DCU-Final-Year-Projects-Booklet-2025

112 240. Meniscal Injury Investigation Rig The biomechanics of meniscal tears of the knee are investigated in this project by developing a bespoke test rig that can clamp knee joints and apply controlled loads tomimic stress and strain on them. This was in collaboration with the Sports Surgery Clinic.The bridge between clinical sciences and biomechanical research will be crossed within this project to develop novel insights into knee joint mechanobiology and meniscal injury treatments. Major developments include restructuring of the multi-angle flexion test, creation of mould through 3D printing, and rapid prototyping using rigid epoxies. The work here will extend current knowledge of knee injuries and their potential treatments. Student Programme Biomedical Engineering (Year 4) Project Area 3-DModelling, Biomedical Engineering, Device Design, Mechanical Design and Manufacture, Sensor Technology, Simulation, Rehabilitation Engineering Project Technology Solidworks, Bioprocessing Student Name(s) Don Flynn Email don.flynn48@mail.dcu.ie Supervisor Dr Tanya Levingstone 241. Stress & Fatigue Analysis of End of ArmTooling This project was proposed by the design teamof Tricon Automation Ireland Ltd. It involves one of their end-of-arm tools that unexpectedly experienced fatigue failure while in operation. Therefore the aims are to design a solid body model of the end of arm tooling which can then be tested with FEA simulations to understand the forces the tool experiences throughout its usual cycle and variations with the objective of correctly finding the weak points of the tool where stress is most likely to cause fatigue failure. From this an estimation of the time to failure can be calculated. Furthermore design changes will be implemented and tested with the goal of increasing the fatigue life of the tooling. Finally a guide will be made for Tricon that can implement my method to their other tooling. Student Programme Mechatronic Engineering (Year 4) Project Area 3-DModelling, Automation, Finite Element Analysis, Mechanical Design and Manufacture, Simulation Project Technology ANSYSWorkbench, Solidworks Student Name(s) David Power Email david.power44@mail.dcu.ie Supervisor Dr Paul Young 242. Transparent, Anisotropic Tissue Phantoms via Freeze-Casting This project develops transparent, anisotropic tissue phantoms for improvedmedical imaging calibration. Using freeze-casting, we precisely control microstructure formation tomimic real tissue properties. Current phantoms lack structural anisotropy and optical clarity, limiting their use in OCT, ultrasound, andMRI. A custom freeze-casting rig is designed to optimise pore orientation, mechanical properties, and transparency. Thermoelectric (Peltier) modules are tested for uniform freezing. Phantoms undergo microscopy, spectrophotometry, and imaging validation. This research bridges materials engineering and biomedical imaging, creating cost-effective, reproducible phantoms to enhance diagnostic accuracy and patient care. Student Programme Biomedical Engineering (Year 5) Project Area Biomedical Engineering Project Technology Solidworks Student Name(s) Vladyslav Antonov Email vladyslav.antonov2@mail.dcu.ie Supervisor Dr Antony Kho