Departament d'Enginyeria Mecànica

Recent Submissions

Design of service-purpose-vehicles through the sense of smell 

Perarnau Ollé, Enric (Date of defense: 2024-07-02)

(English) This thesis arose from the need to design new tools that enable a better control of indoor air quality in vehicles. Even though indoor air quality has been widely explored in buildings, this topic has often been ...

Procesamiento mediante extrusión de material del termoplástico híbrido PLA/PHB: caracterización mecánica 

Crupano, Walter (Date of defense: 2024-11-25)

(English) In this thesis, the mechanical behavior of parts manufactured by Material Extrusion Modeling (MEX) has been evaluated, using a copolimer of polylactic acid (PLA) and polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), commercially known ...

Heat transfer in supercritical fluids: computational approaches & studies 

Abdellatif, Ahmed Mohammed Abdelfattah (Date of defense: 2024-10-28)

(English) This thesis delves into investigating the complexities of heat transfer in supercritical fluids through the application of advanced theoretical and computational methodologies. The research primarily focuses on ...

Innovative modular pour plating microbiology culture media technology 

Terrones Fernández, Inés (Date of defense: 2024-09-10)

(English) The current methods used in microbiological quality analysis rely on the use of traditional and manual methods, such as the pour plate method. The need to perform more analyses of different matrices makes it ...

Mimicking soft living tissues for 3D printed surgical planning prototypes using additive manufacturing technologies 

Tejo Otero, Aitor (Date of defense: 2021-07-28)

(English) Additive Manufacturing is the process of joining materials to make objects from a 3D model data, normally layer-upon-layer through series of some cross-sectional slices, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing ...

Contribution to the manufacture of porous structures for prostheses by means of additive manufacturing extrusion processes 

Bagheri, Ali (Date of defense: 2021-02-12)

(English) In recent years, the use of prostheses has widely increased due to their ability to replace defective parts of the skeleton. Among artificial implants, hip joint plays a critical role in the human body since it ...

Drive systems optimization in electric, hybrid and fuel cell vehicles 

Alcázar García, Désirée (Date of defense: 2022-09-05)

(English) We are currently immersed in the fourth industrial revolution that involves, among others, technology to prevent climate change, transformation of the transport sector, digitization and artificial intelligence. ...

On the prediction of induced structural damage in hydraulic turbines in off-design conditions 

Roig Bauzà, Rafel (Date of defense: 2024-01-15)

(English) The introduction of the intermittent and unpredictable solar and wind power into the electrical grid is pushing hydraulic turbines to work for longer periods of time in off-design conditions. Under these ...

Hemp crop waste for green solutions in construction: physical and mechanical characterization 

Martínez Martínez, Borja (Date of defense: 2024-01-11)

(English) The primary goal of this thesis is to unlock the potential of hemp stalk, an agricultural byproduct that currently lacks practical applications. The overarching aim is to promote the use of eco-friendly materials, ...

Fractal approach to wheel-rail roughness contact theory 

Babici, Laura Mariana (Date of defense: 2023-12-21)

(English) In this study, the Weierstrass fractal function was used to model the surface roughness of railway tracks and, subsequently, the static coefficient of friction (COF) for Hertzian rail-wheel contact and cylinder-plane ...

Control strategies for exoskeleton gait training after stroke: understanding the importance of parameter tuning 

Miguel Fernández, Jesús de (Date of defense: 2023-11-17)

(English) The control strategies implemented in exoskeletons play a crucial role in determining the interaction between the device and user. However, it is unclear what is the most suitable control strategy and settings ...

Machine-learning to promote better practices of low-cost wearable devices in tremor diseases 

Loaiza Duque, Julián David (Date of defense: 2023-10-27)

(English) The most common tremor disorders worldwide are Parkinson's Disease and Essential Tremor. The gold standard for diagnosing these movement disorders is medical evaluation by neurologists, but its accuracy depends ...

Application of the vibration-assisted ball burnishing process on rotational symmetric parts to improve their fatigue strength and wear properties 

Velázquez Corral, Eric (Date of defense: 2023-09-05)

(English) This thesis is an experimental investigation into the beneficial effects of the ultrasonic vibration-assisted ball burnishing process on the wear resistance and fatigue life-cycle enhancement of rotational symmetric ...

Clinical evaluation towards the development of a lower limb exoskeleton for people with spinal cord injury: from gait biomechanics to motor learning 

Rodríguez Fernández, Antonio (Date of defense: 2023-07-21)

(English) People with spinal cord injury (SCI) may suffer lifelong sequels that influence every aspect of their lives, including motor and/or sensory impairment, difficulty breathing and/or swallowing, bladder/bowel weakness, ...

A virtual environment to evaluate and predict recovery of human hand motion post-stroke 

Padilla Magaña, Jesús Fernando (Date of defense: 2022-11-18)

(English) The Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) is a measurement tool to assess post-stroke upper extremities motor function. However, ARAT scoring can be subjective and limited only to determining performance quality. ...

Active flow control optimization on Selig Donovan 7003 airfoil 

Monshi Tousi, Navid (Date of defense: 2023-06-16)

(English) The PhD focuses on the study of the flow around an airfoil at different Angles of Attack (AoA) with and without the implementation of Active Flow Control (AFC), while maintaining the Reynolds number constant at ...

Tool-part tribological interaction assessment for continuous deformation processes 

Torres Chamorro, Lisbeth Alejandra (Date of defense: 2023-07-03)

(English This dissertation is an experimental assessment of the tool-part tribological interaction of continuous deformation processes: ball burnishing as a superfinishing process and wire drawing as a bulk deformation ...

Parametrització d'una bomba d'engranatges externs i validació en condicions reals 

Torrent Gelmà, Miquel (Date of defense: 2023-03-31)

(English) Pumps of positive volumetric displacement (PDVP) drive a volume of fluid from suction to discharge for each revolution of its shaft, called derived capacity, and therefore, in an ideal constant capacity pump the ...

Study of the characterization of the mechanical properties of materials with elastomeric behavior for biomedical applications 

Adrover Monserrat, Bàrbara (Date of defense: 2023-02-24)

(English) The mechanical characterization of new materials used in the Material Extrusion technique (MEX) in 3D printing is essential. The use of this technique is growing and with it the possible applications of printed ...

Anàlisi del comportament de bigues de formigó armat reforçades amb FRCM vegetal sota càrregues de flexió cíclica 

Mendizábal Dinucci, Virginia Dolores (Date of defense: 2023-03-23)

(English) Fiber-Reinforced Cementitious Matrix (FRCM) is a strengthening method that has been increasing its importance versus Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) due the lower cost and lower toxicity of its materials. The ...