MSc Programme
Structures in the ocean environment are founded in the seabed, whereas dredging systems aim at the excavation and transportation of bottom sediments. Both require a thorough understanding of the mechanical properties of the subsoil. In addition, offshore and dredging systems interact dynamically with waves, and, in certain cases, earthquakes, floating ice or currents, resulting in vortex-induced vibrations.
For the design of these systems, which very often include mechanical components and mechatronics, the behaviour of the different construction materials needs to be understood – to assess structural stability and fatigue. Hence, offshore & dredging engineers require an excellent knowledge of three fundamental pillars:
- hydromechanics,
- soil-mechanics, and
- structural mechanics.
Specializations
Machinery for the treatment of soil and/or bulk goods are constituting an interface between Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering. Within this framework one must think of dredging machinery, tunnel drilling machines and equipment for the treatment of bulk goods. This field comprises excavation, transport and sedimentation processes of soil, rock and bulk goods that are brought about by human intervention and controlled by means of the appropriate machinery. The purpose in this is to realize or maintain "constructions" and to mine, transfer or treat building materials or ores. Examples of the constructions mentioned above are: ports, channels, land reclamation, cores of dykes and (drilling) tunnels. Examples of the treatment of materials are: soil treatment, mixed heap systems and the separation of materials when mining minerals. Examples of transference are: the transshipment of bulk materials, conveyor belts in the mining industry and hydraulic transport of solids. An important development in this is the drilling of tunnels in "feeble" ground.
The designing of and working with the equipment mentioned above is primarily determined by physical processes, such as loosening up rock, soil or bulk materials, vertical and horizontal transport, positioning in the means of transport, treatment and positioning of the material in a desired geometry.
The fundamental research focusses on the cutting processes in sand, clay and rock, stationary and non-stationary flow of mixtures through pipelines, the sedimentation in hoppers, mixture forming in cutterheads, the behavior of cutter dredgers under offshore conditions, while more applied research has been carried out on many different subjects usually in cooperation with the dredging industry.
When designing machinery, a large number of restrictions play an important part. They all relate to local circumstances, such as the availability of facilities, the condition of the soil or bulk goods, the availability of resource-rich areas for the purpose of elevation, dumping sites for the removal of materials from digged-in constructions, wind and weather conditions, environmental requirements, available energy and a large number of other technical, administrative and economic restrictions. Furthermore, it is required to possess a profound insight into the availability of highly sophisticated mechanical constructions that often have to operate under heavy and dynamic load conditions due to the aggressive environment.
The courses of this specialisation are:
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The aim of this course is to review the basic rules and models for handling mixture transport in dredging installations and to explain the physical processes governing the mixture transport and their description in predictive models
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This course prepares one to design and optimize a pipeline - pump system for slurry transport. Factors including the length and slope as well as overall pipeline wear and energy efficiency are all considered in relation to the rate of solid material transport.
The course focuses on 3 main dredging processes: the cutting of sand, clay and rock.
These processes are explained in detail during the continuation of this course.
There are exercises which allow participants to apply the knowledge gained in practical situations. -
This is a continuation of Dredging Processes I. The course will describe in detail how to be able to calculate Hopper settling and what breaching processes are most suitable in certain conditions. Dredging is constanly updating it's techniques. In this course the more modern technology of jets will be explained in detail.
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Computational fluid dynamics will show students the underlying physics behind CFD. The course consists of a project and a written exam. Students will be asked to complete a programming exercise which will focuss on analysing CFD results.
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Offshore Geotechnical Engineering will cover the complexity of the soil behaviour, including non-linearity and irreversibility. Soils interact among different physical phenomena, these different phenomena will be explained in the course. The behaviour of soils has a strong grade of uncertainty, therefore, it is of high importance to be able to predict the behaviour as well as possible.
For research on Dredging goto: Dredging Engineering
Structural Design and Analysis is the youngest specialization focusing on mastering and advancing your knowledge when applied for design and analysis of steel and composite floating structures used by the maritime, offshore, dredging and renewable energy industries.
Think here about floating wind structures, tidal energy structures, “Pioneering Spirit” of Allseas, “Prelude” an FLNG of Shell, or the “Sleipnir” a new generation semi-submersible largest crane vessel in the world which is designed for worldwide offshore heavy lifting by HMC. But before these structures can be designed and analysed a lot of new knowledge is needed.
Our team is formed by experts in structural design and analysis of floating structures. We operate and use the Mega-Hexapod – a unique test device capable to reproduce any loading being experienced by structural elements in ship and offshore structures. We enjoy research and education. Most probably you will be directly involved in our research projects and you will graduate with co-supervision of one of our industrial partners. Examples of our recent research are: multiaxial fatigue, structural health monitoring, structural response to sloshing, climate change effects on structural lifetimes, and hydroelastic response of composite propellers. Our new research program is on an ultra-large flexible floating platform supporting solar panels and producing a green fuel.
The past few years we have developed for you several new 5 ECTS courses dedicated to offshore structures:
1. MT44030 (Q1) - Structural Design and Analysis (Torsional and shear response)
2. MT44010 (Q2) - Non-metallic materials
3. MT44085 (Q2) - Buckling & Ultimate Strength
4. OE44085 (Q4) - Fatigue & Fracture
5. MT44090 (Q5) - Fluid-Structure Interaction
All this courses include assignments which allow students to apply the knowledge directly. The grades are based on assignment reports to be explained in an oral exam which can be taken outside the exam periods. Hence, no written exams and no stress - just your study time. This allows you for better planning of your study.
The core curriculum for structural design and analysis consists of 5 subjects totaling 25 ECTS. Including this into the offshore core curriculum gives 100 ECTS including the thesis. This leaves 20 ECTS for elective courses. The core structural design and analysis are as follows:
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The course provides an introduction to floating structure types used in the offshore oil, gas and renewables industry and an introduction to mooring systems for floating structures.
The goal of this course is to familiarize the students with analysis techniques used in research and in the industry.
Central to the course are the equations of motions and the stochastic character of input (waves) and responses for single and multibody systems. -
The goal of this course is to introduce various dynamic models of structures and to acquaint the students with the main ideas and methods of structural dynamics. The course prepares students to carry out dynamic response computations on structures that have distributed masses.
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Fatigue is a cyclic loading induced local, progressive, structural damage mechanism introducing fracture and governing limit state for marine (i.e. fixed and floating offshore) structures, since continuous waves as well as repeating wave impacts dominate the mechanical loading system. To be able to assess the marine structure {integrity, longevity} in this matter.
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The loading of marine structures consist of {normal, shear} force and {bending, torsion} moment contributions. Torsion becomes particularly important in case of staggered cargo loading conditions and operation in quartering seas, introducing a shear {strain, stress}- and even normal {strain, stress} response in the beam (like) structural members. To be able to establish and calculate the marine structure torsion loading induced response.
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The goal of this course is to assess reliability of a structure subject to ultimate limit state. Hence, first a solid understanding of the ultimate limit state is developed, after which reliability methods are applied to the limit state. A link to reliability based design is made.
Offshore renewable energy plays a significant role in contributing to the energy transition. The ocean offers a vast and untapped potential for energy generation from the marine environment - including offshore wind, tidal, wave, floating solar and ocean thermal energy. Technological advances and innovation are required to reduce lifetime costs of the energy generated and raise the competitiveness of ocean energy technologies with respect to traditional fossil fuel solutions. The offshore renewable energy specialization includes courses in Offshore Wind Farm Design, Offshore Wind Support Structures and Drive & Energy Systems.
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The course is designed to make students familiar with the different aspects involved in the design of an offshore wind farm. The topics addressed include environmental load and soil modelling, turbine technology, wind farm economics, environmental impact, installation and maintenance logistics, electrical infrastructure, layout design, cable installation, and support structure design.
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During this course the students will have the chance to execute a complete design loop, from the preliminary design, through the concept selection towards the detailed design. Specific attention is paid to the naturally frequency assessment, the extreme load analysis and the fatigue design. Emphasis is put on the relevance of the design basis.
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This course gives students an overview of different types of electrical systems and electrical machines (DC, synchronous, PM, induction) and drives. It includes the basics of electricity and magnetism necessary to develop the understanding of these machines.
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The goal of this course is to introduce various dynamic models of structures and to acquaint the students with the main ideas and methods of structural dynamics. The course prepares students to carry out dynamic response computations on structures that have distributed masses.