Donald Julius Groen Prize

Professor Margaret Mary Stack has been awarded the IMechE Tribology Group Donald Julius Groen Prize in recognition of her career contributions to Tribo-Corrosion research and for services to the international Tribology community. Margaret’s research interests are focused on maps for the interactions of solid particle erosion and wear of materials in corrosive environments, with emphasis on charting mechanisms of materials loss.

Margaret is an Irish graduate Engineer from the University of Galway and is originally from County Kerry. Her academic path was influenced by her mother Mary Kelly who was a secondary teacher (Maths and Accountancy) in her local school in Listowel.  She has been an academic researcher in the UK since 1986, completing her MSc, PhD and DSc at the University of Manchester, based in the Corrosion group (Corrosion and Protection Centre).  She has published over 150 journal papers in the areas of Tribo-Corrosion, supervised over 30 PhDs and has presented at over 70 meetings. 

In 2001, Margaret moved to the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow where she started a Tribology group in the Department of Mechanical Engineering (now Mechanical Engineering & Aerospace) and was appointed Professor of Mechanical Engineering. The International Tribo-Corrosion Network funded by the EPSRC was launched at that time and now involves members from over 30 countries. 

Margaret’s work has included a wide spectrum of engineering applications. Initially she focused on erosion-oxidation in fossil fuel environments. Over the past 20 years, she has translated these concepts to erosion and wear in tidal and wind turbines, including offshore wind environments and in line with transition to renewable energy. Her group has also studied micro- abrasion-corrosion of dental and hip joint implants. The unifying thread in her academic papers has been the development of mapping algorithms to describe various mechanisms of materials degradation as a guide to materials selection, process parameter optimization and energy reduction. Recent work has looked at mapping micro-climate variables using meteorological data to inform erosion testing of coatings and materials for wind turbines. 

Margaret’s group founded the first journal in Tribo-Corrosion, Journal of Bio- and Tribo-Corrosion, in 2014 which published 119 papers in 2022 (CiteScore of 5.8 for 2022) and is a Q1 journal in Mechanical Engineering. She sits on several editorial boards including Tribology International.  Her work contributes to the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all, in the fields of Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7) and Life Below Water (SDG 14).

The Tribology Group Committee congratulates Professor Margaret Stack for winning the IMechE Tribology Group 2023 Donald Julius Groen Prize.

Dr Matteo Vagnoli has been awarded the IMechE SRG Donald Julius Groen Prize for the paper “A Bayesian Belief Network method for bridge deterioration detection”, published in the Proc IMechE, Part O: J Risk and Reliability 2021; 235(3): 338-355.

Dr Matteo Vagnoli obtained a BSc in Energy Engineering and an MSc in Nuclear Engineering from the Polytechnic of Milan (Italy). He then joined the University of Nottingham (UK) and graduated with a PhD in Risk and Reliability Engineering, with a thesis “Railway Bridge Monitoring and Fault Diagnostics”. After the PhD, Matteo joined Bombardier Transportation as data scientist at first, and then moved into the lead of a global data science team responsible for end-to-end prognostics, from embedding prognostics data requirements into the design of railway assets, to real-time analytics of such assets to predict asset failures. Currently, Matteo is a Senior Analytics Manager at Swiss Re Group, originating and managing advanced analytics solutions to enhance client efficiency and increase their profitability via strategic analytics solutions and actionable risk insights.

This paper proposes a novel approach of applying a Bayesian Belief Network method for detecting signs of bridge deterioration. The method can take account of sensor data as well as information from visual inspections, the latter of the two are frequently used in bridge asset management. The approach is demonstrated on a steel truss bridge example which is modelled using an FEM model; and using bridge acceleration in-field data of a post-tensioned concrete bridge for different states of degradation. The proposed approach can be used in detecting early signs of deterioration in bridge elements when there is some evidence about bridge behaviour due to traffic. Such information can help to plan bridge asset management and operation.  

Vagnoli, M., Remenyte-Prescott, R., Andrews, J.D. A Bayesian Belief Network method for bridge deterioration detection, Proc IMechE, Part O: J Risk and Reliability 2021; 235(3): 338-355, https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1748006X20979225

Congratulations to Dr Matteo Vagnoli on winning the IMechE SRG Donald Julius Groen Prize.

Dr Marc Masen has been awarded the IMechE Tribology Group Donald Julius Groen Prize in recognition of his significant contribution to the field of human tribology. Marc's main areas of research are tribology of human tissue, tribology of elastomers and polymers, wear prevention and wear mechanisms and tribometer development.

Marc received his MSc and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Twente in the Netherlands. His PhD thesis was entitled ‘Abrasive Tool Wear in Metal Forming Processes.’ Following his PhD Marc worked at the R&D centre of Hydro Aluminium with a focus on investigating the surface quality of aluminium extrusions. In 2006 he returned to Twente as a lecturer, initiating research into bio-tribology. In 2013 he joined Imperial College where he is currently a Reader in Tribology and Mechanical Engineering Design.

Tribology influences many conditions of the human body from arthritic joints to gritty eyes and from skin blisters to bruxism. Investigating these bio-tribological aspects has necessitated a different approach to conventional tribological testing. Marc’s ground-breaking work in this area includes the development of analytical models for the contact and friction behaviour of compliant, visco-elastic materials, an investigation of the wear behaviour of Ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) for use in implants and the design of a novel portable tribometer used in the development of a statistics-based model for friction forces in human skin contacts.

Marc also runs a research project in which engineers and clinicians collaborate to establish the relationship between friction or shear forces and the development of pressure ulcers.

The Tribology Group Committee congratulates Dr Marc Masen for winning the IMechE Tribology Group 2022 Donald Julius Groen Prize.

Awarded for his paper "Magneto-hydrodynamics of multi-phase fows in heterogeneous systems with large property gradients"

Dr Tom Flint is a Research Fellow in the Department of Materials at The University of Manchester. After graduating from the University of Manchester in 2011 with a first class degree in Physics, Tom completed his doctorate under the supervision of Dr John Francis developing novel heat source descriptions, for high energy density manufacturing applications, and also analytical solution techniques to solve complex thermal problems efficiently. Following his doctorate, he began working for Professor Mike Smith trying to better understand the complex flow, and micro-structural, physics that governs how high energy density processes affect multi-component substrates through state transitions. Dr Flint now works as the DSTL Research Fellow in Alloys for Extreme Environments at The University of Manchester.

Tom’s work is focussed on understanding how high energy density manufacturing processes, such as power beam and electrical arc welding, alter the metallic substrate material. He is interested in how the substrate material melts, how the fluid dynamics in the melt-pool determine critical topological features, how the vapourisation of the alloy substrate influences the flow and chemistry, and how the thermal load causes micro-structural alterations including grain boundary migration. His work can be broadly divided into continuum mechanics modelling, which covers fluid dynamics and solid mechanics modelling work, and phase-field modelling, used to investigate how the poly-crystalline substrate evolves and predict the final morphology of the crystals within the alloy. Recently Tom extended his fluid dynamics work to include descriptions of how the magnetic flux density evolves in electrical arc processes; this allows us to accurately capture the heating of the substrate through Joule heating, instead of relying on specifying the shape of the heat source. In this way we remove any fitting operations required to simulate these processes and all the required information is then applied as boundary conditions in the domain.

The Structural Technology and Materials Group Board congratulates Dr Tom Flint for winning the IMechE Structural Technology and Materials Group 2021 Donald Julius Groen Prize

Professor Ling Wang has been awarded the IMechE Tribology Group Donald Julius Groen Prize in recognition of her outstanding career achievements in the sphere of tribology. She has over 20 years research experience in the field of tribology and tribo-sensing.

Ling obtained her BSc and MSc in Chemistry from Nankai University in China, and her Diploma in Environmental Engineering from Portsmouth University and PhD in Systems Engineering from Southampton Solent University in the UK. She joined the Tribology and Surface Engineering Group at University of Southampton in 2001 and she is now Professor of Tribo-Sensing and Head of the national Centre for Advanced Tribology at Southampton (nCATS). At Southampton University, Ling chairs the University Strategic Research Group on Monitoring of Engineered and Natural Systems Using Sensors (MENSUS) and co-leads the Centre of Excellence of Re-Engineering for Electric Mobility (RE4EM).

Through combining tribology with condition monitoring technology, Ling’s research has increased the understanding of tribological phenomena, such as white etching cracking, and has influenced the design of smarter mechanical systems. Ling has led multiple industry sponsored research projects investigating rolling contact fatigue of rolling element bearings. She led the EU Clean Sky project for the development of integrated intelligent bearing systems (I2BS), implementing advanced tribo-sensing and machine learning techniques. With a research grant portfolio in excess of £8M, Ling has undertaken many collaborative research projects sponsored by EU and UK Research Councils and worked with a range of industrial partners including Rolls-Royce, GE Aerospace, Vestas Wind Systems, Shell Global Solutions, Afton Chemical Corporation, John Crane and Schaeffler Group.

Ling has published over 100 peer-reviewed research papers and given many keynotes and invited talks at national and international conferences. She also serves on the editorial board for multiple Tribology journals. Ling is a Fellow of British Institute of non-destructive Testing (BINDT), as well as a member of several other professional institutions.

In 2017, Ling won the BINDT COMADIT Prize for ‘significant contribution through research and development in condition monitoring to the benefit of industry or society.’

Awarded for outstanding lifetime contributions to mechatronics and control engineering.

Roger Goodall is an Emeritus Professor at Loughborough University and an Affiliate to the Institute for Railway Research at the University of Huddersfield. He graduated from the University of Cambridge, UK, in 1968 and worked for two years in manufacturing industry, before joining British Rail's Research Division in Derby in 1970 where he spent 12 years in industrial research. In the 1970s he developed the control system for British Rail’s low-speed magnetically levitated vehicle and was also responsible for the world’s first full-size active suspension for a railway vehicle. He took up an academic position at Loughborough University in 1982, and he became Professor of Control Systems Engineering in 1994. He has championed the subject of mechatronics for many years, with a specialism related to mechatronic suspension systems for rail vehicles.

He has had extensive involvement with many external institutions, including as Chair of the IMechE’s Railway Division in 2009-2010. A strong contribution has been with the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) for which he was the inaugural Chair of the Technical Committee on Mechatronic Systems from 2000-2005 and IFAC Vice-President from 2008-2014. He received the IFAC’s Outstanding Service Award in 2014, was elected as an IFAC Advisor the same year and in 2017 as an IFAC Fellow.

In addition to his IFAC involvement Roger has served in a variety of external scientific and technical roles including the Board of Trustees for the International Association for Vehicle System Dynamics (IAVSD) and Chairman of the UK Automatic Control Council (UKACC, the IFAC NMO).

He has received many awards, including the IMechE’s prestigious James Watt International Gold Medal and IFAC’s Mechatronic Systems Lifetime Achievement Award. He has been a Fellow of the IMechE for a number of years, and he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2007.