Reprocessing of uni-directional Biosense Webster ablation catheters: a novel disassembly method: Extraction of the yielding parts and/or materials from the Thermocool Smarttouch SF Uni-directional ablation catheter

Annually, around 180,000 cardiac ablation procedures are performed as a result of people experiencing cardiac arrhythmia’s. During this ablation procedure, an ablation catheter is used to scar the problematic cardiac tissue after which the arrhythmia will stop. The ablation catheter is discarded after one single use. Incineration of these...

Physics-based sail reconstruction from 3D-markers

To design more efficient sailing boat sails and to analyze the efficiency of a sail trim on the water, it is very helpful to have the ability to obtain a digital copy of real-life sail configurations. As a step towards obtaining such digital copies, the Sailing Innovation Centre in collaboration with GeoDelta has created point cloud measurements...

Topologically Optimised Cast Glass Shell: Topological optimisation and new fabrication methods for compressive free-form glass structures

Glass is a material which can be seen as a double-edged sword. Its monolithic, smooth, and transparent look transmits a sense of elegance and simplicity. However, due to its brittle mechanical property, it can create complex engineering challenges when intended for a structural load-bearing application. Many forget glass has a comparable...

Uncertainty analysis in determining the position of a drill bit with the covariance method

During oil drilling, the position of wells is indirectly determined by measurements near the drilling bit. However, the measurements are disturbed by noise causing errors in the measurements. It is important for large oil companies like Shell to determine the position of wells with a certain degree of uncertainty. Therefore, the main objective...

Zero stiffness composite shells using thermal prestress

Compliant shell mechanisms are thin walled structures that achieve their motion through deformation. Shell mechanisms are of recent interest for designing exoskeletons that are inconspicuous. One of the challenges in designing shell mechanisms is getting as much compliance as possible in certain directions while keeping the other directions...

Simulations for an expanding gas jet with Joule-Thomson cooling

This study was aimed at improving the accuracy of the model predictions for the minimum fluid and inner wall temperatures for cold, low-pressure start-up of wells that produce oil or gas. Due to the large pressure drop over the well head choke, the so-called Joule-Thomson cooling will give a very low temperature of the<br/>expanding gas jet. Low...

A Market Entry Strategy for Shell LNG fuel targeting the commercial road transport market in the UK

This thesis study aims to deliver a ‘market entry strategy’ for Shell to enter the UK road transport market with its new LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) product. The project includes the delivery of a B2B marketing strategy, a pricing strategy and a ‘route-to-market’ strategy.

Shear-Deforming Textile Reinforced Concrete

A new type of material to create double-curved freeform structures using shear-deformation.

Beating the Crunch: Real estate management of Dutch multinationals

The graduation thesis gives insight in corporate real estate management within Dutch multinationals. The credit crunch requires corporations to strategically respond. The real estate response is dependent on the impact of the credit crunch on the business results and corporate strategy. The cross-case analysis presents the mutual implementations.

Optimizing shell structures

This thesis describes a design tool and the method to find a shape of a shell structure with the minimum complementary energy.