demand for heating and cooling, expressed in percentages or in kWh. All results are processed in multiple designer tables, which interested designers can consult to assess whether installing the Trombe wall is useful for his or her situation, or not. In addition to the development of designer tables, the influence of each individual parameter on the performance of the Trombe wall was investigated using modeFRONTIER. It was found that in case of heating only a cold and temperate climate support a proper operation of the Trombe wall, since no heating is required in the other climate types. From the analysis, it was concluded that in relative sense (%), the Trombe wall performs best in a temperate climate, and that in absolute sense (kWh), the Trombe wall performs best in a cold climate. In case of cooling, the system performs best in a temperate climate and in a dry climate. Because the LTATW is designed to be both a passive cooling system in the summer and passive heating system in the winter, it has clearly been proven that only the temperate climate is the most logical choice. The average reduction of the heating energy demand in a temperate climate equals 36.1% (or 181.3 kWh per year) and the average reduction of the cooling energy demand equals 49.9% (or 115.0 kWh per year). Analysis of the second parameter, building function, has shown that in case of heating the function is not of great influence. The system performs well in both an office and a residence. In case of cooling, higher reductions of the energy demand are achieved in residences. Thirdly, the influence of the orientation of the Trombe wall was investigated and it was found that the best performance in case of heating occurs on a southern orientation. In case of cooling, the orientation is of less importance. The study shows that the age of a building does not have a major influence on the performance of the Trombe wall. Only in case of cooling, a slight preference can be expressed for new buildings. Studying the influence of the construction method on the performance of the wall has shown that this parameter has the least influence of all studied parameters. In both light-weight, medium-weight and heavy-weight buildings, a good performance can be achieved. For the size of the room, it was found that both room sizes perform equally well. It could be concluded that a Trombe wall can be installed in both small rooms and big rooms, but that when a room is too big, the capacity of the Trombe wall will no longer be useful to reduce a large amount of the initial energy demand. The same applies to cooling. Research has shown that for heating purposes, a room with a smaller window is more often preferred and for cooling purposes, a large window. Because the innovative Trombe wall will have to serve as both a passive heating and cooling device, an average size window will therefore probably be the most suitable. Finally, the influence of type of glazing was studied. It became clear that in relative terms the largest reductions of the heating energy demand are achieved with clear glazing. In case of cooling, the type of glazing is of less influence. Multiple sensitivity analyses were carried out to study the influence on the results of conditions that are easily affected by building occupants, and finally, a side-study was carried out into the influence of the Trombe wall on the energy demand for artificial lighting. It was found that even under slightly different circumstances the same conclusions can be drawn with regard to the influence of the parameters. The influence of the Trombe wall on the energy demand for artificial lighting is not negligible and should be carefully considered too.