reading time: 5 min

Is it dangerous to sit in a cinema for two hours with thirty people?

It is now well known that the risk increases considerably if a person with the coronavirus stays in a room for a long time, has a large lung capacity, and coughs or sneezes without covering up with his elbow, but how much higher is the risk?

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.

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| Climate adaptation stories

Best practices to adapt to climate change

reading time: 4 min

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

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 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: 6 min

Magnetic cooling for a greener world

A fridge or air-conditioning system that uses far less energy, is quieter and needs no harmful substances to run. This can soon become reality now that Magneto, a Delft start-up company co-founded by Michael Maschek, is bringing magnetic refrigeration to the market. And this is all thanks to the perseverance of Professor Ekkes Brück, who never lost faith in his affordable commodity.

reading time: 4 min

Into the mud to help nature

PhD candidate Lodewijk de Vet stood in the mud for weeks, in order to learn about organisms in the seabed and to take measurements. He wants to understand the Eastern and Western Scheldt better, so that he can help the ecology while simultaneously protecting our country from rising sea levels. His understanding of these areas served as a foundation for the Roggenplaat nourishments, that have since been executed.

reading time: 4 min

Can sandbanks save mangrove forests?

Reading time: 3 min

Making dikes safer with a bass guitar

| Portraits 2020

reading time: 3 min

Aerospace students revive Leonardo da Vinci’s aerial screw (and turn it into an electric personal aerial vehicle for today)

In the midst of the corona pandemic, five aerospace engineering students from Delft University of Technology designed a vertical take-off and landing vehicle based on Leonardo da Vinci’s Aerial Screw and demonstrated its feasibility and physics.

reading time: 3 min

‘We are showing how we can take something as dramatic as Covid-19 and use it to develop world-class scientific research’

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”.

reading time: 3 min

‘The lines of contact were suddenly a lot shorter because of coronavirus’

TPM student Zara-Vé van Tetterode was chair of the Delft Student Council when coronavirus arrived. She is very positive about the cooperation with the Executive Board during the crisis, but she also sees how coronavirus threatens the mental health of students.

reading time: 4 min

‘It’s the practical choices you make that shape your moral values, not the other way round’

What moral choices do we make during the coronavirus crisis and why? Researcher Caspar Chorus discusses taboos, moral lullabies and misconceptions about the foundations of our behaviour.

reading time: 5 min

‘We’ve achieved a nice modus operandi’

You need a lot of practical training to become a mechanical engineer. So how do you achieve that for 2,500 Bachelor's students in the time of coronavirus? Programme Director René Delfos has quite a job on his hands, but he's keeping on top of it thanks to the help of colleagues like John Lander from Campus Real Estate.

reading time: min

‘I woke up in the middle of the night and just knew: we would build this platform’

What do you do when the coronavirus crisis brings your student project to a halt?
For Eco-Runner Team Manager Antonios Kouzelis it was an easy decision:
arrange an alternative! Besides which he and two friends also set up the website
kiezeninquarantaine.nl (choosing while in quarantine), just like that.

reading time: 3 min

‘Rapid development of LEDs offers all kinds of medical potential’

You can use ultraviolet light from LEDs to combat coronavirus. But it’s not as simple as commercial providers are presenting it right now, concludes Professor Guoqi Zhang. On the need for a sound scientific basis and the potential for LEDs in medical applications.

reading time: 4 min

‘Coronavirus has brought the service team closer to the faculty’

The buildings were virtually empty and an icy silence filled the corridors, but colleagues in Service Cluster 3 have continued their hard work since the outbreak of coronavirus.

reading time: 4 min

‘This is the kind of education students have been asking for’

reading time: 4 min

‘Making big problems manageable and solving them: that’s what we do as engineers’

Switching to online education in the middle of the semester wasn’t easy for anyone, but how do you do that for a course in which building and testing are so important? Lecturer Michiel Schuurman took it as an opportunity to innovate the production process.

reading time: 4 min

‘We were able to crowdsource professional assistance from across the world’

When Covid-19 struck, Anteneh Tesfaye Tola worried about family and friends in Ethiopia. Supported by the Delft Global Initiative, he was able to take some time off from his PhD research to focus on developing design guidelines for the setting up of emergency medical facilities in Ethiopia. In that way, he was able to assist his country from afar.

reading time: 5 min

‘Once the dust had settled, it was time to focus on quality’

Developing an online course normally takes about nine months. So when all education had to be provided online in mid-March, Teaching & Learning Services had to pull out all the stops. Learning Developers coordinator Sofia Dopper reflects on a hectic period, which also gave satisfaction.

reading time: 5 min

‘They were difficult months, but also some of the best’

Professor Jaap Harlaar (3mE) had 25 students with no internships to go to but also saw a looming shortage of ventilators. Combining the two brought about OperationAIR, a textbook example of fast-track medical innovation.

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| Stories

reading time: 3 min

Aerospace students revive Leonardo da Vinci’s aerial screw (and turn it into an electric personal aerial vehicle for today)

In the midst of the corona pandemic, five aerospace engineering students from Delft University of Technology designed a vertical take-off and landing vehicle based on Leonardo da Vinci’s Aerial Screw and demonstrated its feasibility and physics.

reading time: 3 min

‘We are showing how we can take something as dramatic as Covid-19 and use it to develop world-class scientific research’

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”.

reading time: min

‘I woke up in the middle of the night and just knew: we would build this platform’

What do you do when the coronavirus crisis brings your student project to a halt?
For Eco-Runner Team Manager Antonios Kouzelis it was an easy decision:
arrange an alternative! Besides which he and two friends also set up the website
kiezeninquarantaine.nl (choosing while in quarantine), just like that.

reading time: 4 min

‘Coronavirus has brought the service team closer to the faculty’

The buildings were virtually empty and an icy silence filled the corridors, but colleagues in Service Cluster 3 have continued their hard work since the outbreak of coronavirus.

reading time: 4 min

‘This is the kind of education students have been asking for’

reading time: 4 min

‘Making big problems manageable and solving them: that’s what we do as engineers’

Switching to online education in the middle of the semester wasn’t easy for anyone, but how do you do that for a course in which building and testing are so important? Lecturer Michiel Schuurman took it as an opportunity to innovate the production process.

reading time: 4 min

‘We were able to crowdsource professional assistance from across the world’

When Covid-19 struck, Anteneh Tesfaye Tola worried about family and friends in Ethiopia. Supported by the Delft Global Initiative, he was able to take some time off from his PhD research to focus on developing design guidelines for the setting up of emergency medical facilities in Ethiopia. In that way, he was able to assist his country from afar.

reading time: 4 min

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.

Constructies

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: min

The shipping sector must change its course

Blame culture an obstacle to safety in the chemical sector

Everyone knows small mistakes can have large consequences. Yet when things go wrong in the chemical industry the results can be disastrous, as the recent incident in Beirut shows. Genserik Reniers, Professor of Safety of Hazardous Materials at TU Delft, wants to put safety on the map better than today, in order for human suffering and economic losses to be minimised as much as possible: ‘There's a lot we can achieve relatively easy.’

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.

reading time: 7 min

Contactless interaction between man and robot

In traffic, in the supermarket or in the factory: in the near future, robots will no longer be standalone machines, but systems that operate and make decisions within the same environment as people. This is placing different demands on the design and development of such robots.

reading time: 8 min

Increased road safety with high-resolution automotive radar

If it is up to Cicero Vaucher, cars will be transformed into robots with the capability of sensing the environment, thinking, and acting autonomously.

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

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: 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?

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?

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: 3 min

Looking into the earth with sound

A student is hitting a metal plate with a hammer while another is looking at a computer screen in a nearby tent. What (on earth) is happening here? ‘We’re studying the earth’s interior,’ PhD and geophysicist Myrna Staring says.

reading time: 5 min

Is it dangerous to sit in a cinema for two hours with thirty people?

reading time: 5 min

What can mussel shells teach us about the circular economy?

reading time: 3 min

Aerospace students revive Leonardo da Vinci’s aerial screw (and turn it into an electric personal aerial vehicle for today)

reading time: 3 min

‘We are showing how we can take something as dramatic as Covid-19 and use it to develop world-class scientific research’

reading time: 3 min

‘The lines of contact were suddenly a lot shorter because of coronavirus’

reading time: 4 min

‘It’s the practical choices you make that shape your moral values, not the other way round’

reading time: 5 min

‘We’ve achieved a nice modus operandi’

reading time: min

‘I woke up in the middle of the night and just knew: we would build this platform’

reading time: 3 min

‘Rapid development of LEDs offers all kinds of medical potential’

reading time: 4 min

‘Coronavirus has brought the service team closer to the faculty’

reading time: 4 min

‘This is the kind of education students have been asking for’

reading time: 4 min

‘Making big problems manageable and solving them: that’s what we do as engineers’

reading time: 4 min

‘We were able to crowdsource professional assistance from across the world’

reading time: 5 min

‘Once the dust had settled, it was time to focus on quality’

reading time: 5 min

‘They were difficult months, but also some of the best’

reading time: 4 min

Sustainable aviation starts on the ground

reading time: 4 min

‘Phenomena is such a great word, too’. Delft’s quantum expert on shifting atoms

reading time: 6 min

Making corrosion a soft target

reading time: 5, 5 min

And the winner is... three graduation research projects into circular building systems receive awards

reading time: 5 min

Is it dangerous to sit in a cinema for two hours with thirty people?

reading time: 4 min

Understanding complex coral reef coasts

reading time: 2 min

'We measure people' so doctors can treat patients in a more targeted way
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