132571 research outputs found
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Verlies van karakter door het modernisme?: De verschuiving van klassiek geïnspireerde architecturale ontwerpen naar modernistische ontwerpen, gekenmerkt door minimalistische materialen en geometrische vormen die prominent werden in Nederland. 1900 -1970
No full textDe transitie van de klassiek geïnspireerde architectuur richting de hedendaagse moderne architectuur in Nederland wordt in beeld gebracht rond de periode van 1900 tot 1970. Er wordt onderzocht waarom moderne bouwwerken vaak gevoelswaarde en esthetiek lijken te verwaarlozen ten gunste van functionaliteit, kostenreductie en bouwefficiëntie. Het onderzoek streeft ernaar te begrijpen hoe en waarom het modernisme de traditionele architectuur heeft verdrongen en toont de verschuiving van de architectuurwaardering. De onderzoeksopzet omvat een chronologische analyse van bouwstijlen, gekoppeld aan economische en bouwtechnische ontwikkelingen, en onderzoekt controverses en kritieken die leidden tot overgangen onder bouwstijlen. De Nederlandse architectuurgeschiedenis van de 20e eeuw kenmerkt zich door een voortdurende dynamiek, bestempeld door innovatieve stromingen zoals de jugendstil, het expressionisme en het nieuwe bouwen, evenals tegengestelde tendensen zoals de heroriëntatie en het traditionalisme. Deze veranderingen worden aangedreven door economische fluctuaties en technologische vooruitgang, waarbij nieuwe materialen en bouwtechnieken hun intrede doen. Terwijl de 19e-eeuwse bouwmaterialen zoals baksteen en zandsteen blijven, verschuift de nadruk naar eenvoudigere ontwerpen met gladdere texturen en het gebruik van materialen zoals beton, glas, kunststof en andere imitatiematerialen. Verder is de wederopbouwarchitectuur na de Tweede Wereldoorlog een belangrijke periode die zich sterk richt op levenskwaliteit en welvaart, waardoor de klassieke stijlmotieven volledig plaatsmaken voor nieuwe ontwerpen gericht op een snelle en minimalistische economie. De moeilijke interpretatie van moderne architectuur zonder klassieke referenties kan de waardering hiervoor doen belemmeren. Deze waardering richt zich niet noodzakelijk op de daadwerkelijke ouderdom, maar eerder op de traditionele aspecten van het ontwerp.AR2A011Architectural History ThesisArchitecture, Urbanism and Building Science
Tropical or extratropical cyclones: What drives the compound flood hazard, impact, and risk for the United States Southeast Atlantic coast?
No full textSubtropical coastlines are impacted by both tropical and extratropical cyclones. While both may lead to substantial damage to coastal communities, it is difficult to determine the contribution of tropical cyclones to coastal flooding relative to that of extratropical cyclones. We conduct a large-scale flood hazard and impact assessment across the subtropical Southeast Atlantic Coast of the United States, from Virginia to Florida, including different flood hazards. The physics-based hydrodynamic modeling skillfully reproduces coastal water levels based on a comprehensive validation of tides, almost two hundred historical storms, and an in-depth hindcast of Hurricane Florence. We show that yearly flood impacts are two times as likely to be driven by extratropical than tropical cyclones. On the other hand, tropical cyclones are 30 times more likely to affect people during rarer 100-year events than extratropical cyclones and contribute to more than half of the regional flood risk. With increasing sea levels, more areas will be flooded, regardless of whether flooding is driven by tropical or extratropical cyclones. Most of the absolute flood risk is contained in the greater Miami metropolitan area. However, several less populous counties have the highest relative risks. The results of this study provide critical information for understanding the source and frequency of compound flooding across the Southeast Atlantic Coast of the United States.Coastal Engineerin
On Reality: The appearance of the city in the maps of Venice and Amsterdam
No full textThis thesis examines the complex relationship between reality and representation in maps, and how this relation has influenced the perception of the map and its ability to convey information throughout history. The study analyses historical maps of Venice and Amsterdam, highlighting their evolution from detailed depictions to simplified representations. Through philosophical theories and cartographic investigations, it reveals the paradoxical nature of map truthfulness, where distortion often becomes a means of communication. From the mythical portrayals of the historical city to the modern diagrammatic transit maps, this thesis traces the progress of cartography, examining how maps balance accuracy with purpose, ultimately prioritising coherence over correspondence with reality.AR2A011Architectural History ThesisArchitecture, Urbanism and Building Science
Our society will be as healthy as our homes: How does the dwelling architecture from 1840 to 1919 impact the health and well-being of the residents of Vienna and London today?
No full textThis essay explores the relationship between dwelling architecture and mental health, with a particular focus on the housing constructed in Vienna and London between 1840 and 1919, during a period of unprecedented growth that followed the Industrial Revolution. Contemporary building standards guarantee that current dwelling architecture does not have a negative impact on the residents’ health. Moreover, the extensive research conducted in recent years on the relationship between architecture and mental health informs current housing design. However, since these practices are relatively new, understanding the impact of older housing on mental well-being is crucial in determining whether those apartments are still habitable. By examining the historical and architectural contexts of Viennese “Zinshäuser” and London’s Victorian houses, this study identifies key architectural elements present in these buildings, analyzes what caused specific dwelling architecture typologies to form, and explores how they can affect the mental health of their occupants today. To answer this final section, a comparative analysis of Vienna and London is conducted through a questionnaire, revealing disparities in housing conditions and their effects on residents’ mental health.AR2A011Architectural History ThesisArchitecture, Urbanism and Building Science
Linking Digital Servitization and Industrial Sustainability Performance: A Configurational Perspective on Smart Solution Strategies
No full textManufacturing companies are introducing innovative ways to facilitate the sustainable transition of their customers’ operations. The emerging literature on digital servitization proposes numerous factors, such as the use of advanced artificial intelligence analytics, orientation toward outcomes, and aligning ecosystem partnerships, which can potentially influence the sustainable performance of industrial customers. However, there is currently a lack of understanding regarding how these factors interact to result in sustainable outcomes. Hence, this study seeks to shed light on these complex relationships by identifying viable smart solution strategy configurations for achieving customer sustainable performance. Drawing on a dataset of 180 Swedish manufacturing firms, this study uses a configurational comparative method—namely, fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis—to identify the impact of different configurations of “AI-driven optimization,” “outcome orientation,” “value co-creation,” and “ecosystem orchestration” conditions on the realization of customer sustainable performance. This study has identified five smart solution strategies that empower manufacturers to realize sustainable performance for their customers. Among the five configurational strategies identified, the first configurational strategy appears to be the most prominent, as it is based on an outcome-based approach in which the firm uses its technological expertise and its ecosystem partnerships to take over customer operations. Thus, this study contributes to the ongoing discussion in digital servitization on its enabling role for industrial sustainability practices.Delft Centre for Entrepreneurshi
The Rise and Fall of Plan C: A Historical Analysis on Rotterdam’s Urban Development
No full textPlan C, a landmark building in Rotterdam erected in 1889, represents a significant chapter in the city’s urban development. Amidst Rotterdam’s rapid modernization during the late 19th century, Plan C emerged as a multifunctional solution to address pressing traffic congestion issues and symbolized innovative urban renewal strategies. This research thoroughly investigates the emergence and disappearance of Plan C and its influence on urban renewal in Rotterdam.Through archival research and analysis of primary and secondary sources, the establishment, evolution, and eventual demise of Plan C is investigated. Primary sources include architectural archives, historical documents, and visual materials from the Rotterdam Stadsarchief and Nieuwe Instituut. Secondary sources encompass scholarly articles, newspaper clippings, and historical books, providing comprehensive insights into Plan C’s historical significance and urban impact.The journey of Plan C in Rotterdam encapsulates the city’s urban evolution and societal challenges. From its inception as a traffic solution to its demise during World War II, it intertwines with Rotterdam’s growth narrative. Plan C’s establishment in 1889 marked a milestone, reflecting forward-thinking urban planning amid mixed sentiments. Initially thriving, it later declined due to demographic shifts and economic challenges. World War II’s bombing ended its existence, leaving behind a reminder of resilience and urban adaptation. Plan C’s story highlights urban complexities, emphasizing the importance of thoughtful planning and preservation amid urban evolution.Overall, this research offers valuable insights into the complexities of urban renewal and the enduring significance of architectural heritage in shaping sustainable urban environments.AR2A011Architectural History ThesisArchitecture, Urbanism and Building Science
2024 roadmap on membrane desalination technology at the water-energy nexus
No full textWater and energy are two strategic drivers of sustainable development, intimately interlaced and vital for a secure future of humanity. Given that water resources are limited, whereas global population and energy demand are exponentially growing, the competitive balance between these resources, referred to as the water-energy nexus, is receiving renewed focus. The desalination industry alleviates water stress by producing freshwater from saline sources, such as seawater, brackish or groundwater. Since the last decade, the market has been dominated by membrane desalination technology, offering significant advantages over thermal processes, such as lower energy demand, easy process control and scale-up, modularity for flexible productivity, and feasibility of synergic integration of different membrane operations. Although seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) accounts for more than 70% of the global desalination capacity, it is circumscribed by some significant technological limitations, such as: (i) the relatively low water recovery factor (around 50%) due to the negative impact of osmotic and polarization phenomena; (ii) an energy consumption in the range of 3–5 kWh m−3, still far from the theoretical energy demand (1.1 kWh m−3) to produce potable water from seawater (at 50% water recovery factor). Ultimately, desalination is an energy intensive practice and research efforts are oriented toward the development of alternative and more energy-efficient approaches in order to enhance freshwater resources without placing excessive strain on limited energy supplies. Recent years have seen a relevant surge of interest in membrane distillation (MD), a thermally driven membrane desalination technology having the potential to complement SWRO in the logic of Process Intensification and Zero Liquid Discharge paradigm. Due to its peculiar transport mechanism and negligibility of osmotic phenomena, MD allows high-quality distillate production (theoretically, non-volatile species are completely rejected) with a recovery factor of up to 80% at a relatively low operative temperature (typically 60 °C–80 °C). Although low operative temperatures make MD technology attractive for renewable power applications (e.g. solar thermal, wind or geothermal energy sources) or for efficient exploitation of low-grade or waste heat streams, the low energy efficiency intrinsically due to heat losses—and specifically to temperature polarization—has so far hindered the application at industrial scale. Nowadays, photothermal materials able to absorb and convert natural or artificial irradiation into heat have gained great attention, demonstrating the potential to mitigate the 'anthropic' energy input to MD and to mitigate the impact of thermal inefficiencies. On this road, a step-change improvement in light-to-heat conversion is expected through high-throughput computational screening over thermoplasmonic materials based on electronic and optical properties of advanced materials including novel topological phases of matter used as nanofillers in polymeric membranes. Coherently with the concept of Circular Economy, waste hypersaline solutions rejected from desalination process (referred as 'brine') are now the subject of valorization activities along two main exploitation routes: (1) recovery of valuable minor and trace metals and minerals, with special focus on critical raw materials (including, among others, Mg, Na, Ca, K, Sr, Li, Br, B, and Rb); (2) production of salinity gradient power (SGP) renewable energy resulting from the recovery of the Gibbs energy of mixing (mainly represented by the entropic contribution) of two solutions having different ionic concentration. The exciting new frontier of sustainable mining of seawater concentrates is accelerating the appearance of a plethora of innovative membrane materials and methods for brine dehydration and selective extraction of trace ions, although under the sword of Damocles represented by cost feasibility for reliable commercial application. On the other hand, among several emerging technologies, reverse electrodialysis (SGP-RED) was already proven capable—at least at the kW scale–of turning the chemical potential difference between river water, brackish water, and seawater into electrical energy. Efforts to develop a next generation of ion exchange membranes exhibiting high perm-selectivity (especially toward monovalent ions) and low electrical resistance, to improve system engineering and to optimize operational conditions, pursue the goal of enhancing the low power density so far achievable (in the order of a few W per m2). This Roadmap takes the form of a series of short contributions written independently by worldwide experts in the topic. Collectively, such contributions provide a comprehensive picture of the current state of the art in membrane science and technology at the water-energy nexus, and how it is expected to develop in the future. In addition, this Roadmap acknowledges the challenges and advances in membrane systems, particularly emphasizing the interplay of material innovation and system optimization, which collectively contribute to advancing the desalination field within the water-energy nexus framework.Energy and Industr
A SystemC SNN model for power trace generation
No full textPower analysis can be used to retrieve key information as secure systems leak data-dependent information over side channels. A proposed solution to break the correlation between side channel information and secret information was to replace a vulnerable part of the cryptography implementation with a neural network. This uses the inherent properties of a neural network to disrupt the correlation by breaking the linear power characteristics assumed by leakage models. To test this neural network without physically creating a hardware implementation a simulation must be performed that provides both the data and the power information. Currently neural network simulators do not generate a power trace and analog circuit simulators generate more information traces than required increasing the simulation time. This thesis describes the creation of a complete SystemC spiking neural network model that generates both data and power information. The information generated by this model was compared and verified with results acquired by the Cadence Spectre analog circuit simulation platform. The results indicate that the created SystemC SNN model works and generates comparable data and power traces as the Spectre simulator.Electrical Engineering | Signals and System
Mitigating Revenue Losses of a Wind Farm in an Offshore Bidding Zone: A Scenario-Based Modelling Approach
No full textThis study addresses the revenue losses from network congestion of an Offshore Wind Farm (OWF) resulting from the implementation of an Offshore Bidding Zone (OBZ) and explores potential measures to mitigate these effects. The quantitative analysis involves a model that simulates a hypothetical OWF located in the North Sea between Norway and the Netherlands, operating with historical electricity prices and wind data. The OBZ approach is compared with the traditional home market approach to analyse revenues and explore the magnitude of the losses. The implementation of mitigation measures provides insights into their impact on revenues, congestion rents, and compensation. Additionally, the role of long-term contracts is examined to clarify how they influence the effectiveness of these measures. This is followed by an exploration of the different perspectives of the wind farm and the government to understand how these could shape the OBZ market design. Finally, an analysis of different future alternative market connections is conducted to understand their implications and the trade-offs that must be made for designing the OBZ market. In the end, the following research question is answered: How can revenue losses from network congestion of wind farms be mitigated in an offshore bidding zone in the North Sea?Engineering and Policy Analysi
Supporting Decision Making under Deep Uncertainty techniques with hydraulic modeling
No full textInfrastructure is at risk to climate uncertainty due to a combination of long life spans, complexity of the systems it is embedded in, and the high investment costs often necessary. Current infrastructure planning approaches lose efficacy under deep uncertainty, necessitating new approaches that function better under conditions where the future cannot be predicted. The approaches that attempt to deal with this are also called Decision Making under Deep Uncertainty (DMDU). Bangladesh, the Netherlands, and New Zealand have all already adopted the use of these DMDU approaches in their delta protection guidance. One popular DMDU technique is Robust Decision Making (RDM). RDM can be seen as a computational extension of scenario planning, where proposed plans are tested against every potential combination of uncertainties. The Deep South Challenge (DSC), a New Zealand based research institute is looking into using RDM on a regional scale to discover vulnerabilities and identify robust strategies based on them. One of the test cases is in Helensville, where a Wastewater Treatment Plant (WTP) serving a small community is located in the middle of a floodplain. The WTP discharges its effluent into a strongly tidally influenced river, which drains the entire watershed and flows past large tidal flats into a dynamic estuarine environment. In order to identify potential vulnerabilities in the system, robust decision making uses a vulnerability analysis. This consists of a scenario discovery and global sensitivity analysis which sample through every combination of uncertainties to characterize the vulnerabilities of the system. In order to facilitate this, usually simple conceptual models are used due to the high number of runs necessary. However, these types of models can oversimplify complex physical processes and topography. These complicating factors are all present at the current case site selected by the DSC. This research investigates whether the added computational demand of a complex model is worth it compared to a simple conceptual model. To do this, two models are selected and forced for the same event. They are then compared on predicted system behavior, identified vulnerabilities, and potential policy advice. From a larger selection, the FLORES and SFINCS models were chosen. FLORES uses a simple hydrological balance to calculate the water level in the subbasins for each timestep. SFINCS is a reduced physics solver which only uses the Local Inertial Equations (LIE). Both models are forced by a compound rainfall and stormtide event for a storm with a 24 hour duration, for which they were calibrated and validated using the results of previous modeling efforts in the region. After the calibration and validation, a sensitivity analysis and scenario discovery were run for both models. The results of the sensitivity analysis show similar model behavior between FLORES and SFINCS. The upstream part of the model domain is only sensitive to rainfall, while the downstream part is mostly sensitive to storm surge and mean sea level, and to a lesser degree to tidal amplitude. This downstream part includes the wastewater treatment plant. Compared to SFINCS, the outcomes for FLORES on average overestimated water levels at the WTP. This is most likely due to the lack of flood attenuation taken into account by FLORES compared to SFINCS. The scenario discovery showed similar results for each model’s box describing 73% of the outcomes where failure occurs. Both models had the same three thresholds: storm surge, mean sea level, and tidal amplitude. The main difference between the boxes was the storm surge threshold being 21 centimeters lower for FLORES compared to SFINCS, indicating FLORES overestimates the water level at the WTP. The results of the scenario discovery also showed a linear relationship between these three factors. From this relationship, it is possible to see that, keeping all else similar, and with the same high tidal amplitude and storm surge, for SFINCS the plant only starts flooding when a mean sea level of at least 0.4 meters is reached, while for FLORES this is 0.25 meters. Using a RCP4.5 emissions scenario, a mean sea level of 0.25 meters will be reached in 20-30 years, and a mean sea level of 0.4 meters in 50 years. The proposed policy options for both SFINCS and FLORES would be to mitigate storm surge as long as possible, since the water level at the WTP is most sensitive to this factor. Once this is no longer possible, the WTP should be relocated. The results of SFINCS indicate this relocation is necessary later than for FLORES. These results show that while the behaviors exhibited by both models is relatively similar, the small differences in accuracy affect which are most likely due to the lack of flood attenuation taken into account for FLORES lead to a different timing of proposed adaptations. This leads to reason that while a conceptual model such as FLORES works well to identify important factors within the system, a more accurate model such as SFINCS can be more helpful once timing of adaptation becomes important. Further recommendations are to repeat this research for more models, further calibrate and validate the models, and to include scenario discovery methods that better deal with the found linear relation.Civil Engineering | Hydraulic Engineerin