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| Corona related stories

reading time: 6 min

Present ventilation guidelines insufficient in the fight against the coronavirus

Small respiratory droplets in the air play a role in the spread of the coronavirus, making good ventilation vital. In her SenseLab, Professor Philomena Bluyssen is conducting research into aerosols in the indoor environment and how we can best defend ourselves against them.

Reading time: 6 min

Lockdown presents unique opportunity to study sustainable taxiing at Schiphol

Starting a PhD on the first day of the Covid-19 lockdown was a bit challenging for Bieke von den Hoff. But the lockdown also gave her an unexpected and unique opportunity. As part of a trial programme at Schiphol Airport, she was asked to measure noise levels of a sustainable aircraft towing vehicle called the TaxiBot.

reading time: 6 min

Unmasking the Mask

Everything that is designed influences our cultures and societies. Likewise, cultures and societies, with their respective belief systems and values, influence designers in terms of why they design, how they design, and what they design. There’s a continuous interaction between designing and being designed, between people and the designed world. What is the cultural significance of the defining - and sometimes divisive - symbol of the corona pandemic: the mask?

Watching time: 3 min

Project Safeguard

TU Delft students of Industrial Design Engineering and Technical Medicine have joined forces to develop a smart protective wall that enables testing of possible COVID-19 patients without using scarce personal protective equipment and in any desired location.

Urbanisation & Mobility

Can walking and cycling make us healthy and happy?

Do walking and cycling make people healthier, or are healthier people more inclined to travel actively? And how does the coronavirus affect our travel behaviour? These are the kinds of questions that scientist Maarten Kroesen is investigating. In his view, situations are often not as simple as they might seem at first glance. He is nevertheless convinced of one thing: we should be walking and cycling more.

Reading time: 4 min

Involving the public in policy quandaries

The Dutch lockdown is provisionally set to last until 20 May. So how will life continue after that date? Niek Mouter is researching the public’s preferences with regard to various exit scenarios. It’s a subject that has sparked a lot of interest, with as many as 18,000 people taking part in this Participatory Value Evaluation in the first two days alone.

reading time: 3 min

Charting pollution around the globe

Satellites are the best available instruments to detect man-made pollution worldwide. Now they can also reveal how government measures to combat the spread of the corona virus are changing our air quality. That impact is huge, atmosphere researcher Pieternel Levelt discovered. She helped pioneer OMI and TROPOMI, currently the most advanced satellite instruments to chart harmful pollutants in revealing detail.

reading time: 4 min

A post-coronavirus society

Piet Van Mieghem usually researches all kinds of complex networks, like the internet or the brain. He now uses his knowledge as a weapon against COVID-19 and he is working on a exit-strategy.

reading time: 6 min

A bit of math to constrain epidemics

Most people like to keep both mathematics and epidemics at a distance. But a little bit of the former can do wonders in limiting the latter. Supervised by professor Kees Vuik, two high school students modelled a recent outbreak of cholera in Ghana. He also has a bachelor student investigating the new corona virus.

reading time: 4 min

Giving all children space to play

Several hundred children in the Netherlands are lying in hospital beds, undergoing cancer treatment; around the world, that number is in the millions. Treatment can last for months and, even when a child’s treatment comes to an end, there are the follow up visits, which go on for a further three years on average. Children undergoing cancer treatment lose out on a lot, from attending school to playing sports. Boudewijn Boon, who just completed his PhD at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, developed a framework in his thesis to help these children with something else they miss out on: play.

reading time: 3 min

A revolution in modelling travel behaviour

reading time: 9 min

We\Visit: combatting loneliness with video-calling

Visiting a loved one who’s critically ill: normally that’s possible, but due to the coronavirus, visiting ICUs is no longer permitted. The result is a lonely fight behind closed doors. In an attempt to combat the loneliness, researchers at Delft University of Technology have come up with We\Visit: a tool that facilitates video-calling by appointment. And it was developed at lightning speed after the Reinier de Graaf hospital sounded the alarm.

Watching time: 4 min

Recycling mouth masks

In the fight against the increasing shortage of mouth masks, researchers from TU Delft developed in collaboration with Van Straten Medical B.V. a new way of sterilizing used masks and testing their quality. This could be a successful solution for the rising demand.

Reading time: 3 min

Flying in a V

The lorry pulls up very slowly, en route from the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering to Schiphol. The cargo on board is precious: the 3-meter-wide flying scale model of the revolutionary Flying-V aircraft. Chief engineer Malcom Brown: “The Flying V will use far less energy thanks to its aerodynamic V-shape.”

Reading time: 8 min

How not to waste energy on 5G

From an energy point of view, humanity’s insatiable hunger for mobile data is unsustainable, unless you’re willing to break a few long-held believes in the field of wireless communication. Professor Earl McCune is geared up to do just that.

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reading time: 5 min

What can mussel shells teach us about the circular economy?

In a circular economy, design is about more than just creating a sustainable product. In this system based on eliminating waste and minimising the use of resources, the design process is aimed at preserving the value of products and materials and keeping them in the economic system for as long as possible. So how do you do that? PhD candidate Marita Sauerwein came up with a novel material based on ground mussel shells and showed through 3D printing technology that the end life of a product is really just the beginning.

reading time: 4 min

A supermodel for all the glaciers on Earth

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 counting grains of sand.

reading time: 4 min

Breaking habits for a green world

We separate our waste, take shorter showers and there has been an increase in roof-mounted solar panels. Climate psychologist at TU Delft Gerdien de Vries, sees that in the Netherlands we are trying to put our greenest foot forward.

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 counting grains of sand.

reading time: 5 min

What is the coolest tree?

On a hot, windless day, a leafy neighbourhood may feel 10 to 15°C cooler than an urban area that is more exposed to the sun. Trees thus play a key role in preventing heat stress and the design of climate-proof and healthier cities. “Although we already understand a great deal about the performance of tree species in the built environment, there is very little empirical knowledge about their cooling capacity.”, says researcher Lotte Dijkstra. In order to determine how physical properties such as the trunk and crown shape and the leaf characteristics influence the local air temperature the research team designed and built special ‘climate arboreta’ with sensors installed in each of the 75 tree species.

reading time: 6, 5 min

Data drives the circular economy

More than nine million kilometres. That is the distance covered every year transporting Amsterdam's waste from source to its final destination, which is usually a waste processor. This is one of the insights gained from the monitor platform that has been developed in Delft, with which governments will soon be able to analyse and optimise their waste streams.

reading time: 8 min

The first Flying-V test flight

Since 2017, a team of researchers from TU Delft has been working on a new, more sustainable type of passenger aircraft, the Flying-V. After the research phase, July saw an exciting and significant next step in the programme: the scale model’s first test flight. Would the aircraft remain stable when airborne, even at low speeds?

reading time: 5 min

Alive and Kicking: designing with living materials

Imagine a future in which our materials can morph. Your crisp white cotton shirt has been replaced by a living textile that purifies the air around you. As you settle down on the sofa to enjoy some wine, the glass bottle of yesteryear has been superseded by a tactile mycelium packaging which you can peel off to pour. And no need to switch on the light: bioluminescent organisms in your lamp set to work as light levels dropped, creating a warm evening glow.

Reading time: 6 min

Lockdown presents unique opportunity to study sustainable taxiing at Schiphol

Starting a PhD on the first day of the Covid-19 lockdown was a bit challenging for Bieke von den Hoff. But the lockdown also gave her an unexpected and unique opportunity. As part of a trial programme at Schiphol Airport, she was asked to measure noise levels of a sustainable aircraft towing vehicle called the TaxiBot.

reading time: 6 min

Urban Ecology: the increasing importance of nature in the city

‘Urban Ecology can have a positive influence in many other areas in addition to biodiversity, such as climate adaptation, health, water and energy consumption and circularity’, according to Nico Tillie, who, together with 26 students, looked at how the forces of nature could be given more room on TU Delft Campus. The coronavirus wasn’t much of a help though.

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.

Watching time: 3 min

Project Safeguard

TU Delft students of Industrial Design Engineering and Technical Medicine have joined forces to develop a smart protective wall that enables testing of possible COVID-19 patients without using scarce personal protective equipment and in any desired location.

Watching time: 7 min

The voice of Solotvyno

Former salt empire Solotvyno is located in western Ukraine. Today, the area suffers from the effects of salt extraction: an unstable subsurface resulting in massive sinkholes that threaten the life of the community. Two researchers from Delft University of Technology participated in a consortium to develop a disaster risk reduction plan together with the community. With the aim of giving the population a voice and building on a safer future. This short documentary provides insight into the process.

reading time: 6 min

A fresh perspective on potato growth

Requiring less water and less time to grow than rice, corn or wheat, potatoes may well be the answer to the growing worldwide demand for food. But what are the key factors that determine a successful potato harvest? Asked to provide a fresh perspective, Neil Budko develops numerical methods for the analysis of carefully controlled potato growth experiments.

reading time: 4 min

A post-coronavirus society

Piet Van Mieghem usually researches all kinds of complex networks, like the internet or the brain. He now uses his knowledge as a weapon against COVID-19 and he is working on a exit-strategy.

corona

reading time: 3 min

A revolution in modelling travel behaviour

Reading time: 3 min

Resilient water management in India

Over the last decade, uncontrolled growth has transformed rural villages around major cities in India into peri-urban areas. The original water infrastructure in these agriculture-dependent villages is ill equipped to cope and this is creating tensions. Together with local stakeholders, researchers Leon Hermans and Sharlene Gomes are taking stock of vulnerabilities and opportunities for adaptive water management for sustainable development of the areas.

Watching time: 4 min

Recycling mouth masks

In the fight against the increasing shortage of mouth masks, researchers from TU Delft developed in collaboration with Van Straten Medical B.V. a new way of sterilizing used masks and testing their quality. This could be a successful solution for the rising demand.

reading time: 3 min

The breathing of dikes

Reading time: 6 min

A meaty trick: plant-based deception for good

Eating meat is deeply rooted in habits, status, culture, and identity, so it is difficult to reduce our meat consumption. What if instead of viewing the ubiquity of meat in our meals as a problem, we see it as the key to the solution? Just by using a couple of tricks that are already found all around us. Charlotte de Wit, recently graduated student of Industrial Design Engineering at TU Delft, accepted this meaty challenge.