Stevin Laboratory: Micro2Macro

In this facility scientific and applied experimental research on various scales is conducted on engineering materials and structures used for buildings, civil and offshore (infra)structures. The infrastructure has state-of-the-art equipment and is unique in Europe because of its ability to go from small scale material properties to full scale structural failure tests. Also, research on innovative recycling techniques is carried out. The experimental results are used to develop and validate models for material and structural response.

The research in the facility aims at developing new scientific insights in behaviour of materials and structures, under existing and new loads and conditions, which lead to innovations. Alternatively, new materials and techniques are tested in representative conditions to allow upscaling to industrial levels and/or validate their suitability and provide the basis for inclusion in Standards and Codes.

The target user group of these infrastructures are researchers, from universities, research institutions, government organisations and research departments from engineering firms, interested in testing engineering materials and structures on various scales, under controlled loading and environmental conditions including those that closely resemble real life and extreme conditions.

The users study safety and reliability of structures through the scales, as well as the behaviour of (new) materials under (simulated) service and extreme conditions.

Microlab

Macrolab / Stevinlaboratory

The Stevin laboratory is part of the NWO Large-Scale Scientific Infrastructure

Take a virtual tour through our labs

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The concrete listener

Dutch concrete bridges are getting old and wrinkled. For this reason, Assistant Professor Yuguang Yang spots cracks inside concrete by listening to how sound spreads inside it. Proposing a revolutionary monitoring technique that can reduce maintenance costs and help unsticking traffic on highways.

The most used material in the world

In his hand lays a small grey object, probably no longer than 10 centimeters. It is made of tiny triangle cross-sections and smells like recently casted concrete. This concrete microstructure was made by 3D printing. Yading Xu’s eyes light up when he talks about why he researches 3D-printing techniques for concrete construction. “Concrete is one of the most used material in the world, that is why it is so fascinating to me.”

Flatpack Buildings

Taking apart an entire multi-storey car park in the space of a couple of days and putting it back together again somewhere else without wasting any materials? It may sound like the engineering of a far-away future but it may happen sooner than you think. Recycling materials is common practice nowadays but is it the best solution for the environment? Milan Veljkovic and his team at TU Delft’s faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences knew there had to be another way.

Recycling refined

In ten years’ time the methods used to recycle plastic and electronic waste will be completely transformed, predicts Peter Rem, professor of Resources & Recycling at TU Delft. The recycling plants of today, with their huge sorting areas and big separation installations, will have been replaced by distribution centres for recovered raw materials which can be made into high-quality products.

How to keep that rolling stock rolling

Engineers Evert van Veldhuizen and Jan Moraal are experts in the area of pantograph-catenary interaction and if it’s up to them, in the future, a failing overhead line will no longer get the headline news.

Testing a bio-based bridge

For the first time in history, a bio-based movable bridge for cyclists is tested within TU Delft’s laboratories. It was made out of flax and resins derived from plants. This structure is actually a 12-meter long prototype and it’s the first time this bio composite material is used on this scale.