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Research profile
Olaf van der Sluis is a Full Professor in the Mechanics of Materials section within the department of Mechanical Engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), realized with support from Philips Research, his main affiliation. His current research interests include fracture mechanics, mechanics and adhesion of thin films, multi-scale mechanics, manufacturing process modelling, and lifetime prediction of microelectronic devices and medical systems. The goal is two-fold: (1) to identify and understand the most relevant failure phenomena that govern the complex behavior of devices during processing, qualification and usage; (2) to support and accelerate the design of functional and structurally robust products. More recently, his research scope has extended to Digital Medical System Design and includes the realization of dedicated digital twins of medical systems in order to improve the innovation, manufacturing and operational phases of these systems.
Research description
Blood vessels in the human body are prone to blockage. A blood vessel can be partially or completely occluded with fat deposits that, if not treated, can become calcified and prevent blood flow to a tissue or organ. Nowadays, unblocking blood vessels can be achieved in a minimally invasive manner. For example, if an interventional cardiologist needs to unblock a coronary or carotid artery, a small incision is made in your inner thigh through which a guide wire and a catheter can be inserted. With the help of X-ray imaging devices, the surgeon first navigates the guidewire and position the catheter to the exact location of the blocked coronary artery in the heart, inflates a balloon on the catheter and opens up the artery. To maintain the opening of the artery and prevent future arterial occlusion, a mesh or stent is sometimes placed which is in direct contact with the artery inner wall. This stent should be sufficiently flexible to avoid damage to the arterial wall. On the other hand, it should be sufficiently stiff to ensure the required patency of the vessel. Therefore, what are the optimal stent characteristic for long-term treatment of vessel stenosis?
In this challenge, we aim to generate a DT strategy to predict the best stent designs and deployment strategies to maximize their threapeutic potential.
Stents need to be designed to favorable modulate the interaction with the immune system, prevent stent encapsulation and blood vessel re-occlusion.
Selected publications
Martens, R.F., Hoefnagels, J.P., van der Sluis, O. and Geers, M.G., 2021. Integrated Digital Image Correlation for Multi-Beam Optical Stress Sensor.
Martens, R.F., Hoefnagels, J.P., van der Sluis, O. and Geers, M.G., 2021. A Monolithic, High Precision, High Capacity Microbalance.
Ruybalid, A.P., van der Sluis, O., Geers, M.G. and Hoefnagels, J.P., 2020. An in-situ, micro-mechanical setup with accurate, tri-axial, piezoelectric force sensing and positioning. Experimental Mechanics, 60(5), pp.713-725.
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