Johan Maljaars

Professorship chair

Aluminium structures (Eindhoven University of Technology).

Research area

Many existing structures such as bridges and wind turbines should be safe in use, meaning that degradation should remain within allowable limits and that structures have the possibility to redistribute forces in case of a local failure or overload. Monitoring of structures may aid in assessing the current state of the structure. The trick is to combine monitoring data with physical based models to predict the safety and the end of life.

My research expertise and interests are in fatigue and fracture, structural performance, and fire resistance of steel and aluminium structures. I work on the development and improvement of response and degradation models and on enriching these models with data from monitoring and measurement campaigns.

In application areas such as bridges, wind turbines and offshore structures, I aim to enhance a longer and safe use of these structures as compared to the current state-of-the-art. In this respect, my research objectives closely fit with the TNO goals set in the roadmaps of infrastructures, off shore, and energy.

Top publications

• Rodenburg J.D., J. Maljaars, S.T. Hengeveld, A.H.J.M. Vervuurt, “Tyre contact surface for the fatigue design of orthotropic steel bridge decks”, Engineering Structures, 283, (2023) 115869.
• Maljaars J., M. Euler, "Fatigue SN curves of bolts and bolted connections for application in civil engineering structures", International Journal of Fatigue, 151 (2021): 106355.
• Maljaars J. “Evaluation of traffic load models for fatigue verification of European road bridges”, Engineering Structures 225 (2020); 111326.
• Maljaars J., E. Bonet, R.J.M. Pijpers, “Fatigue resistance of the deck plate in steel orthotropic deck structures”, Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 201, 214-228, 2018.
• Leonetti D., J. Maljaars, H.H. Snijder, “Fitting fatigue test data with a novel S-N curve using frequentist and Bayesian inference”, International Journal of Fatigue , 105, 128-143, 2017.