This paper presents a proof of concept for monitoring masonry structures using two different types of markers which are not easily noticeable by human eye but exhibit high reflection when subjected to NIR (near-infrared) wavelength of light. The first type is a retroreflective marker covered by a special …

This paper aims to quantify the evolution of damage in masonry walls under induced seismicity. A damage index equation, which is a function of the evolution of shear slippage and opening of the mortar joints, as well as of the drift ratio of masonry walls, was proposed herein. Initially, a dataset of …

The design research described in this report was conducted as part of the Catwalk: Forces of Nature exhibition that is part of Textiel Festival Twente, an outdoor art exhibition centered around textiles. This specific project was based on the concept of connecting in a disconnected world and providing …

Permanent grassland soils can act as a sink for carbon and may therefore positively contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation. We compared young (5–15 years since latest grassland renewal) with old (>20 years since latest grassland renewal) permanent grassland soils in terms of carbon stock, …

Masonry structures comprise a significant portion of the historical building stock all over the world. Previous studies have clearly pointed out that unreinforced masonry buildings are vulnerable against extreme loading conditions, such as seismic actions. Therefore, strengthening is inevitable in most …

As part of the American Society of Civil Engineers E-Newsletter at page 5&6.

Masonry structures represent the highest proportion of building stock worldwide. Currently, the structural condition of such structures is predominantly manually inspected which is a laborious, costly and subjective process. With developments in computer vision, there is an opportunity to use digital …

During the 2015 Gorkha earthquake of 7.8 Mw that hit Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, numerous Nepalese Pagodas suffered extensive damage while others collapsed. Risk reduction strategies implemented in the region focused on disassembling historical structures and rebuilding them with modern material without …

An illustrative non-technical review was published on Towards Data Science regarding our recent Journal paper “Automatic crack classification and segmentation on masonry surfaces using convolutional neural networks and transfer learning”. While new technologies have changed almost every aspect of our …

In recent years, the number of human-induced earthquakes in Groningen, a large gas field in the north of the Netherlands, has increased. The majority of the buildings are built by using unreinforced masonry (URM), most of which consists of cavity (i.e. two-leaf) walls, and were not designed to withstand …