The city Winnipeg, built on the wet prairie, has been threatened by severe flooding for decades. The initial decision to build the city at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers led to the inevitable consequence of recurrent natural flooding. The floods prompted the provincial government to take a series of flood control structural measures to prevent the city property. However, the waterlogging crisis has still not subsided.

During the significant territorial transformations in the last two centuries, the rivers and creeks have been heavily dammed and channelized. The hasty attempt at city development resulted in immediate economic benefits, but at the expense of eliminating the land’s ability to drain water through naturally occurring streams and coulees. Due to environmental impacts on a wider geographical scale, most notably climate change, both floods and droughts are hitting the extremes, which is escalating the challenge on flood management.

One of the main obstacles in this project is to solve the problem of threatening floodwaters and turn the negative impacts into the opportunities for a more sustainable lifestyle. Tracing back to last century, the indigenous peoples of the plains used to share a mutually beneficial living pattern with beavers and other species on the prairies. This coexistence approach towards humans, wildlife and nature deserves an opportunity to be brought back to Winnipeg. Through flood-mitigation measures based on natural processes, the urban hydrologic system is anticipated to move toward sustainable development and provide fairness and reliability to the living environment and urban ecosystems in response to challenges posed by habitat loss, climate change, and emerging conservation issues.

The chemistry of ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) is one of the main factors affecting its reactivity. Knowing the composition of GGBFS used in aged concrete may help understand its past performance and estimate remaining service life. It is well known that GGBFS generally react slower than cement clinker. This thesis proposes that partially hydrated GGBFS grains found in aged concrete could be used to determine its chemical composition. The feasibility of using standard-based energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) microanalysis, along with electron imaging, as a tool for quantitative measurement of the chemical composition of GGBFS grains in cement/concrete is explored in this research. X-ray spectra collected from minerals or glasses of known composition are known as standards for quantitative EDS microanalysis. This study initially examined the performance of mineral and slag standards to quantify X-ray spectra obtained from GGBFS-cement paste specimens of known composition. Parameters such as GGBFS properties, experimental conditions, and microanalysis methodologies that affect the EDS quantitative total and accuracy were elaborated. Then, the same standards were used to quantify the unknown composition of GGBFS used in seven concrete specimens collected in the Netherlands representing different service life, which revealed the variation in GGBFS chemistry over the years. Finally, as a supplementary study, the variation in significant hydration products formed due to variation in GGBFS composition in a cement-GGBFS system was predicted using thermodynamic modelling with GEMS. Altogether, it was concluded that standard-based EDS is a solid tool to characterize the chemical composition of GGBFS used in aged concrete.

Designing structures that are more sustainable is a relevant topic within the construction industry. By choosing materials that have a low embodied energy value and optimizing the structures that can be constructed by these materials, one could potentially minimize the economical and environmental footprint of a structural design.

As burnt clay bricks have a relatively low embodied energy value, are relatively cheap as a construction material and are relatively durable, it is interesting to investigate the optimization of masonry structures. To achieve this, use is made of topology optimization. To accurately optimize the topology of masonry structures however, this optimization must be performed based on the results of a discrete element analysis. This thesis presents several methods to set up such a model based on masonry structures of arbitrary size and lay-out, departing from the smallest scale: the individual brick.

First, a method is developed to create arbitrary shapes for bricks. An algorithm is developed to parametrically create structures for two distinct shapes. A procedure to abstract these structures and translate their geometrical representation to a simplified numerical model is then presented. Several
methods for structural analyses are detailed and their results are evaluated and compared. The results of these analyses are used to optimize the topology of the initial structure by means of the Method of Moving Asymptotes. The resulting structures are then verified using 3DEC. Finally, some applications of the developed method are presented along with future visions.

For economic, scientific and survival reasons, colonisation of other planets is proposed. Mars is the most suitable place to start. To start an early Martian colony, viable In-Situ Resource Utilisation (ISRU) methods of low energy consumption are required to manufacture strong bulk construction materials. Most other studies have used infeasible materials or processes to investigate the possibility of manufacturing construction materials on Mars. This study investigated answers to this problem and assessed the feasibility thereof under strict requirements.

A literature study has specified Martian regolith as the optimal raw resource. The use of water was not feasible. Simulants MGS-1 and JEZ-1 were used as materials analogous to Martian regolith. Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) has been chosen as the optimal production method considering Martian regolith and the environment. An experimental study has verified the feasibility of the proposed material combined with the proposed method. Standard compressive tests, CT, SEM, SEM-EDS, DSC-TGA, Taguchi Design, MSEL and SPS, accompanied by standard measurements, yielded the following information: uniaxial compressive strength, density (distribution), macro porosity, microstructure, elemental composition, compaction, and energy requirement. Both simulant types were subject to three modifications: particle size, particle size reduction method and drying. Four SPS parameters have been analysed: temperature, duration, applied coating and applied pressure.

The minimum required compressive strength of 1.9 MPa was readily achieved. A maximum compressive strength of 137 MPa was found with an average of 48.50 MPa. Combined with the possible shape geometries of SPS, the manufactured material is expected to be structurally applicable. The measured theoretical energy requirement was 17.07 GJ/m³. The applied energy use was 2.72 TJ/m³. A reference dome requires a feasible theoretical 89.5 kW or infeasible applied 14.3 MW for one year. The latter value was elevated due to experimental factors. The actual energy requirement of a Martian mission is expected to be closer to the theoretical energy requirement due to efficiency improvements. Water vapour was produced during sintering. This is a vital benefit to a Martian colony. To conclude, ISRU bulk construction material manufacturing on Mars, for early colony development, is possible with regolith simulant and SPS.

Flat glass is a material which is used extensively in almost all the buildings, mainly as infill for windows or facade panels. However, neither glass production nor its recycling are sustainable processes, as both incorporate the use of gas furnaces, which produce high amounts of CO2 emissions. Thus, the re-use of glass seems the only way to minimize the environmental impact of this material.

The greatest challenge in the safe reuse of glass elements lies in the assessment of their strength after several years of use. This strength is reduced, compared to the inert strength, due to the damage ("defects") that the environment inevitably introduces into the glass surface. According to the Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM), one of the defects in a stressed brittle material, which in this case is glass, will initiate the failure. Therefore, in order to assess the residual strength of weathered glass, it is essential to quantify it in terms of defects. The aim of this thesis is to develop the understanding on the performance of weathered glass, and to propose a methodology for the prediction of its residual strength, based on its surface defects.

The examined material is a 55-year-old annealed glass, which was used as facade elements in a building in the Hague, in the Netherlands. The X-Ray Fluorescence analysis showed that the composition of this glass meets the common float glass recipe but no tin residues were found on its surface.

This research firstly, focuses on the detection and characterization of the defects on the examined weathered glass. Both sides of glass were examined through non-destructive tests with the mobile optical profilometer Traceit® and the digital microscope Keyence VHX 7000. These tests revealed that the weathering induced mainly dense pits, digs and fine linear scratches on the surface exposed to the outside environment (external surface). The depth of these defects, as measured with Traceit®, ranged from 19 µm to 161 µm, which is aligned with the depths reported in literature, which range from 20 µm to 200 µm (Schula et al., 2013). The internal surface had occasionally some large defects which were probably man-made defects. Overall, Traceit® showed a potential for detecting and measuring the defects on weathered glass, whereas with the used microscope it was not possible to measure the defects nor to scan larger surfaces.

Subsequently, 90 specimens of weathered glass were subjected to Coaxial Double Ring tests, with either the external or the internal surface in tension, to assess the effect of weathering on strength. The specimens were of two different dimensions and they were loaded with two different rings to investigate the "size effect". In addition, 81 similar specimens of new glass were tested, with either the tin or the air side in tension, and they were used as a reference. These tests showed that the strength of the 55-year-old glass ranged from 22,9 MPa to 138,2 MPa, whereas that of new glass ranged from 38,3 MPa to 219,2 MPa. In particular, the average strength of the internal surface of the small weathered specimens was 53% higher than the external, but no major difference was observed in the tests of the large specimens. Furthermore, the average failure stress of the air side of new glass was approximately 45% higher than that of the tin side, while in literature that difference was characterised as marginal. Finally, although the size effect was clearly observed in the tests on new glass and in those on the internal surface of weathered glass, the strength of the external surface was found independent of the size of the loaded area. This implies that the defects on this surface are similar and uniformly distributed, so the probability of encountering a critical flaw is equal regardless the size of the loaded area.

Fracture statistics were used to derive the design strength of the glass of each testing series. Among three probability distributions, the Weibull distribution was found to describe the strength data of glass better. However, for low probabilities of failure, the data did not fit well to the Weibull distribution and thus, the resulted design strength values are probably very conservative.

The information collected during the non-destructive tests, namely the size and the shape of the defects found on the surface of weathered glass, was used for the identification of the critical defect which will initiate failure. At this step, the assumption that the largest defect will be the critical one was made. Then, the theory of LEFM was used to relate the size of the found critical defect to the failure stress, through the critical stress intensity factor KIC and the geometry factor Y. The predicted values for the failure stresses were analysed with fracture statistics and compared to the actual failure stresses of weathered glass, as emerged from the Coaxial Double Ring tests. In this way, the accuracy of the predictions was evaluated.

The effectiveness of the methodology for the detection of the critical flaw was evaluated through post-fracture analysis. This analysis showed that the critical defect was successfully detected in the 23% of the examined specimens. This suggests that the visually largest defect on a glass element could be the critical one. Furthermore, even if most of the specimens did not failed at the measured defect, the average predicted failure stress differ by less than 9% from the average actual failure stress. This outcome suggests that the defects induced by weathering on the glass surface are similar. Thus, a defect which was identified as critical for one specimen but eventually it was not, it was probably very similar to the critical defect of another specimen.

To conclude, this thesis examines and proposes a novel methodology for the prediction of the glass strength, based on LEFM, applied to defects found on the surface of naturally aged glass. If the defects on the glass surface are studied according to this methodology, a good estimation of the average failure stress can be obtained. For lower probabilities of failure the methodology gives conservative estimations, so it has a potential for use in design applications. Overall, the defects on the surface of glass, and especially their size and geometry, appear to have the greatest effect on the strength of weathered glass so far. Further experimental investigation on the parameters which affect the strength of weathered glass should be carried out, as well as further research on the automation of the proposed methodology, which is expected to increase its effectiveness and efficiency.

The demand for lower construction costs comes at the price of duplicating architectural designs. As a result, the misperception that modular architecture is repetitive prevails. However, the developments in computational design and MMC (modern methods of construction) can suggest a standardized manufacturing approach to provide mass customization. The research explores the computation of Modular building envelope systems using the Boolean marching cube algorithm under the premise of a ‘participatory generative design framework’ of the 'GO-Design' developed by Pirouz Nourian and Shervin Azadi [1]. In this project, (1) a set of architectural tilesets is developed that incorporates mass-customization by providing the potential for generating various configurations, and (2) a prototype of an interactive digital tool is established to enable future inhabitants to customize the configuration of their modular houses based on the predefined tileset. The algorithm is developed and applied in the Rhino & Grasshopper environment. The BMC algorithm reads the voxels' labels pertaining to each cube's vertices (a collection of 8 neighboring voxels) to load and choose the corresponding tile from a predefined tileset. The project's focus is the design of such a tileset, its engineering consistency, and architectural coherence. As an input, a voxelated massing will be the input, possibly later accompanied by a colored zoning scheme. and the output will be a modular architectural assembly. This workflow is envisaged to become a procedural component of a Configure, Price, & Quote (CPQ) system for the industrialization of mass customizable housing.

This research investigates how to design a glass pedestrian bridge that is structurally optimised for multiple load scenario’s and feasible in terms of fabrication and construction. Linear glass elements such as panes have limited freedom of shape. On the other hand, cast glass can be produced into any shape possible. When glass is used in large quantities with large cross-sections, the annealing process can take a long time and require a significant amount of energy. The annealing time must be kept to a minimum to make cast glass a viable option. This is where topology optimisation can play its part. During topology optimisation, the layout of an element is optimised on the given constraints for the specified design domain. A compliance-based optimisation is found to be the most suitable objective function. The software package Ansys and various plugins for McNeel Rhinoceros/Grasshopper are compared on their topology optimisation tool. During this comparison, Ansys is found to be the most suitable software. This is mainly because of the possibility of implementing a cross-sectional constraint during the optimisation, which is needed for implementing a maximum annealing time. The most suitable production method for topology optimised cast glass elements is found to be kiln casting with a 3D printed sand mould. Glass is a brittle material with a low tensile strength compared to its compressive strength. The only type of bridge that can be made entirely in compression, without pre-tensioning, is an arch bridge. This bridge type is used for the final design. The loads considered during structural analysis are the vertical traffic load (distributed and point) and the vertical wind load. The bridge is made from borosilicate glass. This type of glass is used to reduce the effect of temperature on the cast structure of the bridge. Additionally, the supports and connections are designed so that they do not restrain deformation from temperature. Furthermore, the shape and place of the connections and supports ensure the possibility of unequal settlement without the formation of unacceptable stresses. Multiple variant studies are carried out. In the first variant study, optimisation is done on several 2D models to determine the best shape for the bridge's final design. The second variant study focuses on the 3D shape of the bridge and how the bridge is split into manageable segments. The final bridge comprises four cast outer elements, one cast keystone, and a float glass bridge deck. The bridge is simply supported on both sides of the canal. The connections and supports are based on compression and friction and use a polyurethane interlayer. The weight of the final optimised bridge is reduced from 32t to 11.2t with a maximum cross-sectional thickness of 210 mm to get an annealing time of approximately one month. Due to symmetry in the design, only one-fourth of the bridge is optimised. During the optimisation, seven different distributed load scenarios are implemented. For the point load, a region is excluded from optimisation. After optimisation, finite element analysis and manual verifications are performed.

A proposal is made on how to design and create an openable surface in a mono material 3D printed tiny house that consists out of recycled PET.

Despite the increased popularity of the application of load bearing glass in the built environment, its design does rarely address sustainable or circular aspects. This Master’s Thesis analyses what the influence of connections is on the sustainable performance of structural glass and informs about the limitations and possibilities of sustainable glass design. To answer this question, sustainability has been defined from literature which resulted in ten sustainable, circular design methods. The role of load bearing glass and its connections is discussed in these methods, and it is concluded that there are two main possible design strategies for a sustainable design. First, the biggest impact in design can be made when focus is on reuse as an afterlife application to increase the lifetime of glass elements. Secondly, impact can be made by limiting the
environmental footprint of the structure in the initial design by material minimization and selection. Recycling is left out of the scope since recycling on a world-wide scale barely occurs. Even in a country with a well developed recycling network like the Netherlands, just 5-10% of discarded flat glass waste ends up back in the float glass industries and the rest is downcycled to container glass or glass fibres. Besides, the sustainable impact from recycling compared to reuse is far smaller, and measures to limit contamination are out of control of the designer. At first, in order to design for reuse as an end-of-life application, demountable connections are essential and adhesive based connections should be avoided. Although demountability is a key to the circular economy, this study concludes that there are various technical barriers to overcome to make glass elements actually reusable. One important barrier is the lack of standardization in glass structures. As is shown in the redesign of "Kasteel Ruurlo", implementing standardization leads to a modular design and is integrated by using minimum size deviation and the use of a single type of connection. However, as a result of standardization, the design freedom of the architect is taken away and the mechanical connections lead to a less elegant design. Therefore, it is recommended to further development these modules and discuss elegance and design freedom in standardization. Another technical barrier to overcome is the performance and quality of glass elements which makes current reuse impossible: insulated glass units will loose their insulating performance due to failure of the edge sealant after 20 to 25 years, and laminated glass is prone to delamination over time. There is a lack of legislation which sets requirements to the quality and performance of these elements. Only for laminated glass, there is a potential reuse strategy which has been used in the redesign of "Kasteel Ruurlo". It is proposed to use a high quality interlayer as SentryGlas or Trofisol. For both interlayers, delamination problems should be further researched in order to assure a long technical lifetime.
Secondly, in order to minimize the environmental impact of the structure, the impact has been quantified using Life Cycle Analysis data and Environmental Product Declarations. With the method by "Stichting Bouwkwaliteit", this data is converted to shadow costs which is used to calculate the environmental footprint of a connection. Different structural connections are considered: various facade connections, different moment rigid frame connections and various ways to connect a panel. From this calculation, the different connections are compared and it is concluded that adhesive based connections have both a smaller environmental footprint than mechanical connections, and that these result in less material use in the overall structure and thereby limiting the environmental footprint. This is also reflected in the redesign of "Kasteel Ruurlo", where due to the mechanical demountable connections, the environmental impact increases compared to the current design. With current possibilities, the relation between the connection and a sustainable design depends on the type of connection: an adhesive based connection will result in an overall low environmental impact but makes reuse unlikely. A mechanical connection could be an outcome here, but with current possibilities, reuse cannot be guaranteed either. The application of current demountable connections on the reuse possibilities can therefore be argued. In order to succeed with structural glass in the circular economy, this research emphasizes the need for legislation, standardization and to solve problems like delamination and leaking insulated glass units which now determine the lifetime of glass structures. It also shows the need for demountable connections which increase the reuse potential and which ideally do not increase the environmental footprint.

Bamboo has been used as a construction material since ancient times in tropical and subtropical parts of the world, because of the fastgrowing process, low cost and compressive, tensile and bending strength, that allow to create a lightweight and earthquake resistant structures. After 3 to 5 years bamboo is ready to harvest, and one clump of bamboo will provide poles of timber for a lifetime. Despite this, in the last century, bamboo has been out of spotlight in the architecture field and downgraded to scaffolding, decorative material and temporary housing. This is because bamboo is not a standardize material: its size, mechanical proprieties and construction system are not constant; moreover, if not treated, bamboo can rot to dust after less than two years. In Ecuador, bamboo is accessible in many regions. Although one of the strongest types of bamboo grows in this country, most of the construction is made of concrete regardless the context. Considering the earthquake that happened in 2016, which left most of the coastal towns destroyed and thousands of homeless people, bamboo has a great potential for re-urbanizing a site affordable and safely. By treating the bamboo properly, designing its structural system carefully, therefore developing proper connections, a bamboo construction will last, thus bamboo’s full potential can be showed, increasing its use as a structural element. Two simplified connections for bamboo structures were designed in this project with the aim to develop a system that facilities the construction of bamboo houses and therefore increase use of bamboo as a structural element.

Nowadays glass is more commonly applied as structural element, either as a replacement for, or in collaboration with conventional building materials such as steel, aluminium, timber and concrete. Key arguments to opt for glass in structural design are sustainability, aesthetics and transparency. As for all structural elements, glass elements are required to be structurally safe, even in extreme conditions such as during a fire. Building regulations demand a structural element to be able to withstand a fire for at least 30 minutes. There is however a lack of experimental results on the material properties and performance of structural glass elements at elevated temperatures. One of the key material properties that determines the performance of glass at elevated temperatures is its stiffness (Young’s modulus). In this research the Young’s modulus of both Sola Lime Silica (SLS) and Borosilicate (BS) glass is experimentally determined for temperatures up to 700°C. The transmittance time of high-frequency sound waves (ultrasound) is measured for both BS as SLS glass rods during heating in a tube furnace. From this data the Young’s modulus has been derived mathematically. Additionally, the effect of a low-E coating and an intumescent coating on the performance of laminated glass panels is experimentally determined and assessed. During heating of only one side of the laminated glass panels, the time until the interlayer starts to form gas bubbles is recorded, whereas the temperature of the glass has been measured on both sides of the glass panels. From the experiments it is observed that glass performs well up to temperatures of 500 °C, provided there are no distributed thermal stresses present in the glass. Given this condition, the remaining stiffness at a temperature of 500 °C is 90% for SLS glass and 102% for BS glass. As for structural steel this is only 60%, it is concluded that both SLS and BS glass outperform steel in terms of relative stiffness at elevated temperatures. Between 500 and 600 °C a sudden deformation is observed. Therefore the structural safety of a glass element cannot be guaranteed for temperatures beyond 500 °C. The heating of a glass element can be delayed by the application of an intumescent coating. For low-E coating, an improvement in fire resistance is however not proven in this research. Instead, a negative effect has been observed and therefore the application of low-E coating is not recommended. It was shown that the PVB interlayer is the weakest point of the glass element. At temperatures of 200 °C the PVB interlayer is already completely molten, while at 500 °C the glass is still intact. The fire resistance can be improved by applying glass without an interlayer.

It is known that the global impact of solid waste is becoming more worrying day by day; however, the application of reused materials in the built environment is not yet fully embraced. In particular, plastic composites are now fundamental for the global world economy but the organization of their end life needs to be improved.
Therefore, the research investigates the possibility of reusing plastic in the built environment through means of robotic fabrication and computational design. Thus exploring different design possibilities based on reclaimed plastic objects, testing their structural stability and robotically modifying them. In order to create a design system for a pavilion made of reclaimed materials, based on a computational workflow.

Throughout the course of the research project, physical testing and software simulations have been performed to assess the properties of the robotically fabricated geometry, in order to retrieve design guidelines. Moreover, a digital workflow was developed including performance-driven design, performance evaluation and geometry generation for robotic fabrication.

To conclude, the study emphasized how rather than employing new resources in the fabrication of a pavilion structure, it is possible to promote the use of reclaimed material using digital techniques and reversing the design process. Instead of designing a shape and consequently choosing a material, the design will start from the choice of a reclaimed material and the analysis of its potential, in order to originate a structure according to it. Besides the research project aims to facilitate the process through the creation of a computational workflow that can be applied to multiple reclaimed objects and shapes.

In April 2018, a graduation project in the field of architecture was concluded. The project entailed the design of a temporary community centre in the earthquake-damaged historic town centre of L’Aquila, Italy. The underlying social concept was focused on participation of the local population in the construction of the community centre. The design includes a grid-like timber shell structure, built-up out of a repetition of only two main structural and light-weight elements: the members and the joints.
The load-bearing structure of this architectural design formed the basis for this graduation thesis, which is aimed at its optimisation. The optimisation is carried out focused on many objectives, e.g. its weight, its environmental impact, its structural validity. The goal of this thesis can be summarised by the following research question. Given the architectural design, how can the main load-bearing structure be optimised for seismic contexts using parametric modelling, considering the following objectives: maximal demountability and structural simplicity, minimal material use, structural weight and environmental impact?
An optimisation method has been chosen combining automated and manual processes, as this gives a high sense of control to the designer. Using computational and parametric modelling techniques (Rhino, Grasshopper and Karamba), a database comprising 10 836 different structural configurations has been generated with different geometries and materials. The database contains the generated outcomes to structural and environmental analyses for each of the structural configurations. The database entries have been ranked manually based on structural, architectural and social demands, resulting in a top 28 models. Having defined a ranked set of structural configurations, manual checks and iterations can take place. The first step is checking the global and local stability using proposed joint designs as input. The next step is checking the safety of the structure during seismic events using a response spectrum analysis. As the Top-1 design passed all analyses, no iterations were deemed necessary.
In conclusion, with regard to the design, further structural optimisation could take place by reconsidering the shape of the structure. However, the process of automated database generation followed by manual exclusion, ranking and iterations give a great sense of control compared to automated optimisation alternatives. This optimisation process has proven to be very effective in finding a design that balances all objectives well.

The additively manufacturing industry is emerging rather quickly and has find its way within numerous fields of expertise. Slowly the building industry is adopting these fabrication methods as well, but there are still a lot of challenges. Especially the bonds within the layered structure are demand more research. Numerous researches have acknowledged the importance of the bonding strength, but only a few have actually examined its mechanical properties of the bonds.
A distinction between the interlayer and intralayer bonds is made. The former indicates the bonds between vertically stacked layers, while the latter is related to the coalescence between filament within one lamina. This report assesses the relevance of the intralayer bonding strength for extrusion-based additive manufacturing by the large-scale printers of company Aectual. Firstly, the complete fabrication process and the relevant parameters for the construction of 3D printed object are elaborated. Based on the layered structure of prints and regarding the desired geometries, the
additively manufactured products are linked to Unidirectional Fibre Reinforced Composites. Subsequently, the international standards of the ISO and the ASTM are consulted for the design of the test specimens for the estimation of the material properties of interest, namely the tensile and
flexural test for general understanding of the mechanical behaviour of the material and a test method for the Interlaminar Fracture Toughness to evaluate the intralayer bond strength.
As the preliminary have shown promising result, the print geometry and the printing settings are optimised to achieve a high print quality and reliable test result as uniform as possible. The results of the flexural and tensile test indicated that this optimisation have proven to be successful. Despite the high number of test specimen, the interlaminar fracture toughness of the intralayer bond is not quantified. The post-processing of the insert relevant for delamination affected the crack front and reduced the probability of deformation. Nevertheless, almost 30% of the samples have delaminated
and have confirmed the dependability of the bonding strength on the height of the print and the printed pattern. Moreover, the print orientation appears to be of significant relevance. Finally, this research appoints the importance of the intralayer bonds for the mechanical behaviour of the total product as well as for the further development of 3D printed structural elements.

This master's graduation project researches the potential of upcycling waste glass into glass-ceramic components through casting techniques and thermal treatments. To explore its potential and possibilities, the process of crystallization, the material glass-ceramic and influencing parameters are studied at first. A glass-ceramic is a glassy yet crystalline material consisting of inorganic and non-metallic compounds. A glass-ceramic can be produced through different controlled crystallization methods, whereas in this research heat treatment of casted components is applied. Upon heat treatment, crystallization occurs when the right temperatures are applied for the two-steps in crystallization; nucleation and crystal growth. Crystallization may occur spontaneously or along preferential sites, whereas this research makes use of the latter. Many parameters affect the crystallization process, whereas this research only focusses on glass composition, temperature and dwell time. The parameters are set through literature study and trial and error of melting experiments. This research focusses on the crystallization of soda-lime-silica bottle glass, the results of each melting experiment show the effect of the parameters. Each glass from another manufacturing has another glass composition. The amounts of glass formers, modifiers and fluxes are various, resulting in diverse temperature curves and thus diverse melting temperatures and crystallization temperatures. Through the melting experiments are noticeable that the applied melting temperature were of bigger influence than the crystallization temperature. A melting temperature too low resulted in an undesired fused sample, while a too high melting temperature resulted in no or little preferential sites for crystallization to occur. Through the results of the splitting experiment the mechanical characteristics could be observed, which are fracture toughness and fracture behaviour in this research. The fracture toughness seems better of samples with a higher quality crystal polymorph or with a higher amount of crystallinity or high amounts of glassy phases, whereby the material acts as one material upon loading rather than as a composite. While for samples with little and unconnected crystallization it does not seem to benefit its fracture toughness. The fracture propagation through glassy and crystalline phases is very different. A fracture propagation through a glassy phase is conchoidal, while the fracture propagation in the crystalline phase follows the crystalline structure, reaching its extremities or can be conchoidal, depending on the crystal polymorph. Observable from the fracture propagation from glassy to crystalline and from crystalline back to glassy is the discontinuity. The crystal or crystalline surface acts like an obstacle once the failure propagation reaches from the glassy phase. The failure does propagate but once it continues over to the glassy phase again, a change in energy and direction is noticeable. All by all, there do is potential in upcycling waste glass into structural cast glass-ceramic components. Crystallization does influence the fracture toughness and fracture behaviour in a cast glass-ceramic component, but the effect is highly dependent on the amount and distribution of glassy and crystalline phases.

Researchers of TU Delft have been designing and engineering with columns created out of multiple glass rods that are bundled together to form a single column. These aesthetically attractive and slender columns were tested to ensure safety before implementation in the real structure: the Glass Truss Bridge located at the campus of the university. However, the ultimate capacity and structural behaviour of such columns remained unknown. In this studies the structural behaviour of two designs of such columns is researched. It appeared that, among others, the differences in length between the rods within the columns caused an unequal distribution of stresses. This resulted in a large range of ultimate capacities of bundled glass columns that were designed according to the same design principles. Using a special approach in finite element modelling of the glass until failure, furthermore, resulted in more thorough knowledge regarding the failure behaviour of glass and the best way to model this behaviour.

This graduation project ''Plastic Bamboo Connections'' originates from a project called Bamboo Factory. A group of students, together with Bamboo Social and the Delft University of Technology, realized a Bamboo Factory in Esperanza, Nicaragua. In this factory bamboo can be treated and dried properly, making the bamboo last for 30-50 years, instead of the usual 3-5 years. The enlarged life expectancy unburdens the local people from reconstructing their houses every 5 years. To ensure this extended durability, the bamboo has to be lifted from the ground to keep it dry and the bamboo needs to be protected from direct sunlight by making a big overhanging roof. Next to the advantages of the treated bamboo, the extended durability of the bamboo also introduced a new challenge. A technique to mount the bamboo, that lasts for 30-50 years is lacking in Esperanza. Traditional lashings are used to construct bamboo structures. However, these lashings tend to loosen in about 5 years. For the Bamboo Factory steel M10 screw thread, nuts and rings where used. A quick and strong system for constructing with bamboo. However, these materials aren't locally available in Esperanza and are too expensive. A new system needs to be found. A proper waste treatment is lacking in Nicaragua. Waste can be found everywhere on the streets and in rivers, about 50% of the waste is plastic waste. In remote areas like Esperanza it is even more difficult to get rid of waste in a sustainable way. Resulting in incineration of the waste, which includes plastic. The goal of this project is to find a way to transform this plastic waste into a standardized system that enables local people in Esperanza to build with bamboo. When recycling contaminated plastic, drastic deterioration of the mechanical properties can be expected. Mechanical tests are performed on the recycled plastic to get an insight of the quality and the possible applications.
A relatively simple injection moulding machine is build in order to reprocess the plastic waste. The standardized set of connectors are designed to be produced with the injection moulding machine. In order to construct with this simple set of connectors, only a hammer and a saw are needed. Making it very affordable and feasible for people that live in low income and remote areas.

Glass is a fascinating material which has been used for load bearing structures in the past decades. The development of structural glass has been moving towards more transparent structures.
The thermal properties of glass can be used to create heat bonds. Heat bonds can be produced in two ways: welding and fusing. With welding, the regions that are to be connected are locally heated. With kiln formed fusing, the elements to be bonded will be globally heated in an oven. This results in the research question: What is the best method, among glass welding and kiln formed glass fusing, to produce heat bonded systems for applications in glass structures?
In theory, safety measures consist of three basic strategies: creating secondary load transfer mechanisms, protectioning and overdimensioning.
These strategies can be used on the scale of the system and the structure. The heat bonded system could theoretically be laminated, reinforced and tempered. On a structural level, safety can be ensured by a combination of the strategies.
To produce glass welds, the glass is preheated in an oven. A small opening in the oven is made and a line burner is used to heat the to be welded area from both sides. One element is pressed down on the other to make the connection. The oven is closed and the specimen is annealed.
Finite element models have been used to analyze thermal shock failure during the weld production process. The recommendations for production were to use an additional flame on the bottom of the specimen or to maintain the surroundings at elevated temperature. The latter option is applied in the experiments.
The results were three transparent, all-glass, soda lime T-shaped objects. Little residual stress remained in the products.
The fused objects were globally heated in an oven. The glass was fused in moulds, made of a gypsum plaster. The products were translucent, all-glass, soda lime, T-shaped objects. The objects deformed significantly during production. Little residual stress remained in the products.
Throughout the experiments, factors have changed. An aspect with no direct influence on the product was quenching after maximum temperature. Adapting the mould and polishing the glass edges prior to fusing had an influence on the objects' shape or texture. None of the factors influenced the order of magnitude of the deformation or the seam between the elements.
A structural test has been performed to compare the specimens with a glass T-shape bonded with transparent UV-curing adhesive. The connections were loaded in shear. The results of the failure loads and stress at failure are of the same order of magnitude. The largest spread was among the fused specimens, the smallest among the welded.
The cause of failure is most probably a combination of elevated stress due to the stiffness and support of the test set-up and peak stress due to irregularities on the glass surface. Other causes could have contributed to failure.
The welded glass product requires most time, energy, skill and money. The adhesive product requires least time and energy. The welded and fused objects had neither acceptable dimensional accuracy, nor a smooth fillet in the joint.
In the current state of development, glass fusion results in less residual stress, requires less skill and is cheaper to produce. Glass welding results in a transparent glass to glass connection and its structural performance is promising. Further research is encouraged into the heat bonded and adhesive connections to create fully transparent connections for structural glass.

This graduation project is in cooperation with TU Delft, Tentech BV, Aectual and White Lioness technologies. It aims to investigate the feasibility of using recycled plastics as material for large-scale 3D printing with the 3D printer KamerMaker. In the meantime, a thickness distribution methodology is proposed for taking advantage of the flexibility of the 3D printing technology to optimise the printed structure, especially as moulds for casting concrete, to increase the structural efficiency. The content of the project contains laboratory tests, numerical modelling, design methodology and a case study.

The main topic of this thesis is the design of arch with components made up of glass and reinforced concrete. Parametric process as well as experiment is carried out in this research. In this thesis, bond strength between glass and fly ash concrete are studied.