Sweet solutions to a salty problem

Read more Sweet solutions to a salty problem

Getting it straight: bridges are becoming circular

Read more Getting it straight: bridges are becoming circular

Good vibrations? Not for bridges

Read more Good vibrations? Not for bridges

Help from on high to solve earthly problems

Read more Help from on high to solve earthly problems

Creating order in the chaos of sand and wind

Read more Creating order in the chaos of sand and wind

Super asphalt lasts longer

Read more Super asphalt lasts longer

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Stories of Science

 

Our researchers work every day on clever solutions for worldwide challenges,
to change the world and make an impact. Meet our heroes.
Discover their stories.

| Our research themes

Everything about:

Availabilty of clean water

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Climate change

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Energy Transition

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Resource Availability

Everything about:

Urbanisation and Mobility

| Highlighted story

Counting grains of sand to understand coastal dunes 

The Dutch coastline is continually changing. Coastal engineer Sierd de Vries is using small ventilators, home-made wind tunnels, drones, jet skis and laser scanners to gain an insight into the development of coastal areas and dune formation. He can often be found sitting close to the Sand Motor counting grains of sand. It’s all in aid of providing more accurate predictions of the long-term changes affecting the coastal landscape.

| READING TIME: 4 MIN
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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.

Reading time: 7 min

The wind app which puts the wind in your sails

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

Sand on the horizon

It’s a decade since the creation of the Sand Motor, an artificial sand bank off the North Sea coast. What happens to a natural system following human intervention on such a large scale? That question has been the focus of professor of Coastal Engineering Stefan Aarninkhof’s research for the last ten years. The results, he hopes, will pave the way to a full-scale experimental climate lab.

Reading time: 3 min

Safety in numbers in times of Corona? There can be.

When did we last dance at a pop festival, cheer on our favourite football team or get together with friends for a meal at a restaurant? It all seems an eternity ago. Dorine Duives misses the crowds as well, and not just for the atmosphere. As a TU Delft researcher Duives studies pedestrian crowd behaviour and the arrival of coronavirus and the 1.5 metre society has made her expertise more relevant than ever. As the crisis developed, the focus of her research became firmly centred on safe ways of opening up society again.

Reading time: 4 minutes

Sweet solutions to a salty problem

Fringing coral reefs provide a sheltered habitat for many sea animals and are a snorkelers’ paradise. But they also form a natural barrier which protects the shoreline and the area further inland. Experiments using 3D printed replicas of a coral are helping Marion Tissier gain an insight into how coral reefs influence and dampen wave energy.

Reading time: 5 min

Getting it straight: bridges are becoming circular

A large number of bridges in the Netherlands are scheduled for large-scale maintenance work or replacement. In order to minimise the effect on the environment and bring down costs researcher Wenjun Cao is working on a model to assess the potential for circularity of these bridges. This will help the Netherlands to achieve its aim of a fully Circular Economy (CE) by 2050.

Reading time: 5 min

Good vibrations? Not for bridges

Due to poor monitoring, many structures are not maintained properly or on time. This results in safety risks and high costs for overdue maintenance. Researcher Alice Cicirello is working on better design and monitoring tools to ensure the secure construction of structures to extend their service life.

Reading time: 4 min

Help from on high to save earthly problems

The ground beneath our feet is constantly moving and that can compromise the stability of buildings and infrastructure. Satellite data are helping Giorgia Giardina to chart the impact of subsurface activity on buildings in great detail so efficient measures to limit damage, cost and safety risks can be taken before it’s too late.

Reading time: 3 min

Campus Mobility Dashboard to monitor crowd behavior at TU Delft

For years, Distinguished Professor Smart Urban Mobility Serge Hoogendoorn had been dreaming of a sensor network for research into traffic flows. The fact that it would happen on the TU Delft campus was never part of the dream. A perfect case of “never waste a good crisis”.

Understanding complex coral reef coasts

Fringing coral reefs provide a sheltered habitat for many sea animals and are a snorkelers’ paradise. But they also form a natural barrier which protects the shoreline and the area further inland. Experiments using 3D printed replicas of a coral are helping Marion Tissier gain an insight into how coral reefs influence and dampen wave energy.

Reading time: 5 min

Creating order in the chaos of sand and wind

The sky is a pretty hectic place but most of the tumultuous goings-on pass us by. In order to gain a better insight into the atmospheric processes taking place nearer the ground, Frans Liqui Lung developed a simulation model showing small-scale interactions between sand and wind The resulting Master’s thesis earned him the title of Best Graduate of the faculty of Civil engineering and Geosciences.

Reading time: 5 min

Super asphalt lasts longer

Asphalt concrete is a great material for road surfacing purposes but it’s not always the most sustainable of options. Sandra Erkens, professor of Pavement Engineering Practice, is looking for ways of predicting and extending the lifespan of both existing and new pavement materials. Epoxy asphalt may well hold the key to more durable road surfaces. The end of October should see the start of the construction of a trial section on a Noord-Holland road to put the new super asphalt through its paces.

Reading time: 4 min

What if we all share our rides?

With just a few clicks associate professor Oded Cats empties the streets of Amsterdam of all cars. In a simulation model, that is. ‘Now what if we ban Uber? Or allow only trams or bike sharing services?’ From his office in the CEG faculty building Cats is experimenting with a complex computer model creating a wealth of different virtual transport scenarios. He specifically looks into new modes of shared mobility, as they have brought a whole new dynamic to our cities.

Reading time: 4 min

A super model for all the glaciers on Earth

Glaciologist Harry Zekollari has climbed and researched many glaciers around the globe. At TU Delft he is currently working on the first ever multidimensional model to represent thousands of glaciers. The model will predict the response of glaciers to climate change more accurately and provide an insight into glacier melt worldwide.

Reading time: 4 min

Counting grains of sand to understand coastal dunes

The Dutch coastline is continually changing. Coastal engineer Sierd de Vries is using ventilators, wind tunnels, drones, jet skis and laser scanners to gain an insight into the development of coastal areas and dune formation. He can often be found sitting close to the Sand Motor counting grains of sand.

Reading time: 4 min

In the mood for mud

As a biologist and soil scientist Julia Gebert often finds herself getting her hands dirty. With mud, that is. In the past two years she has many times boarded a small boat to cruise among the huge container ships in the port of Hamburg while collecting mud samples.

Reading time: 6 min

Delft model protects wind turbines from risks posed by sea ice

Researcher Hayo Hendrikse (CEG) has developed a new model that gives accurate calculations of the effects of sea ice on offshore structures, such as wind turbines and oil and gas platforms. It turns out that ice causes less wear and tear in these structures than was previously assumed. Thanks to a successful partnership with Siemens Gamesa, Hendrikse's model is now being used in the construction of new offshore wind farms.

Reading time: 3 min

Moved by moving water

Newton’s law of universal gravitation is good news for the Dutch. Ice melting in Greenland and the Arctic glaciers has caused the Netherlands to rise by about 4 centimetres over the last century. Riccardo Riva has been studying the effects of moving water masses from one place to another.

Reading time: 4 min

Evacuating virtual buildings

Virtual Reality (VR) is not just about gaming or flight simulators. At TU Delft, PhD Yan Feng is investigating how it may help explain the behaviour of pedestrians. It took her just five months to teach herself how to create a complex virtual building. By then she had built an exact replica of her faculty building and invited real people to explore and evacuate it. So how did they find their way around?

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