English name: Departement of Civil Engineering
Parent institute: KU Leuven (KULeuven), more
Address:
Kasteelpark Arenberg 40 (bus 2448)
3001 Heverlee
Belgium
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Tel.: +32-(0)16-32 16 63
Fax: +32-(0)16-32 19 89
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Type: Scientific
Level: Department
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| Abstract: |
The Civil Engineering department of the KU Leuven University hosts a number research section active in marine research:
- Hydraulics section;
- Coastal and Geotechnical Engineering group of the Technology Cluster Construction, Campus Brugge;
- Structural Mechanics section;
- Building materials and Building Technologies section;
- Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation.
Research at the Hydraulics section involves a diversity of marine topics. Hydrodynamics and sediment mechanics are the key words. The laboratory conducts research on the interaction between waves, currents and suspended particles transport (i.e. non-cohesive and cohesive sediments, sand-mud mixtures and microplastics). Research topics include modelling of forces on floating objects such as floating wind turbines, the modelling of tide and storm induced currents, the modelling of sediment transport processes, i.e. particle-turbulence interactions, settling and flocculation, erosion, dynamic behaviour (self-weight consolidation and fluidisation by waves) of cohesive sediment soils and mud rheology, and the prediction of morphological changes in estuaries and along coasts. Within this context, remote sensing observations play an important role. Furthermore, the researchers focus on the possible effects of climate change on the various functions of coasts and estuarine areas. The emphasis lies on changes in the boundary conditions (waves and storm surges) and the possible consequences (for instance inundations). The laboratory is actively involved in national and international research projects. It also participates in the nautical bottom research of the Maritime Access division and Flanders Hydraulics Research.
The Coastal and Geotechnical Engineering group at Campus Brugge focuses on the interaction between water, soil and coastal or water bound structures. Examples are assessments on morphological changes at the coast; monitoring and modelling of aeolian sand transport; numerical simulation tools in coastal and hydraulics engineering including numerical modelling of wave energy converters in the near and far field for offshore energy; and cyclic loading of foundations. Together with the Hydraulics section, this group is partner in the Coastal and Ocean Basin (COB) at the Greenbridge site in Ostend.
Research in the Structural Mechanics section of KU Leuven is concentrating on the dynamic analysis of structures excited by wind, earthquakes, traffic, building activities and machinery. The methodologies and numerical techniques developed at the Structural Mechanics section have a broad range of applicability, for example, vibration monitoring techniques have been applied to near- and offshore structures (wind turbines, lock doors, etc.) where the estimation of wind and wave loads forms a crucial aspect in the design and construction of these structures.
Research at the Building Materials and Building Technologies section is dealing with the durability and sustainability of construction materials, including salt loaded materials in coastal environments and with the potential use of secondary raw materials derived from coastal or river materials. Example of the latter is the (patented) development of supplementary cementitious materials from sludge from the Scheldt River.
The Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation (RLICC), jointly supported by the Civil Engineering Department and the Department of Architecture, is active in the field of coastal cultural heritage. Research is dealing with the alignment of coastal policies with cultural heritage based on the understanding that cultural heritage is a resource for (local) sustainable development in line with the ‘Cultural Heritage Counts for Europe report’. |
| Publications (8) |
Top | Institute |
( 5 peer reviewed ) split up filter
 Cox, J.R.; Paauw, M.; Nienhuis, J.H.; Dunn, F.E.; van der Deijl, E.; Esposito, C.; Goichot, M.; Leuven, J.R.F.W.; van Maren, D.S.; Middelkoop, H.; Naffaa, S.; Rahman, M.; Schwarz, C.; Sieben, E.; Triyanti, A.; Yuill, B. (2022). A global synthesis of the effectiveness of sedimentation-enhancing strategies for river deltas and estuaries. Global Planet. Change 214: 103796. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2022.103796, more- Van Bunderen, C.; Benboudjema, F.; Snellings, R.; Vandewalle, L.; Cizer, O. (2021). Experimental analysis and modelling of mechanical properties and shrinkage of concrete recycling flash calcined dredging sediments. Cement and Concrete Composites 115: 103787. https://hdl.handle.net/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2020.103787, more
- Snellings, R.; Cizer, O.; Horckmans, L.; Durdzinski, P.T.; Dierckx, P.; Nielsen, P.; Van Balen, K.; Vandewalle, L. (2016). Properties and pozzolanic reactivity of flash calcined dredging sediments. Applied Clay Science 129: 35-39. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.clay.2016.04.019, more
- Ibrahim, E.; Adam, S.; De Wever, A.; Govaerts, A.; Vervoort, A.; Monbaliu, J. (2014). Investigating spatial resolutions of imagery for intertidal sediment characterization using geostatistics. Cont. Shelf Res. 85: 117-125. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.csr.2014.05.012, more
- Ntegeka, V.; Willems, P.; Monbaliu, J. (2011). Incorporating the correlation between upstream inland, downstream coastal and surface boundary conditions into climate scenarios for flood impact analysis along the river Scheldt. Geophys. Res. Abstr. 13(6554), more
- Escobar, S.; Bi, Q.; Wongsoredjo, S.; Toorman, E. (2021). Dynamic sediment flocculation: development of a 2DH model for coastal applications, in: INTERCOH2021, 13-17 September 2021 - Delft, The Netherlands: book of abstracts. pp. 71, more
- Van Bunderen, C.; Snellings, R.; Horckmans, L.; Dockx, J.; Vandekeybus, J.; Vandewalle, L.; Cizer, O. (2018). Concrete with flash-calcined dredging sediments as a novel supplementary cementitious material, in: Hordijk, D.A. et al. High tech concrete: where technology and engineering meet. Proceedings of the 2017 fib Symposium, held in Maastricht, The Netherlands, June 12-14, 2017. pp. 109-116. https://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/978-3-319-59471-2_14, more
- Paridaens, K.; Plancke, Y.; Schrijver, M.; Willems, P. (2009). Comparison of measurement techniques for monitoring sediment transport, under field conditions, in the Scheldt estuary, in: 6th International SedNet conference on 7-8 October 2009, Hamburg, Germany: The Role of Sediments in Coastal Management. pp. [1], more
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