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My coauthors and myself recently published a paper titled "Beam Experiments on Acceptance Criteria for Bridge Load Tests" in the ACI Structural Journal. You can access this paper through the ACI website . The abstract is as follows: Loading protocols and acceptance criteria are available in the literature for load tests on buildings. For bridges, proof load tests are interesting when crucial information about the structure is missing, or when the uncertainties about the structural response are large. The acceptance criteria can then be applied to evaluate if further loading is acceptable, or could lead to permanent damage to the structure. To develop loading protocols and acceptance criteria for proof loading of reinforced concrete bridges, beam experiments were analysed. In these experiments, different loading speeds, constant load level times, numbers of loading cycles, and required number of load levels were evaluated. The result of these experiments is the development of ...

My colleagues and I recently published a paper in the proceedings of the ESREL (European Safety and Reliability Conference), held in June in Portorož, Slovenia. My colleague presented the paper, as I was too far advanced in pregnancy to be allowed on a flight. The abstract of the paper is: Proof load tests can be used for a field assessment of the bridge under study. This paper addresses the determination of the reliability index of an existing bridge by means of proof loading through the case study viaduct De Beek. The information of this bridge is used to determine the updated reliability index after proof load testing. A sensitivity study is carried out to identify the effect of the assumptions with regard to the coefficient of variation on the resistance and load effects. In the current practice of proof load testing with vehicles, it can typically only be demonstrated that a certain vehicle type can cross the bridge safely. The results in this paper provide a new insight on the up...

Today, I have the pleasure of hosting Dr. Arnoud van Vliet in the "Defenses around the world" series to share the point of view of the examiner. Arnoud is a senior lecturer in microbiology at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Surrey, UK. He obtained his PhD in 1995 from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, and has since then worked in the UK and the Netherlands. He has supervised or co-supervised >10 PhD students in the Netherlands and in the UK, and has been external examiner of PhD students in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. He has also been Postgraduate Research Director for 3 years, overseeing PhD student recruitment, examination and other procedures. The background story Some traditions are transnational: once the PhD defense (viva) of a PhD student is near, those "in the know" start scaring the candidate with horror stories about viva lasting 6 hours, external examiners with OCD discussing every comma, col...

I recently ran a poll on Twitter to ask people how much time they spend on reviewing a paper. For me, it usually takes me roughly 4 hours in total, so I was wondering if my experience is in line with others'. Here's what I found: [ View the story "How much time does it take to review a journal paper?" on Storify ]

At the fib symposium 2017, I presented a paper titled "Determination of loading protocol and stop criteria for proof loading with beam tests". The abstract of the paper is as follows: Proof loading of existing bridges is an interesting option when insufficient information about a bridge is available. To safely carry out a proof loading test, high loads are placed on the bridge. To avoid permanent damage to the structure, a controlled loading protocol needs to be described, and the measurements need to be closely monitored to identify the onset of distress. The criteria from existing codes and guidelines to evaluate the measurements, called stop criteria, are not universally applicable. To develop recommendations for proof loading of reinforced concrete solid slab bridges, beam experiments were analysed. The beams were heavily instrumented to evaluate the existing stop criteria, and possibly develop new stop criteria. The result of these experiments is the development of a sta...

I recently presented a paper titled "Extended Strip Model for slabs subjected to a combination of loads " at the fib symposium in Maastricht. The abstract of the paper is: Reinforced concrete slab bridges are assessed for a combination of loads that include self-weight, superimposed loads, and distributed and concentrated live loads. The shear capacity of reinforced concrete slabs subjected to a combination of loads is thus an important topic for the assessment of existing bridges. Currently, a plastic model exists for the assessment of reinforced concrete solid slabs subjected to a concentrated load: the Extended Strip Model, based on the Strip Model for concentric punching shear. To apply this model to slabs subjected to a combination of loads, the model needs to be adapted based on theoretical principles. The results are then compared with the results from experiments on half-scale slab bridges subjected to a combination of a concentrated load close to the support and a li...

Today, I am interviewing Dr. Stephanie Zihms in the "How I Work" series. Stephanie is currently working as a postdoc in Carbonate Geomechanics in the Institute of Petroleum Engineering at Heriot-Watt University. Her research tries to understand why rocks deform the way they do and what controls this deformation – crystal size, crystal shape, pore size or pore shape? Or is it the mineralogy or how the rocks formed in the first place? By deforming different rocks under different conditions in the lab she is trying to find some answers. This research and the findings are relevant for a range of subsurface processes like hydrocarbon extraction, geothermal energy production or Carbon Capture & Storage applications. Basically anytime a liquid or gas is put into the subsurface or extracted from the subsurface the conditions change and the rocks will response to this change – by understanding what controls this response within the rocks (crystals, grains or pores) we can better p...

Today, I have invited Dr. Alexandra Voronina to explain us how a PhD defense in Russia takes place. Alexandra is 32 and lives in a small town near Saint-Petersburg. She has a PhD in sociology, which she defended in September 2009 at Saint-Petersburg State University. Nowadays she works as an assistant professor at Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping at the History, Sociology and Political Science Department. She has two little children. Officially, she is on parental leave now but she has a cash-in-hand job as a tutor helping schoolchildren prepare for their State Uniform Leaving Certificate Examinations. In her free time she is writing a monograph, which she recently submitted to a publisher, and teaching aids. Her plan for the near future is to begin writing her habilitation thesis. She also blogs about social anthropology. You can find her on Instagram. When I studied for a PhD there were three ways to get the PhD in Russia : a full-time postgraduate co...

This post is part of the series PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: posts written for the Dutch academic career network AcademicTransfer , your go-to resource for all research positions in the Netherlands. These posts are sponsored by AcademicTransfer, and tailored to those of you interested in pursuing a research position in the Netherlands. If these posts raise your interest in working as a researcher in the Netherlands, even better - and feel free to fire away any questions you might have on this topic! When you start your PhD, outline where (at which conferences ) you would like to present your work. Don’t wait until you feel “ready” to present something – it is not uncommon for conferences to require abstract submission 1.5 years before the actual conference . Talk to your fellow PhD students to learn where your supervisor usually takes his/her students, and talk with your supervisor about wanting to present your work at conferences as early as possible. Certainly, your plans can chan...