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Discover the stories of researchers at the
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.

Robotic physical therapy for safe shoulder rehabilitation

Research shows that shoulders recover better and more quickly if they are manipulated more often and put through a wider range of movements. This demands a better insight into the working of the shoulder joint, which is where robots can play an important role. Dr Ajay Seth collaborated with Dr Luka Peternel and post-doctoral researcher, Dr Micah Prendergast to design a ‘biomechanics aware’ robotic system that delivers optimal rehabilitation of rotator-cuff injuries within self-defined safety limits.

The science and “alchemy” of making sustainable steels

Maria Santofimia Navarro is world famous for her work on advanced high strength steels. Together with her team at TU Delft’s Faculty of Mechanical Maritime and Materials Engineering (3mE), Santofimia combines fundamental theoretical research, advanced simulation techniques and high-resolution experiments to explain how the structure of steel at the microscopic level has a huge influence on the physical properties of the material. With this new knowledge about the microstructure of materials, Santofimia is designing “greener”, more sustainable types of steel.

An additional wind turbine out of thin air

A single wind turbine generates most electricity when directly facing the wind. But for a wind farm, this may put wind turbines in each other’s wake (“wind shadow”), thereby limiting overall performance. Maarten van den Broek develops an algorithm for optimising the yaw angle of all wind turbines in a wind farm in real-time, landing him the award for Best Energy Paper of TU Delft.

The importance of Open Science for the maritime industry

Ships aren’t the only structures to have a hard time at sea. The emergence of offshore wind farms has only increased the need for knowledge about the impact of waves on maritime structures. Peter Wellens is an expert in this field. He wants the results of his research to be shared as quickly and as widely as possible, with other researchers as well as with the industry.

Multi-scale modelling of hydrogen embrittlement inspires state-of-the-art simulations for hydrogen storage

For the past two years, quantum sensing technology specialist Richard Norte (Department of Precision Microsystems Engineering) has been working intensively with machine learning expert Miguel Bessa (Department of Materials Science & Engineering) - a collaboration that has led to a real breakthrough in science.

Circular progression: turning palm oil trunks into biofuel

What if agricultural waste such as oil palm trunks can be turned into high values products such as biofuels? Experimental research by Delft University of Technology and Guatemalan partners using hydrothermal liquefaction is yielding promising results.

Underwater localisation using magnetic fields

How do you navigate equipment over the seabed when there’s no light and no GPS signal? The most energy efficient and least environmentally disruptive solution may be to create magnetic fields maps. Manon Kok of the Delft Centre for Systems and Control (DCSC) and Rudy Helmons at the department of Maritime and Transport Technology (MTT) are collaborating on a 4-year Cohesion Project entitled Enhanced Underwater Localisation using the Magnetic Field.