This paper presents a new shaker design for the Gentle Driving of Piles method. Specifically, a lab-scale vibratory device has been developed that can simultaneously apply axial and torsional vibrations, both possessing frequency-amplitude decoupling. This design was implemented and tested in a lab-scale experimental campaign, where both pile and soil were extensively instrumented. The monitoring of the dynamic pile and soil behaviours during driving with various installation settings is of utmost importance to comprehend the governing mechanisms of the process. In that manner, the optimization of pile installation may be realized both for axial vibratory driving and GDP. In this work, the frequency-amplitude decoupling is pivotal, as it is showcased that both enhanced installation performance and reduced power consumption can be attained with proper selection of the installation settings and exploitation of high-frequency torsion.

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The presence of marine pollutants such as marine plastics has increased significantly over the last decades and poses a major environmental problem, in both the coastal and offshore area. Marine pollutants are transported, mixed and diffused in the ocean, which means the understanding and modelling of marine transport is key for mitigation purposes (Moulton et al., 2022). Additional to large scale and planetary currents that play a major role in marine transport, free surface waves, internal gravity waves in density stratified fluids and the Coriolis force due to the rotation of the Earth are also fundamental drivers of transport that need to be accounted for. The fundamental fluid mechanics processes associated with these are often not resolved in large-scale models, but are instead included in a parametrised form. However, some fundamental processes associated with wave-induced currents (e.g., Stokes drift) in rotating, density-stratified fluids with a free surface remain unclear and untested. In addition, parametrisation for different environments, forcings and time scales must be developed and tested before being implemented into models for them to reliably predict transport, accumulation and storage of marine pollutants. For this purpose, the Delta Transport Processes Laboratory (DTPLab) is being developed at TUDelft Hydraulic Engineering Laboratory. This laboratory pioneers the combined experimental study of surface waves, density stratification and Coriolis forces in a single laboratory. The DTPLab was designed with a multi- users and purposes vision, with interchangeable facilities and state-of-the-art measurement devices. This paper presents the DTPLab facilities (under construction) and equipment that make this laboratory unique in the world, and describes, as an example of what is feasible, a novel experiment that will be performed in this lab.</jats:p>@en

More than 6,000 infants develop hydrocephalus in East Africa every year. Magnetic Resonance Imaging is the preferred technique to diagnose hydrocephalus. In countries such as Uganda, MRI is unaffordable at even major referral hospitals. In order to provide a sustainable diagnostic tool we are developing an inexpensive and easy-to-use MRI system that yields images of sufficient quality to diagnose hydrocephalus. This paper describes our first prototype of such a scanner. We explain the lessons that we have learned from this prototype and how we used these to come up with an improved design. We also describe a dataset that has been obtained with this scanner that will be made publically available.@en