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Balancing water, food and energy to drive sustainable development

Read more Balancing water, food and energy to drive sustainable development

Thick as brick? How small cracks can cause big problems

Read more Thick as brick? How small cracks can cause big problems

Putting public transport on the right track

Read more Putting public transport on the right track

Finding the best site to build more safely and cheaply

Read more Finding the best site to build more safely and cheaply

Keeping our feet dry with the help of technology, nature and people

Read more Keeping our feet dry with the help of technology, nature and people

Putting the urban mobility jigsaw together, piece by piece

Read more Putting the urban mobility jigsaw together, piece by piece

Sea level rise accelerating along Dutch coastline

Read more Sea level rise accelerating along Dutch coastline

Tracing waves to find phantom plastic

Read more Tracing waves to find phantom plastic

The battle of the Amsterdam quayside bulge

Read more The battle of the Amsterdam quayside bulge

A geothermal research well on TU Delft's premises

Read more A geothermal research well on TU Delft's premises

Climate technology you hope you’ll never need

Read more Climate technology you hope you’ll never need

Understanding complex coral reef coasts

Read more Understanding complex coral reef coasts

Tracing waves to find phantom plastic

Read more Tracing waves to find phantom plastic

Civil Engineering and Geosciences

[Translate to English:]

Dutch bridges are stronger than assumed

[Translate to English:]

How do you make an open and paved urban space climate-proof?

€18 million for research on the sustainable use of our subsurface

[Translate to English:]

16 million to keep the Dutch delta livable - even as it changes

| Stories of Science

Our research themes

Availability of clean water Climate change Energy transition Resource availability Urbanisation and Mobility

Reading time: 10 min

Balancing water, food and energy to drive sustainable development

Water, for drinking, sanitation, irrigation and clean energy, plays a crucial role in the transition to a more sustainable world. In the EPIC Africa project, assistant professor in Water & Control Edo Abraham explores how data collection, mathematical models and a closer cooperation between countries and sectors can improve water management and the planning of energy systems. The aim is to achieve an optimal and fairer utilisation of increasingly scarce water and land in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Reading time: 7 min

Thick as a brick? How small cracks can cause big problems

Will those cracked walls hold up? Is it safe to walk on that quay? To find the answer to these questions assistant professor of Applied Mechanics Rita Esposito studies brick masonry, often using actual pieces of damaged houses and centuries-old bridges.

Reading time: 10 min

Putting public transport on the right track

For as long as public transport has existed, Dutch people have complained about it. There are leaves on the tracks, trains are overcrowded or buses show up late. Yet our public transport is well organised in many areas, according to researcher Niels van Oort. Especially when observed from an international perspective. But there is enough room for improvement. For example with regard to inclusiveness, communication, reliability, and the integration of public transport with bicycle use and shared mobility. In his Smart Public Transport Lab, Van Oort works with partners from the public transport sector on solutions for a public transport system that is optimized for travellers and society.

Reading time: 10 min

Keeping our feet dry with the help of technology, nature and people

The floods that hit Limburg in 2021 showed that despite a raft of measures the Netherlands remains at risk from rising water. Professor of Hydraulic Engineering Bas Jonkman carries out flood risk assessments in this country and abroad and tries to come up with solutions which, apart from dams and dykes, also involve nature and people.

Floating wind turbines change everything

In order to become climate neutral by 2050, the share of renewable energy generated at sea will need to increase significantly. Floating wind turbines, solar panels and tidal power plants will play a crucial role in this.

Reading time: 10 min

The battle of the Amsterdam quayside bulge

The canals and quaysides in historic cities such as Amsterdam, Delft and Utrecht make a pretty picture. In order for these often busy cities to remain safe, the quay walls, some over 300 years old and built on wooden piles, need to be well maintained.

Reading time: 10 min

Tracing waves to find phantom plastic

Ridding the oceans of plastic waste is a huge undertaking which would be significantly helped if the location of the plastic waste could be ascertained with some accuracy. Wave expert Ton van den Bremer is using waves and satellites to track down the ‘phantom’ plastic that is polluting our oceans.

Leestijd: 9 min

A geothermal research well on TU Delft’s premises

Years ago a group of TU Delft students got the idea of realising a geothermal well at the university campus. What at first seemed like a wild plan was set into motion when it became clear the campus grounds were in fact an ideal location. Now, for theme leader Phil Vardon things are almost about to get real. After years of measuring, liaising and researching, detailed preparations to make it a reality are in full flow now. “This geothermal source on our campus will become one of the world’s biggest hotspots for research into geothermal energy.”

Reading time: 7 min

The landslide forecast coming to you from space

Catching the breeze may bring you gold but sail too close to the wind and you’ll miss the boat. Combined with a sailor’s intuition meteorologist Sukanta Basu’s highly detailed wind forecast may well help the Dutch sailing team secure a win at the Olympics this year.

Reading time: 7 min

Meltwater from the Austrian Alps

An imposing, compelling and urgent social problem, that is what Master student Sarah Hanus wanted for her final project. She found it high up in the Austrian Alps where climate change is altering river runoff patterns. Using a model she developed herself, Hanus is able to come up with long-term projections of what these patterns will look like in future. Her work earned her the title of Best Graduate of the Faculty of Civil Engineering & Sciences.

Reading time: 6 min

Climate technology you hope you’ll never need

Could clouds be modified to slow global warming? Cloud expert Herman Russchenberg is investigating climate intervention but hopes his theories will never be put to the test.

Reading time: 4 min

Digital water

Overstroomde riolen, plastic afval, lekkages van waterleidingen… Ook onder de grond kent Nederland grote wateruitdagingen. Met menselijke kracht alleen kunnen we dat niet oplossen, zegt professor Zoran Kapelan. Daarom schakelt hij de hulp in van kunstmatige intelligentie en machine learning.

> All Stories of Science

Civil Engineering and Geoscience globe

Globe

In the faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences we all work on a daily basis to understand, intervene and improve the world we live in. This image visualises our research and educational programmes.

Civil Engineering and Geoscience globe

Globe

In the faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences we all work on a daily basis to understand, intervene and improve the world we live in. This image visualises our research and educational programmes.

Agenda

April

Thesis defence J.M. Delgado Blasco

Thesis defence A. Kontakis

Thesis defence I. Bij de Vaate

Thesis defence G. Li

| Student Stories

Coastal Engineering, CEG, Student Story

Drop it! Kick-start for oysters at offshore wind farms

A spur of the moment decision to spend the summer onboard a ship researching ocean currents plunged Master students Niek Kusters and Fleur Wellen into a wet and wonderful five-week adventure.

CEG, GSE, WM, Student Story

Volcanic rocks solving CO2 problems

What if we could capture CO2 from the atmosphere and permanently store it under the ground in the form of solid minerals? Applied Earth Sciences student Elara Redondo Garcia didn’t think twice when she had to opportunity to go to Iceland, where they are researching CO2 mineral trapping.

Jessie-Lynn

CEG, WM, Student Story

A deep dive into the blue waters of Curaçao

Environmental Engineering student Jessie-Lynn van Egmond is on a thesis adventure, hunting down old groundwater wells to analyse their water quality. So how is the island’s fresh water doing? Has it been subject to salinization or other pollution trends? That’s what Jessie-Lynn hopes to find out.

Climate, Climate Engineering, CEG, Student Story

Researching climate change in the Spanish heat

Extreme heat in Canada, flooding in the Netherlands and forest fires everywhere. The climate is changing and the dangers of droughts and floods are lurking. MSc student Gijs Vis didn’t hesitate when he got the opportunity to work on a unique international climate research project in Spain where scientists from multiple European countries joined forces during an intensive fieldwork campaign.

CEG, Student Story

A match made in heaven

Every opinion counts! But how can Dutch Rail (NS) accommodate to the wishes of a wide range of train travellers when creating the perfect match between bike use and public transport? Master student Civil Engineering Simone Hoskam was happy to tackle this real-life transportation challenge. In the end she presented Dutch rail company NS with some straightforward recommendations to make the relationship between bike and train an even happier one.

CEG, Student Story

What is bubbling underground?

Of the many renewable sources of energy currently being explored, it was geothermal energy that caught the imagination of Cas Verweij. Geothermal energy, which is produced by pumping up hot water from reservoirs far below the Earth’s crust, has many uses. One of which is heating homes. Cas is studying the CO2 bubbles in the sub-surface to see if the rocks are suitable for geothermal energy.

CEG, Student Story

Building sandcastles for your graduation

What Civil Engineering master’s student Jasper Scheijmans really wanted was to graduate with a final project at a big dredging company but Covid-19 intervened. Jasper and his professors then came up with a completely different idea. Why not carry out research into coastal dunes inside a container on the beach?

CEG, Student Story

Bend until it breaks

Is it possible to bend glass to a point where it won’t shatter but grow stronger instead? Tim van Driel, MSc student Civil Engineering, dedicated his final research project to exploring the limits of using glass in facades. He took to the lab and bended large sheets of glass without using heat. But at what point does bending turn into snapping – and a shower of shards?

CEG, Student Story

Reading currents in the ocean

A spur of the moment decision to spend the summer onboard a ship researching ocean currents plunged Master students Niek Kusters and Fleur Wellen into a wet and wonderful five-week adventure.

Read more Student Stories