Multiple Day Excursion 2018

During the Multiple Day Excursion 2018, 23 students went to Dublin! Our first host was the OPW, Office of Public Works who were working on flood defences along the River Dodder, a river straight through the city of Dublin. Pictures of high-water levels were shown and the difficulties during the construction of the flood defences were told. In the morning sun we walked along the river to see the flood defences. In the afternoon we went to Turlough Hill, a hydropower station a bit outside of Dublin. It consists of two lakes for which during high energy demand it works as a turbine, during low energy demand as a pump. It was cool! Afterwards we took a short walk in the beautiful nature of Glendalough. On Saturday we went to ARUP, who had an interesting case about how we as engineer can contribute to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations; very inspiring. We finished the weekend with a nice dinner with the group!

A big thanks to the organizing committee Loes, Roline, Mike & Quinten, and of course not to forget Marion & Matthieu, two professors who joined the trip and presented us with insightful and fun comments along the way!

Hope to see you next year!



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Hydraulic Dinner November 2018

On the 22nd of November the first Hydraulic Dinner of the year took place in Cafe Rotterdam. At this evening 24 Hydraulic Engineering students had the opportunity to have dinner with Van Oord, Royal Haskoning, Boskalis and Witteveen + Bos. We started the evening with some casual drinks after which we were seated at the tables. Each company had their own table with students. After each course the group of students switched to another company. After four courses and four presentations of all the participating companies we concluded the evening with some drinks to talk about the successful evening full of opportunities for all the students and companies. It was a great evening at Cafe Rotterdam!

 

 

Symposium 2018

On Thursday the 24th of May our annual Symposium took place, which was themed “North Sea Power” this year.

The North Sea offers great possibilities in terms of offshore energy and floating cities (additional liveable area for the expanding human population). The question of the day: `how can we tackle challenges concerning marine ecology and efficiency to make optimal use of our North Sea for our future?’

The areas relatively close to shore, which are the first that will be utilized for offshore windfarms, will provide insufficient possibilities over the long haul to develop the required volumes of offshore wind energy. This makes it necessary to look for possibilities far out at sea.
The challenges and possibilities that arise with building far out in the North Sea have been addressed by the different speakers of the day.

The first moderator of the day was Prof. dr. ir. Mark van Koningsveld, our brand new professor of Ports and Waterways. With his experience in and knowledge of the Hydraulic field, his contribution to the Building with Nature working method and his eloquence he was able to ask some critical questions, point out the relevance of the different subjects and connect the presentations perfectly.

Marlies Langbroek has a lot of experience in stakeholder engagement and fulfills the role of team lead stakeholder management and communication for the Consortium North Sea Wind Power Hub. With her first presentation she opened everyone’s eyes by means of some interesting videos. Did you know the total time of human life on Earth equals 3 seconds when you equal the existence of the Earth with 24 hours? She took the students, and all the other interested people that visited the symposium, to a larger point of view. What are all the elements that pertain the initiation phase of the North Sea Wind Power Hub? The North Sea Wind Power Hub is intended to be built far offshore to collect all the energy from different wind farms of the different nations surrounding it and transfer the energy to mainland after (storage and) transition. What is the impact of such an island? What are the benefits? How much energy is it able to provide?
Marlies’ presentation was a perfect start of the day.

After Marlies, Rutger de Graaf – van Dinther took us to a smaller perspective. His idea of floating cities, at the moment realized as floating buildings, illustrated how many solutions can solve a big problem. His presentation also showed the difficulties of making a business case out of a totally new idea. It showed the audience how to start and how to convince the investers. His idea illustrated knowledge exchange and cooperation can result in a interdisciplinary solution for a large scale problem.

After this interesting presentation, Emiel van Druten gave us a presentation about the recently finished theses with reference to the possibilities of the North Sea. Aspects like how to store energy at an offshore island to deal with the intermittence of wind energy and what would be the best location for the island were discussed. Furthermore, the whole line of research that comes with these elements of the concept of the island were outlined. This illustrated the complexity of such a project in a Hydraulic Engineering point of view.

But it is not only the Hydraulic Engineering point of view that matters in projects of this size. Ecologist Mindert de Vries, our last speaker of the day, pointed out the effects of Hydraulic Engineering on the ecosystem. Not only did he mention the big ecosystem losses over the last decades and the importance of taking the impact on ecosystem into account in your design, he also made it specific. He showed the audience some easy habitat-creating solutions and some funny mistakes like shallow water that was meant for fish to breed, but that ended up as a bird-snackbar.

The day was concluded by a keen discussion led by Tjerk Zitman. Tjerk Zitman masters the art of being a erudite critic like no one else does. With his careful preparation he was able to ask the questions the whole panel wanted to answer eagerly. His thought-out questions inspired the audience to participate and this led to a dynamic discussion.

Then, it was time for a drink and a bite. The deputies of Fugro and Royal Haskoning DHV were waiting at the Lagerhuysch for a casual Company Fair.

We want to conclude with special thanks to all the speakers and both moderators that made our symposium an inspiring, dynamic, instructive day with great enthusiasm. We want thank the people of Fugro and Royal Haskoning DHV as well, for joining our first Company Fair.

We hope to see you all next year!

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Hydraulic Dinner May 2018

While the summer was slowly arriving and our students (hopefully) passed their 3rd quarter exams, time came for the second Hydraulic Dinner of this year. It is for the first time in our existence that a second edition of this annual event was organised.

This second edition we tried to keep somewhat smaller and more personal than the one held last December. To do so the location for this edition was right in the heart of our historic hometown: Delft, at restaurant “De Waag”. From as early as 1539 the municipality officials used this monumental building as a place where goods and valuables were weighed and measured. For our dinner night however, this location was used to weigh and measure weather the companies and students could be of interest to one another.

For this second edition three companies accompanied us (all of them for the first time) being Arcadis, Fugro and AllSeas over an exquisite menu. Twenty-one of our finest Hydraulic Engineering students got together with twelve representatives of the above mentioned companies. All students passed a selection in order to be able to participate, which resulted in an extra-motivated crowd.

During the evening the students had the opportunity to pose all their questions to the companies. Furthermore, after every course the students switched tables until every student had the opportunity to sit with every company at least once and to share a course with their employees.

In between every course there was the opportunity for one of the companies to have a short presentation about itself to the students. The companies were given quite some freedom concerning the exact content of the presentation, resulting in a good diversity in the presentations. Various aspects of the companies were highlighted like the working environment, company activities, sustainability, ongoing projects and available opportunities for students.

After the desert was served it was time for the final presentation, held by Fugro. Before the evening would come to an end there was time for some tea and coffee just and some final conversations before the evening had come to a conclusion.

As the representatives of the companies wandered off towards their cars or trains, the students of the group decided it was not yet time to go home and to pay a visit to all time favourite café “de Oude Jan”. At this location, the last serious note disappeared while the beers kept coming until the early hours…

All in all we can look back at an incredibly successful second edition of this event that has been very beneficial to the students and (hopefully) also the companies. Many of the students really appreciated the diversity between the participating companies as it gave a good overview of some of the various possibilities with a master degree in Hydraulic Engineering. The evening was a huge success and as the organisation we can’t wait for next years’ event!!!

 

Company Case Royal HaskoningDHV

On the 26th of March Royal HaskoningDHV hosted a company case for us!

It was great to welcome your delegation at the Royal HaskoningDHV head office last week for the yearly company case. We were very pleased with the results of the case and look forward to stay in touch!

If you have any questions regarding (graduation) internships or job opportunities, please contact Bas Wijdeven (B.Wijdeven@tudelft.nl). Normally, he holds an office at the 3rd floor (3.86) on Wednesdays. Please provide your CV, grade list (bachelor and master) and motivation if you’re interested.

Hydraulic regards,

Gosse de Boer
Royal HaskoningDHV

Company Case Van Oord

On the 20th of March  our Primary Partner Van Oord hosted an InHouse-day in their office in Rotterdam. It has been a full day of challenging cases concerning a future wind farm Van Oord plays a role in. The day was concluded with interesting presentations and a deserved winner. Finally, the possibilities for students at Van Oord were discussed while enjoying a well-deserved drink!

Master Community 2

On February 19th the second Master Community of the year took place! The subject of this master community was multidisciplinary projects, internships and the additional thesis.

In the MSc track Hydraulic Engineering there are 10 EC’s that can be fulfilled by one of these three projects. The Master Community was organized to inform the students on the possibilities and to make them enthusiastic. Our students learned from Jeremy Bricker and Mark Voorendt the practical side of organizing one of these three possibilities followed by two students that shared their experiences. First off was Sebastiaan Woerlee, who talked about his multidisciplinary project in Mexico shortly after that Bob van Maris shared his internship at Witteveen + Bos at their office in Jakarta.

After the presentations the students had the opportunity to ask all their questions over some drinks and appetizers. The students got all the information they came for and we can conclude that Master Community 2 was a success!

Hydraulic Dinner December 2017

When the days are getting shorter and the sunny days make place for cool and windy times, people tend to spend more time together in a warm and cosy environment.  In such a setting, enjoying good food and plenty of wine, the winter is at its best. That is why the annual Hydraulic Dinner becomes an unforgettable evening time after time.

Last December, the Hydraulic Dinner took place in the heart of Amsterdam, in a beautiful house alongside one of the ‘grachten’ of the city. At this location, 24 hydraulic students met with four well-known hydraulic companies, enjoying a four-course menu. All students passed a selection in order to be able to participate, which resulted in an enthusiastic crowd.

Students could ask whatever they wanted to the companies that were present, which were Witteveen+Bos, Van Oord, Royal HaskoningDHV and Boskalis for this year’s version. Each company had an own table where every student had to pass by at least one time during the dinner, to share a course with the employees that were present. Besides, there was an opportunity for the students to hand in a unique question for one of the companies anonymously. These questions were all put into a hat, so that every single time one of the students had to ask a question from somebody else. This created a good balance between the conversations at the table and some central conversations due to these questions.

Apart from this, every company presented themselves in front of everybody by means of a powerpoint. We heard a lot of interesting stories concerning the working environment, company activities, ongoing projects and interesting opportunities.

The crowd that is attracted to the Hydraulic Dinner is always really diverse. Approximately half of the students is just starting their master and hence they are still orientating and trying to get an impression of all of the companies. The other half is trying to find an internship spot or a graduation project, making their goals entirely different. In addition, this year was the first time we welcomed international students to the Hydraulic Dinner, which turned out to be a huge success.

After all, it can be said that the evening was both inspiring and entertaining. I personally really enjoyed organizing it and I could not be happier about the result. We want to thank all attendants of the companies as well as the students who were present during this evening. For all the others: we hope to welcome you guys at next year’s version!

MTBS Company Case

Written by Servaas Kievits

During a successful lecture at the TU Delft with a full classroom, the new Hydraulic Engineering students got to know MTBS and their business a little and as many people got excited, the company case was only a logical next event to organize.

On the 6th of December this group of enthusiastic students assembled at the Oudehaven in Rotterdam where the office of MTBS is located in the White House. In this beautiful building, that is recognized by some as the first skyscraper of the Netherlands, MTBS had just opened a new floor so that the group of Hydraulic Engineering students were the first to try out the new desks and chairs.

After being welcomed by one of the directors, it quickly appeared that our friends from MTBS were not intending on only letting us try out the chairs but also wanted to put us to work. Following an introduction of the company the business case for that afternoon was unfolded: a challenging case study in which the students got a feeling on what a real MTBS project could look like. That a sophisticated model was used in this case troubled some minds at first but soon everyone had figured that out with a productive afternoon as the result.

By the end of the day, all groups had come up with an interesting solution to the challenge leading to an open discussion to conclude with. As, besides MTBS and some other companies, the White House houses a café, there was quickly agreed upon moving downstairs to end the day with drinks that were well deserved. With other employees joining, we were able to ask our final questions after which the day was concluded.

We would like to say a word of thanks to MTBS for hosting this wonderful event and providing us with an insight in the challenges they face daily.

MEX 2017

This year a group of 25 Hydraulic Engineering students as well as Tjerk Zitman and Sierd de Vries gladly exchanged the rainy streets of Delft with the sunny, warm hills of Lisbon for the 3 day excursion of 2017.

The city trip started off on a Thursday afternoon where everyone gathered at Schiphol airport and headed towards the check-in area together. After check-in, we enjoyed a cheeky beverage and then made our way to the plane. Everyone was scattered all over the place and new friends were made on the short 2,5-hour flight to Portugal.

Our bus chauffeur for the weekend met us with a friendly smile as we landed and took us to the beautiful Independante hostel in the center of the city. It is an old building that has been very well maintained over the years with its own beer garden and bar with happy hour each evening, the perfect place to get to know each other better. Once everyone was settled in we made our way to a tapas restaurant for dinner and spent the rest of the evening roaming the busy streets of Lisbon, including the famous Pink Street.

Friday morning we hopped on the bus to our first hydraulic related excursion – the coast of Caparica with coastal geologist Celso Pinto. We had an introduction to the sediment distribution along the coast and the problems the locals are currently facing. We had a tour of the coastal structures that are currently in place and how the coastline has developed over the recent years. This was an extremely interesting case and tested us to think strategically and consider different viewpoints with different challenges than those in the Netherlands.
The afternoon was spent touring the city in true tourist fashion during a walking tour of Bairro Alto, a neighbourhood in the city. We discovered hidden gems of Lisbon and ended the evening eating at Timeout food market where we were spoiled for choice for food and wine.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early and headed towards Alqueva Dam which was our second educational trip of the weekend. The two-hour drive flew by and before we knew it we were staring at the largest dam in Europe. This was a breathtaking construction and it was difficult to imagine the enormous volume of water it contained. After an explanation of the area and the dam, we had time to take some pictures and then it was time to head back.
On the way back to Lisbon we had a pit stop at Monsaraz, a civil parish near the Spanish border. Lunch in the afternoon sun, and a view of the horizon where Spain lies made for the perfect time to recover from a long day. This was also the last night of the trip and we celebrated in style back in Lisbon at a classy restaurant where we ate like kings.

Sunday may have been the last day but an evening flight meant that the daylight hours could be taken advantage of. We started off with the last excursion to an Oerias Marina where we marveled the huge breakwaters and listened to the stories of 15 meter high waves causing chaos in the past. We spent our last hours in Portugal enjoying the sun and views of the blue coastal waters of Cascais.

Overall our time in Lisbon was filled with laughter, learning and lots of sun, little did we know that about a week later we would be covered in snow back in the Netherlands.