About us
Vision & mission statement
The Department of Structural Engineering and Building Materials contributes to a more sustainable and safer society and built environment.
The Department strives to be outstanding in fundamental and applied research, development and innovation, academic teaching and continuous education, and services to industry and society in the field of Building Materials and Structures. Our approach to link academic knowledge and education in the field of Building Materials and Structures with societal and humanitarian challenges like safety and sustainability is visualized in our motto: Building[for]humanity
Academic staff
Joint venture of four former research groups
The Magnel-Vandepitte Laboratory unites the following four former research groups:
Magnel Laboratory for Concrete Research
The Magnel Laboratory is the largest Belgian research centre in the field of concrete technology and concrete structures and has a vast and widely-spread international recognition.
It disposes of extensive experimental testing facilities and infrastructures, among which the large strong floor for executing load tests on large-scale elements is a unique instrument.
The research areas focus on different aspects of concrete structures, going from fundamental material research on microscopic and sub-microscopic scale to structural behaviour and structural reliability of concrete structures on large scale.
Laboratory for Research on Structural Models (LMO)
The Laboratory for Research on Structural Models has an international recognition for its experimental and numeric study of instability phenomena in shell structures.
Its activity comprises structural analyses in general and glass structures and constructional steelwork in particular. The structural glass research group is strongly embedded in international networks and is well-reputed on the international scene.
Glass research subjects range from fundamental issues, e.g. related to glass strength and interlayer material laws, to applied topics, such as the development of structural glass connection systems or project-based R&D.
Research Group Schoonmeersen
The research group Schoonmeersen is related to the Department of Structural Engineering and Building Materials.
The research activities are mainly related to structural analysis of constructions and structural components, considering different materials (steel, concrete, composites) and the interaction between such materials.
Research subjects are also related to bridge engineering, structural topology optimization, concrete technology, performance of screed materials, …
Research Group Combustion, Fire and Fire Safety (CFFS)
The research group ‘Combustion, Fire and Fire Safety’ focuses on fire dynamics related research. The core activity consists of model development in numerical simulations, but experiments are also performed, ranging from small scale to full scale. The research covers fundamental scientific and applied engineering research, focusing on fluid mechanics aspects (e.g., smoke and heat control), turbulent combustion (including extinction), heat transfer (convection and radiation) and multi-phase aspects (e.g., the effect of water droplets on smoke and fire, but also spray combustion).