Professor Asfaw Beyene
Department of Mechanical Engineering
San Diego State University, USA

Academic Profile:
Dr. Beyene is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at San Diego State University. He earned his doctorate degree from Warsaw University of Technology in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, specializing in jet engines. He joined San Diego State University (SDSU) in 1989. His research interests include thermodynamics and renewable energy, with emphasis on modeling and experimental analyses. His invention, a flexible wind turbine blade, has been received enthusiastically across the world, reported by Science in February 2017. He has attracted close to $10 million dollars in grants to SDSU. He has published over 120 articles in various peer-reviewed journals and proceedings.

Dr. Beyene has received several awards for his scholarship, including Distinguished faculty - Monty Award, Outstanding Faculty Award of SDSU, Outstanding contribution from Department of Energy, Energy Developer of the Year by Association of Energy Engineers, ASME’s Best Paper Award, and many others. He has chapters including two in well-known books: Handbook of Mechanical Engineering and Mark’s Handbook. He is Fellow member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He is Associate editor of ASME’s Journal of Energy Resources and Technology, Guest editor of Journal of Applied Energy, Guest editor of Energy - the International Journal, Guest editor of Journal of Energies, and partakes in many other editorials. He has delivered several invited and keynote speeches. At SDSU, he serves as Director of the sustainable Energy Center.

Keynote Lecture

Title: Biomimicry, the case of morphing blades

Abstract: Designers have shown great ingenuity in the use of biomimicry, adopting and emulating unique biomechanical occurrences honed by millions of years of evolution, as widely observed in nature.  Special pads are modeled after the sticky feet of a gecko enabling human climbers to scale vertical surfaces. A kingfisher’s beak that allows it to enter and exit water bodies without creating a compression wave inspired the bullet train. 

The study of shark skin and its unique composition has led to many scientific breakthroughs in transportation as well as in swimsuits which are now banned from major competitions.  By rearranging the mirrors of concentrated solar power plants in a pattern similar to the spirals on the face of a sunflower, engineers reduced the plant footprint by 20% and increased its power output.  The baobab tree, the armadillo’s impenetrable shell, a bird skull, etc. can be cited as more examples of successful biomimicry that improved efficiency and performance of manufactured devices.

Although in its infancy, the concept of biomimicry has also been embraced in turbomachinery and energy systems by adopting fish locomotion and bird aerodynamics. Fin morphing techniques and wing flexibilities could lead to design concepts which can greatly improve conversion efficiencies in energy systems.  Application of whale flippers proposed as a design approach to improve the stall characteristics of wind turbine blades is one such case in point.  In this lecture, a work of the author’s research team on adaptive turbine blades, spanning over a decade, is summarized, - culminating with the latest lab and simulation outputs.  These results show that contrary to contemporary turbine blades, which are rigid chord-wise, flexible turbines with morphing blades better adjust to variable operating conditions, thereby reducing flow separation and improving the power output.  Advances in morphing wind turbine blades and potential efficiency gains will be presented.

Academic Profile:
Professor Pourkashanian OBE is the Head of Energy Institute at the University of Sheffield, the Managing Director of the Translational Energy Research Centre and the Sustainable Aviation Fuels Innovation Centre, holds a chair in Energy Engineering and is the General Secretary of International Flame Research Foundation (IFRF).

He has completed numerous major research projects on clean energy technology, receiving substantial grants from the EPSRC, EU, and NATO. His research is in the field of future clean and sustainable energy technology with a focus on multi-scale energy processes, zero carbon fuels, and computational and CFD modelling. He and his students have authored over 498 publications in refereed journals and conference proceedings and have co-authored several books on solid fuels and biomass combustion. Professor Pourkashanian has graduated over 87 Ph.D. candidates and supervised over 40 postdoctoral scholars and research associates. He is a member of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF): Industrial Decarbonisation Advisory Group responsible for Hydrogen theme, member of Defence Supplier Forum: SAF workgroup, a Fellow of the Energy Institute and a Chartered Engineer. In 2022, Professor Pourkashanian received an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to Net Zero Research and Innovation.

Keynote Lecture

Title: The Role of Low/zero Carbon Fuels in the Energy Transitions to Net Zero

Abstract: The energy transition to net zero is one of the most challenging issues facing industrialised societies today as it will require widespread changes to both energy supply and demand. Wide range of low and zero carbon fuels tailored to different energy sectors are essential parts of achieving net zero target. Low/zero carbon fuels—in particular, green/blue hydrogen and Sustainable Aviation fuels offer a variety of potential solutions. Hydrogen can be used as a fuel on its own to decarbonise industry, heat and transport, or use as a feedstock to produce alternative sustainable fuels (e-fuels) with a higher energy density and can be more easily transported and stored. In addition, during the initial transition stage these fuels can be blended with fossil fuels to reduce overall emissions followed by replace fossil fuels entirely, without requiring expensive changes to energy systems transportation and storage infrastructure. 

Assoc. Prof. Nicholas Fantuzzi
University of Bologna, Italy

Academic profile: 
Nicholas Fantuzzi is Associate Professor in Mechanics of Solids and Structures at the University of Bologna, Italy. His research portfolio includes over 220 published works on composite laminated structures and innovative materials, fracture mechanics and crack propagation and initiation in metallic and composite materials. His work on mathematical modelling through classical finite elements as well as mesh-free and collocation methods has high impact in Engineering Science. 
Nicholas is Co-Editor-In-Chief of "Composites Structures” international journal and Section Editor-In-Chief (Engineering Section) of "Mathematical and Computational Applications” international journal, Editorial Board Member in 17 international journals, Guest Editor and Co-Editor of 11 Special Issues on international journals, and Reviewer for 108 international journals. He has been conference chair and Keynote speaker in many international conferences.

Keynote Lecture

Title: Sustainability and Renewables in Offshore Environment: recent modelling challenges

Abstract: Offshore structures are known to be used for extracting natural gas and oil from the sea bed. However, when the underground source finishes, these structures should be moved to another location or removed if they have reached their design life. Removal operations go under the name of decommissioning which is a multidisciplinary process by which a Company decides on how to shut down the field activities at the end of the structure life: plugging and abandoning the well(s), making the equipment/installation safe, removing some or all the facilities and restoring the area. Decommissioning will occur at different stages of asset lifecycle and has wide relevance in terms of reputation, so it needs to be managed properly as a dedicated business process. Nevertheless, another solution might be considered: change the future working life of these platforms by involving renewable energy and transforming them, for instance, into offshore wind towers. This activity involves retrofitting activities in order to strengthen the original structural elements in order to carry new loads. All the aforementioned operations involve structural modeling which can be carried out at global and local scales. Such degrees of complexity might be time consuming for companies that in general have limited time to make decisions in the initial phases of these operations and want to save money. Therefore, in this talk some modeling aspects about the sustainability of installations for renewables sources are discussed together with recent modelling challenges.

Professor Odne S. Burheim
Department of Energy and Process Engineering
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway

Academic Profile:   
Professor Odne Burhem, the Norwegian University of science and technology - NTNU, is an expert in electrochemical energy storage and e-fuels. He leads of the sustainable energy systems research division in Dep. Energy and Process Engineering, has published over 130 peer reviewed scientific articles and book chapters, supervised more than 30 PhDs and post doctoral researchers, and lectures energy for vocational, bachelor, master and PhD students. His activities in research and education covers the entire lithium ion battery value chain, including life cycle studies, digitalisation, recycling, material development, manufactruing, systems integration and advanced characterisation techniques.

See also official profile her and recent chronicle in Teknisk Ukeblad her.

Keynote Lecture

Title: Lithium ion batteries, the basics and some trends ahead 

Abstract: Production of Lithium ion Batteries (LIB) has doubled about every 3rd year for more than a decade, and is forecasted to continue doubling at the same interval for at least another decade. LIB is a general term covering a family of different materials put together in different formats of batteries. LIB functionality follows some basic principals in terms of the electrodes reactions, where a transition metal (Fe, Co, Mn, Ni) reacts in the cathode and Li reacts in the cathode by exchanging electrons to electric devices outside the LIB. Design of commercial cells depend on capacity of the cell, termed in Ah (amount of charge) or Wh (amount of energy), and the main difference lies in the assembling process.  

Modern production of batteries has eventually come into a transition phase, where the major challenges ahead appear to be focusing on quality, yield, scrap rates, and circularity. Conventional battery production is currently well established in Asia, and it is a relatively new and emerging process in Europe and North America. As this is an exponentially growing market (doubling every 3rd year), a field with much room for disruption, and a high quality, and high value market; battery production as an area is experiencing lots of interest from political points, financial points and academic points.

The presentation will give a brief introduction to the basics of LIB concepts, technological opportunities, and motivation behind political and financial interests.

 Some examples literature for further reading:

·         Traditional battery production

·         Aspects around new manufacturing methods of LIB (Open source)

·         Analysis of future battery global markets (Open source)

Professor Jayantha Prasanna Liyanage
Department of Mechanical & Structural Engineering and Materials Technology
University of Stavanger, Norway

Speaker's academic profile:  https://www.uis.no/nb/profile/jayantha-prasanna-liyanage

Keynote Lecture

Title: Engineering the Future of critical Assets and Infrastructures under Emerging uncertain conditions

Abstract: Industrial, economic, and societal aspects generate unprecedented demands and challenges towards critical Engineering assets and infrastructures in public and private sectors. They will continuously be exposed to a range of latent and uncertain conditions where engineering and operational boundaries get pushed and tested in numerous ways. The critical questions under such emerging contexts are; what is this rapidly emerging Engineering future of critical Engineering assets and infrastructures? where are the real pressure points ? what does it take to ensure engineering and operational robustness of those Engineering assets and infrastructures?   

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Speaker's academic profile: 

José A.F.O. Correia is currently a Researcher at CONSTRUCT|Faculty Engineering and INEGI of the University of Porto (UPorto | Portugal). Since 2018, he is a Guest Teacher at the Engineering Structures Department of the Civil Engineering and Geosciences Faculty of the Delft University of Technology (Netherlands).  He is co-author of more than 210 scientific journal papers in the most relevant scientific journals devoted to structural integrity, fatigue, and fracture of engineering materials and structures, more than 200 proceedings in international and national conferences, congresses, and workshops. He co-authored 18 book chapters, and editor and/or co-author of 22 books (15 completed; 7 ongoing). In the Scopus platform, he is the (co)author of 316 scientific documents and has an h-index equal to 38 (33, excluding self-citations).

Correia is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Alexandria Engineering Journal, International Journal of Structural Integrity, Smart Infrastructure and Construction, and Structural Integrity (Series), Associate Editor of Heliyon, Philosophical Transactions A - Engineering Sciences, Marine Systems and Ocean Technology, and Frontiers in Materials,  and, Section Editor-in-Chief of Modelling MDPI, among others participations in editorial boards of scientific journals (e.g. International Journal of Fatigue, Engineering Failure Analysis, Forces in Mechanics, Ships and Offshore Structures, Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction, Journal of Infrastructure Preservation and Resilience, Materials, Energies, Applied Sciences, Applied Mechanics, Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, Mathematical and Computational Applications, Advances in Mechanical Engineering, Advances in Computational Design, Materials Open Research, Materials Science, Forensic Engineering, etc.). In 2017 and 2020, respectively, José A.F.O. Correia was appointed as a co-chairman of the technical committees called ESIS TC12 – Risk Analysis and Safety of Large Structures and Components and ESIS TC3 – Fatigue of Engineering Materials and Structures of the European Structural Integrity Society (ESIS). José A.F.O. Correia is a member of technical committees, CEN/TC250/SC3 WG 1-9 Fatigue, CEN/TC250/SC3 WG 1-10 Fracture, and CEN/CLC/JTC20 Hyperloop Systems, of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN). He was/is also a team member of the organization and participation in approved national and European research projects (27 research projects, >100 million €). He was/is the (co)coordinator at FEUP of 7 R&D projects and consulting services (university extension) budgeted in more than 1.000k€ and 190k€, respectively. In business activities, he was involved in approved investment projects budgeted more than 720 k€.

Further info is available here: https://sigarra.up.pt/feup/en/FUNC_GERAL.FORMVIEW?p_codigo=597769

Keynote Lecture

Title: Promoting multiscale fatigue to design reliable and sustainable structures

Abstract: This keynote speech describes the author's experience in experimental research, numerical modelling, and developing models for characterising fatigue behaviour in metallic materials. The advances made in material fatigue characterisation range from micro to macro physical scales. In structural fatigue design, the fatigue behaviour of structural components and large-scale engineering structures is often assessed using probabilistic approaches and modelling at various physical scales due to time and cost constraints on test equipment. This is derived from the mechanical properties of normalized small-scale specimens. Design code approaches typically estimate the structural component's life by averaging the lifetime of the most stressed points on the component and adding safety factors to account for dispersion bands, size effects, stress field uncertainties, and different environments. However, this approach may not be accurate enough, leading to designs that are either too conservative or too optimistic. Currently, it is increasingly urgent to model the fatigue properties of small-scale samples for the strength of structural components at various physical scales. This must take into account loading effects, environmental effects, and probabilistic analysis in order to make structures reliable and sustainable. The keynote focuses on the author's experience in characterising the fatigue behaviour of metallic material, including experimental and probabilistic models for fatigue resistance and crack propagation. The author also discusses integrated fatigue approaches for structural components, modelling based on fracture mechanics, and fatigue damage assessment of engineering structures such as bridges, offshore platforms, etc. Additionally, two technical works related to fatigue damage assessment are presented.

Acknowledgements: 

This research was supported by: project grant (PTDC/ECI-EST/30103/2017) FiberBridge - Fatigue strengthening and assessment of railway metallic bridges using fiber-reinforced polymers by FEDER funds through COMPETE2020 (POCI) and by national funds (PIDDAC) through the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT/MCTES); base funding - UIDB/04708/2020 and programmatic funding - UIDP/04708/2020 of the CONSTRUCT - Instituto de I&D em Estruturas e Construções - funded by national funds through the FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC); AARM4 - High Strength Steels in Metalmechanics 4.0 (POCI-01-0247-FEDER-068492) funded by national funds through the PT2020/COMPETE; project grant (UTA-EXPL/IET/0111/2019) SOS-WindEnergy - Sustainable Reuse of Decommissioned Offshore Jacket Platforms for Offshore Wind Energy by national funds (PIDDAC) through the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT/MCTES); project grant (MIT-EXPL/SOE/0054/2021) - Hyperloop-Verne - Exploratory Analysis of Biomimetic-inspired Oceanic Hyperloop Transport Infrastructures, funded by national funds through the FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC), under the MIT Portugal Program; among others. José Correia would like to thank the individual project grant (2020.03856.CEECIND) awarded by national funds (PIDDAC) through the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT/MCTES). This work is also a result of Agenda “NEXUS: Innovation Pact Digital and Green Transition – Transports, Logistics and Mobility”, nr. C645112083-00000059, investment project nr. 53, financed by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) and by European Union - NextGeneration EU. Additionally, the author would like to thank the institutions – University of Porto (FEUP), Institute of Construction (IC), Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (INEGI), University of Coimbra (UC), and University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD) - for the support that allowed the development of a large part of the scientific work presented. Finally, a special thanks to my masters and doctoral students, as well as to the professors and researchers who collaborated with me, in particular, Prof. Abilio De Jesus, Prof. Rui Calçada, Prof. Pedro Moreira, Prof. Alfonso Fernández-Caneli, Prof. Grzegorz Lesiuk, Prof. Shun-Peng Zhu, Prof. Hao-Hi Xin, Prof. Nicholas Fantuzzi, and Prof. Lance Manuel, for the tireless support shown in the research activities carried out in projects managed by me or projects managed by them. I don't want to finish without ever forgetting the tireless support of my family, especially Maria João for her patience and dedication at all times.