programme guide open labs @civil engineering and geosciences

Location: Civil Engineering and Geosciences

PROGRAMME GUIDE Open Labs 11 November 2014

PROGRAMME

12.00-13.00 Drop-in lunch 12.30 NEW! Thermite(aluminothermic) welding of rails! Thermite welding (aluminothermic welding) is a technique whereby rails are welded together at extremely high temperatures: a spectacular job that causes showers of sparks. During welding the temperature rises to some 2,500 degrees Celsius. 13.00-13.30 Welcome speech and Recycle lab speed lecture by Prof. Peter Rem 13.45-15.00 Lab tours, choice of: Water, Structural Engineering, Geo 15.00 NEW! Thermite(aluminothermic) welding of rails! 15.45 Transfer to TU Delft Library to join TU Delft Research Exhibition

16.00-16.30 Speed lecture Prof. Nick van de Giesen (Watermanagement) 17.00 Presentation of KIVI Student Prototype Award byRectorMagnificusProf.KarelLuybenfollowedbydrinks(theDelft Research Exhibition can be viewed until 20:00).

3Open Labs @Civil Engineering and Geosciences

WELCOME TO OUR LAB!

Today’s lab tours will provide you with a good view of the research at TU Delft’s Faculty

of Civil Engineering and Geosciences. It is in labs that many of our scientists conduct their

(PhD) research as well as contract research for (international) governmental institutes,

companies and fellow research centers. Some facilities are unique and state-of- the-

art. Everything you will see is aimed to improve our understanding of reality, be it the

real behaviour of rivers, seas, constructions, the subsurface, and many other aspects

of the world around us but that we don’t always understand. Watch our researchers at

work, simulating reality and validating their models and be amazed by the innovative

character and impressive sizes and sounds of many of the experiments!

Bert Geerken

Dean, Faculty of Civil Engineering & Geosciences

4 Open Labs @Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Structural Engineering 6

Water 10

Geo 14


SPEED RECYCLE LAB LECTURE

In the Netherlands, 17 billion euros a year are spent on materials to make, among other

things, cars, build homes and manufacture disposable cups. Subsequently, another

ten billion euros are spent on neatly removing the waste. This means that waste is often

viewed as a burden in the Netherlands. The Recycle Lab wishes to change this because

household waste is also a fabulous source of raw materials. The Recycle Lab develops

technologies and methods for improving waste separation. Prof. Peter Rem is Professor of

Resources and Recycling, and will discuss the question: How do we make the most of our

waste?


Structural Engineering


GLASS STRUCTURES

Can a facade be made entirely of glass? One

of the applications tested at the Structural En-

gineering lab is a glass facade intended for a

building on the PC Hooftstraat in Amsterdam.

Its structural physics and construction technical

aspects will be studied.

GIPIPE

Using full-scale testing the lab studies how

subterranean steel pipes deform and tear, for

instanceduetolandslides.GIPIPEisalab-floor

sized steel pipe.


CONCRETE BRIDGES

Most of our concrete bridges were built in the

1950s and 1960s, and are being more heavily

burdened than ever intended. Can they

handle this safely? At the lab, scale models

ofbridgesectionsaretestedtofindout.The

maximum load existing bridge sections can

handle is being studied. Furthermore, research

is being conducted into how new types of

concrete could be utilised in structures.

LINTRACK

The lintrack is basically a machine that runs

back and forth that is used to test road

surfaces.Itsimulatesheavytrafficdrivingover

a road section using a load-bearing truck

wheel.


THERMITE WELDING RAILS

Thermite welding (aluminothermic welding) is a

technique whereby rails are welded together

at extremely high temperatures: a spectacular

job that causes showers of sparks. Beware,

during welding the temperature rises to some

2,500 degrees Celsius.

12.30 & 15:00

Live demonstration


Water


NON-CHLORINATED SWIMMING POOL

Swimming is healthy, but swimming in a non-

chlorinated pool would be even healthier. And

feasible: the ‘swimming lab’ is the ultimate

testinglocationforfindingoutwhythewater

becomes contaminated and what you, as a

user, should and shouldn’t do to prevent this

happening.Purificationtechnologiessuchas

UV light are also tested there.

WORM REACTOR

Processing silt is a major cost item for water

treatment facilities. The lab studies processes

which would decrease these costs and

simultaneously produce energy. Worms break

down organic materials in waste water really

quickly. How they do so is unknown. We wish

tofindoutmoreaboutthisdecomposition

process so it can be emulated in large biogas

systems which would allow more energy to

produced whilst at the same time reducing

the quantity of residual silt thereby decreasing

costs.

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RIVER MORPHODYNAMICS

OneofthelargestflumesintheNetherlands

for studying river morphodynamics has been

builtandthefirsttrialexperimentshavebeen

conducted.Thisflumeof5metreswideand

50 metres long is currently being used to study

the creation of new landforms in river banks

(bank accretion). The experiments will help

tounderstandhowflowdischargevariations

and the vegetation that colonises sediment

depositsinfluencethisprocess.Fieldworkand

numerical modelling will be used to upscale

the results obtained from these experiments to

formulate a bank accretion model.

SAND ENGINE

The Zandmotor or sand engine is a 128

hectare, ‘living laboratory’ that has been

installed as an innovative coastal defence

off the coast of the province of Zuid-Holland.

Over the coming years, wind, waves and tides

will help the sand spread along the coastline

(i.e. why it is referred to as an engine).

The Zandmotor’s behaviour is monitored

continuously from above using drones and

a 40 metre pylon beset with cameras (sand

distribution) and from the water using Jet Skis.


FLEXIBLE EEL GRASS UNDER THE WAVES

Eel grass grows in coastal waters around

the world. To better understand eel grass’

influenceontheprotectionandcreation

of coastlines and tidal areas, experiments

are carried out in a long wave simulator to

study the movement and the forces exerted

beneath the waves for each and every eel

grass stalk.


Geo

15

CT SCANNER

Computer tomography (CT) scanning uses

a large number of X-ray images to create a

two or three dimensional representation of

the object of study. Our medical CT scanner

can, for instance, make liquid and/or gas

flowsthroughaporousmediumvisible.Insight

into the 2D or 3D structure of materials allows

us to, for example, design better asphalt that

wears more slowly and discharges water more

quickly.Byvisualisingtheflowsofliquidsand

gases we can better predict how much oil and

gas can be extracted or what will happen if

we want to store CO2 underground.

BIOGEOLAB

At the BioGeolab work takes place on how

biological processes can be effectively utilised

in geotechnology. For instance, how waste

atlandfillscouldbedecomposedinasmart

way greatly reducing the need for continuous

future monitoring and management. Making

smartuseofwasteflowstoreinforcethesoil

and dykes is also an object of study as waste

feeds certain soil bacteria who turn it into an

adhesive-like substance which reinforces the

soil.

GEO CENTRIFUGE

In order to be able to study the geotechnical

problems that can develop in structures such

as dykes the lab often utilises scale models.

Working with the latter you always have to

take into account that in reality the pressure

in the subsoil increases the deeper you go.

A solution which enables us to nevertheless

attain reliable results is to place the model

in a centrifuge and subject it to increased

gravity. Our centrifuge enables us to increase

gravity by a factor of up to 100 allowing us to,

for example, have the scale model of a dyke

collapse under realistic loads.

LIQUEFACTION TANK

This set up, which is currently under

construction, enables the stability of banks to

be studied. For large land reclamation projects

such as the Zandmotor [sand engine] or the

Maasvlakte [peninsulas of reclaimed land]

thesteeperthebanking,themoreefficient.

However, steep banks become unstable. This

large set up measuring 5x2x2 metres will help us

to determine at which point this happens and

to be able to better understand the process

that leads to banks giving way by allowing us

to recreate small banks and to have them fail

in a controlled manner.


SOIL LAB

At the Geo-Engineering research group’s

laboratory research is conducted into the

way the soil behaves under various loads.

For example, the Netherlands and many

other delta areas suffer from considerable

subsidence. At the same time, 100 million

cubic metres of sediment are dredged up to

keep ditches unclogged and rivers navigable

of which 90% is dumped at sea. Can’t we

put the sediment to good use to combat

subsidence instead? Laboratory research

shows what happens when dredged material

dries out: e.g. it develops tears. The lab also

allows us to use scale models to test what

happens when sheet piles and piles for, for

instance, windmills and offshore platforms are

forced into the soil.

For more information:

www.citg.tudelft.nl/openlabs

[email protected]

015 27 81106

programme guide open labs @civil engineering and geosciences

Documents

lab studies

lab lecturein

lab speed lecture

todays lab tours

contract research

phd research

structural engineering

tu delft research exhibition16