Reliable Structures
Ensuring the reliability of large structures is crucial for societal safety, affordability, and predictability. The Reliable Structures department is at the forefront of international reliability research. Collaborating with other departments within our unit, we contribute to maintaining a safe built environment, thereby ensuring a liveable future for all.
Three key challenges
Reliable Structures contributes to three impactful societal challenges:
1. Keeping replacement & renovation of large infrastructure affordable:
A huge base of Dutch civil infrastructure is currently nearing their end of life, which brings very high associated replacement costs. Getting a grip on these costs is essential for our society to be able to plan the required actions and keep yearly investments affordable.
2. Safe in a densely populated country:
The Netherlands is a densely populated country, with a projected growth to 20 million by 2050. Space comes at a premium, so how do we ensure that everyone can live at the same safety standard as they do today?
3. Mitigating and adapting to effects of climate change:
On the one hand we contribute to lowering CO2 emissions, e.g. by working on offshore wind farms. On the other hand we look for ways to adapt to the effects of climate change that cannot be prevented. The Netherlands will need to prepare for long periods of drought leading to subsidence, followed by long periods of rain. At the same time, our sea water level will rise, increasing the need to rely on our flood defences.
Key areas of expertise
Develop methods for the assessment and design of steel structures to optimise and extend their use. Focus areas: bridges, support structures for offshore wind turbines, and rail infrastructure.
Assess the impact of vibrations in the built environment. We identify dynamic loads such as wind and earthquakes, investigate structural resilience, and evaluate the impact on personal safety, user perception, and comfort.
Facilitate the design and assessment of assets under uncertainty. We link input loads (wind, traffic, hydraulic) with structural knowledge and risk & reliability analyses to adopt risk-based strategies for designing, managing, maintaining, and replacing critical infrastructure.
Perform validation measurements on specimens and component level in the lab and collect field data. Types of measurements: short test runs (e.g., tension checks on bridge tie-rods, fatigue tests on large bolts) and long-term measurements (e.g., vibrations in high-rise buildings, giga cycle fatigue tests); these result in large datasets over extended periods, revealing trends and changes in loads over time.
Facilities
The Unit Mobility & Built Environment boasts a state-of-the-art testing lab that provides a wide range of testing capabilities for our partners. This facility is equipped with advanced tools for materials and components testing under combined loads using heavy fatigue test benches and customised setups. Applications include assessing the durability and structural integrity of bridge components, (cryogenic) offshore gas hoses, as well as regular and superconductive export cables for offshore wind. Using the measurement data, validated models accurately forecast the lifetime and performance of materials and components.
Contact us
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Martijn van Roermund
Functie:Research Manager‘I'm not an idealist, I'm a realist.’ Martijn van Roermund is Research Manager. His heart lies in offshore wind energy. He expects that someday we’ll be visiting offshore wind farms as if we’re admiring the traditional windmills in Zaanse Schans.
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Standplaats:Delft - Molengraaffsingel (NEXT)
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Email:Email Martijn
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