Information
- Type
- Organization
- Type
- https://marineinfo.org/ns/institutes/levelnames#Department
- Type
- https://marineinfo.org/ns/institutes/types#Scientific
- Name
- Departement Burgerlijke Bouwkunde
- Name
- Departement of Civil Engineering@en
- Acronym
- KULeuven-BWK
- Parent institute
-
KU Leuven
- Address
- Kasteelpark Arenberg 40 (bus 2448), 3001 Heverlee, Belgium
- Contact numbers
-
- Telephone
- +32-(0)16-32 16 63
- Location
-
- latitude
- 50.8634957
- longitude
- 4.6850640
- Description @en
- 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’.