Jamil Renno

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Associate Professor at Qatar University

This work explores a number of approaches for estimating the parameters of a structure from measurements of its dynamic response. The study represents an initial step in a larger framework aiming for improving processes associated with model updating and the development of digital twins. In this study, the parameters of a cantilever beam, i.e. modu...

Road networks are crucial infrastructures that play a significant role in the progress and advancement of societies. However, roads deteriorate over time due to regular use and external environmental factors. This deterioration leads to discomfort for road users as well as the generation of noise and vibrations, which negatively impact nearby struc...

Modeling and simulation have been extensively used to solve a wide range of problems in structural engineering. However, many simulations require significant computational resources, resulting in exponentially increasing computational time as the spatial and temporal scales of the models increase. This is particularly relevant as the demand for hig...

The rapid population growth in urban areas necessitates developing railway lines or the expansion of existing ones for efficient transportation. Unfortunately, this is accompanied by generation of ground-borne vibration. There has been intensive research in the literature on the topic of vibration from underground railways with a focus on modelling...

This study explores the transmission of vibration from metro lines through soil to a multi-story building, employing a sophisticated numerical model that combines the Pipe-In-Pipe (PiP) model to simulate the source including the tunnel-soil interaction, with Finite Element (FE) Analysis, to simulate the propagation in the soil and a building, using...

This research introduces a groundbreaking method for bearing defect detection. It leverages ensemble machine learning (ML) models and conducts comprehensive feature importance analysis. The key innovation is the training and benchmarking of three tree ensemble models—Decision Tree (DT), Random Forest (RF), and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost)—on...

The monitoring of road roughness is one of the first and most critical steps in road maintenance. Road networks need constant maintenance to function properly and avoid any hazardous accidents or blockage of the traffic flow. The International Organization of Standardization (ISO) developed the International Roughness Index (IRI) to unify road moni...

This paper aims to use a deep convolution neural network (CNN) to classify pipework vibrations. Vibration levels are a good indicator of the risk of vibration-induced fatigue failures (VIF). Vibrations in pipework are very common in oil and gas and petrochemical plants which are a result of flow-induced forces from turbulent flows in the pipe, flow...

The magnetic field generated by the damper's magnetic circuit governs the yield stress value of the Magnetorheological Fluid (MRF) damper and hence its damping effect. This paper contributes to the literature on the development of MRF dampers by introducing a new design feature to improve the damper's performance. The presented novel feature tends...

The monitoring of road roughness is one of the first and most critical steps in road maintenance. Road networks need constant maintenance to function properly and avoid any hazardous accidents or blockage of the traffic flow. The International Organization of Standardization (ISO) developed the International Roughness Index (IRI) to unify road moni...

Road networks are considered huge and critical infrastructures that support the development and growth of societies. These infrastructures deteriorate over time due to regular usage and/or external environmental factors. Deteriorating road networks eventually cause ride discomfort for their users and the production of ground-borne noise and vibrati...

Railway networks may run through or beneath populated regions and significant landmarks. Hence, the ground-borne vibration caused by the trains might affect nearby buildings, residents, and the sensitive equipment within these buildings. Accordingly, accurate and thorough vibration assessment and measurement campaigns are necessary to confirm that...

We present a novel method for real-time fault classification using the time history of acoustic emissions (AEs) recorded from a lab-scale gas turbine operating under normal and faulty conditions across multiple turbine speeds. Time-frequency features are extracted using the continuous wavelet transform, and for each signal, the root mean square (RM...

In this paper, we propose a novel approach to solve nonlinear stress analysis problems in shell structures using an image processing technique. In general, such problems in design optimisation or virtual reality applications must be solved repetitively in a short period using direct methods such as nonlinear finite element analysis. Hence, obtainin...

The implementation methods of finite element analysis (FEA) have remained essentially unchanged since the inception of FEA in the 1960s. Alterations of any of the input or design parameters to the FEA model can potentially nullify the previous results and subsequent additional simulations will be required. This is particularly relevant for situatio...

With growing innovations on the Internet of Things capabilities, automated monitoring and remote sensing applications have become important in the modern world. However, with thousands of distributed sensors and wireless communication routers, the power supply continues to be one of the main challenges for an efficient and sustainable operation. Th...

Piezoelectric composites have become increasingly important in energy harvesting from vibration and, more recently, flow-induced vibration. The compatibility of piezoelectric devices has allowed tuning harvesters to the system's natural frequency to maximize the energy harvesting performance. However, the narrowband characteristic in piezoelectric...

Gear failure is considered the main alarming and undesirable event in gearboxes. Usually, cracks happen by fatigue caused due to cyclic loading. Fatigue stress is focused on the teeth root because of the small tooth fillet radius. This causes progressive damage to gear teeth which causes teeth failure, and hence, a damaged gear. This work shows a n...

Monitoring of roads is considered the first step in establishing a successful road maintenance program, which includes scheduling adequate maintenance to a certain road section at the right time. Road monitoring assesses the road’s condition for later analysis, which helps the prioritization of maintenance activities. Optimizing the process of sche...

This paper presents a simple and effective method to identify and quantify the existence of cracks in the teeth roots of spur gears. The problem was numerically analyzed through finite element-based simulation with SolidWorks in the first part of this work. The computed tooth in-plane bending stiffness and natural frequency decreased considerably w...

Purpose We present an approach that combines finite element analysis and genetic algorithms to find the optimal configuration of local resonators created in the host structure to suppress their vibration in a target low-frequency range. Such local resonators are indeed metastructures that alter the wave propagation in the host structure, thereby at...

Piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters can be utilized to harvest kinetic energy from fluid flow for remote sensing applications. Vortex formation behind a bluff body that is coupled to a beam oscillates with two frequencies in transverse and inline directions. A macro-fiber composite converts the mechanical strain in the beam to electricity tha...

Road roughness can cause ride discomfort and contribute to the emission of ground-borne noise and vibration. A robust monitoring regime of road roughness is essential for the efficient maintenance of a country's road network. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) presents an International Roughness Index (IRI) in Standard ISO 860...

The modelling of fatigue using machine learning (ML) has been gaining traction in the engineering community. Among ML techniques, the use of probabi-listic neural networks (PNNs) has recently emerged as a candidate for modelling fatigue applications. In this paper, we use PNNs with nonconstant variance to model fatigue. We present two case studies...

In this paper, a hybrid piezoelectric-electromagnetic energy harvester is proposed to harvest energy from fluid flow around a bluff-body using vortex-induced vibration (VIV). The hybrid piezoelectric-electromagnetic harvester combines the two electromechanical transduction mechanisms through the bluff body excited by VIV: piezoelectric macro-fiber...

Many experiments are usually needed to quantify probabilistic fatigue behavior in metals. Previous attempts used separate artificial neural network (ANN) to calculate different probabilistic ranges which can be computationally demanding for building probabilistic fatigue constant life diagram (CLD). Alternatively, we propose using probabilistic neu...

The risk of vibration-induced fatigue in process pipework is usually assessed through vibration measurements. For small-bore pipework, integrity personnel would measure the vibration of the pipework and refer to widely used charts to quantify the risk of vibration-induced fatigue. If the vibration levels are classified as OK, no action is required...

This paper contributes to the literature and development of knowledge in the topic of energy harvesting by presenting the modelling and calculations of energy from vibration of railway tracks due to moving trains on floating-slab tracks with continuous slabs, considering both the quasi-static and dynamic effects. The floating-slab track is modelled...

Mechanical energy is the most ubiquitous form of energy that can be harvested and converted into useful electrical power. For this reason, the piezoelectric energy harvesters (PEHs), with their inherent electromechanical coupling and high-power density, have been widely incorporated in many applications to generate power from ambient mechanical vib...

This article proposes a novel hybrid piezoelectric–electromagnetic vortex-induced vibration energy harvester from flow of water inside of a pipe. The piezoelectric energy harvester was modeled with a macro-fiber composite P2-type while the electromechanical transduction was modeled by an elastic magnet coupled to the bluff body movement. A dual-mas...

One of the least investigated approaches in passive vibration control is the possibility of combining different types of dampers that use different damping principles. Such a combination process, if wisely designed and implemented, has the potential to increase the damping performance and extend the damper’s application. The primary purpose of this...

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis is conducted on mono-tube vehicle MRF damper investigated experimentally in a previous study. In this study, the fluid of the type MRF-132DG was inserted inside a damper of a car rear suspension system. The CFD analysis describes the fluid flow through the internal orifices between the compression and the...

Harvesting energy from ambient structural vibration using piezoelectric materials gained massive interest in the past decade. Piezoelectric harvesters can be incorporated in many applications; however, one of the main challenges to become widely adopted is to optimize their design for maximum energy harvesting. In this paper, we investigated energy...

The prediction of the response of waveguides to time-harmonic base excitations has many applications in mechanical, aerospace and civil engineering. The response to base excitations can be obtained analytically for simple waveguides only. For general waveguides, the response to time-harmonic base excitations can be obtained using the finite element...

During the drilling process in oil and gas fields, slender drill strings often experience a multitude of complex and simultaneous vibrational phenomena. Drill string vibrations hinder the drilling process and can cause premature wear and damage to the drilling equipment. Here, the suppression of drill string vibrations during drilling operations is...

The primary purpose of this work is to investigate the effect of the piston crown and piston boss thicknesses on the stresses generated on the piston. A 150-cc piston, made from A4032 Aluminum, of type "Bajaj," was considered in the present investigation. The piston head was subjected to a double-action of gas pressure and heat from the combustion...

Curved and straight waveguides are ubiquitous in engineering structures. For modelling these structures in the mid-frequency and high-frequency range, the knowledge of the wave behaviour can be greatly beneficial. This paper addressed the modelling of such structures using the wave and finite element (WFE) method. In particular, power flow is formu...

Metamaterials (MMs) are composites that are artificially engineered to have unconventional mechanical properties that stem from their microstructural geometry rather than from their chemical composition. Several studies have shown the effectiveness of viscoelastic MMs in vibration attenuation due to their inherent vibration dissipation properties a...

In rotating machinery, the second most common fault after imbalance is misalignment. Misalignment can have a severe impact on equipment and may reduce the machine’s lifetime considerably. In this paper, the simultaneous effect of imbalance and misalignment (parallel or angular) on the vibration spectra of rotating machinery will be discussed. A num...

Crashworthiness plays a key role in energy absorption and hence in vehicle accidents. The energy absorption capacity of laminated composite materials is heavily investigated in the industry due to their low cost, corrosion resistance, and high strength to weight ratio. Thus, this paper experimentally investigates the effect of the addition of woven...

The propagation of waves in helical rods has been studied extensively. However, studying the wave propagation in double helical rods have received less attention although this can be useful in multiple fields of science and engineering. Obtaining an analytical model for a double helical rod is challenging since the curvature and tortuosity are not...

This research aims to analyze the vibration response of damaged rolling element bearings experimentally and to assess their degree of degradation by examining parameters extracted from the time domain. This task was accomplished in three phases. In the first phase, a test rig was carefully designed and precisely manufactured. In particular, an inno...

The knowledge of the wave transmission and reflection characteristics in connected two-dimensional structures provides the necessary background for many engineering prediction methodologies. Extensive efforts have previously been exerted to investigate the propagation of waves in two-dimensional periodic structures. This work focuses on the analysi...

In-flight sound pressure levels can sometimes be intense which cause fatigue to the cabin crew, communication failures and discomfort to the passengers. This is often caused by the turbulent boundary layer flow over the aircraft body, engine noise and vibration and internal aircraft systems. Most of these issues have been dealt with; however, littl...

The generality and complexity of laminated structures raises issues regarding modelling their dynamics and optimising their design. In this paper, a wave and finite element (WFE) method for modelling the dynamic behaviour of plane and axisymmetric laminated structures is described. A small segment of the structure is modelled using conventional fin...

Helical springs constitute an integral part of many mechanical systems. Usually, a helical spring is modelled as a massless, frequency independent stiffness element. For a typical suspension spring, these assumptions are only valid in the quasi-static case or at low frequencies. At higher frequencies, the influence of the internal resonances of the...

The forced response of two-dimensional, infinite, homogenous media subjected to time harmonic loading is treated. The approach starts with the wave and the finite element (WFE) method where a small segment of a homogeneous medium is modelled using commercial or in-house finite element (FE) packages. The approach is equally applicable to periodic st...

Helical springs constitute an integral part of many mechanical systems. Usually, a helical spring is modelled as a massless, frequency independent stiffness element. For a typical suspension spring, these assumptions are only valid in the quasi-static case or at low frequencies. At higher frequencies, the influence of the internal resonances of the...

The forced response of waveguides subjected to time harmonic loading is treated. The approach starts with the wave and finite element (WFE) method where a segment of the waveguide is modeled using traditional finite element methods. The mass and stiffness matrices of the segment are used to formulate an eigenvalue problem whose solution yields the...

Cantilevered piezoelectric energy harvesters have been extensively investigated in the literature of energy harvesting. As an alternative to conventional cantilevered beams, this article presents the L-shaped beam-mass structure as a new piezoelectric energy harvester configuration. This structure can be tuned to have the first two natural frequenc...

The sliding mode technique is used to control the deformation of a membrane mirror strip augmented with two macrofiber composite bimorphs located near the ends of the strip. The first bimorph is actuated in bending and the second is actuated axially. The structure is modeled as an Euler-Bernoulli beam under tensile load and the macrofiber composite...

The optimization of power acquired from a piezoelectric vibration-based energy harvester which utilizes a harvesting circuit employing an inductor and a resistive load is described. The optimization problem is formulated as a nonlinear program wherein the Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) conditions are stated and the resulting cases are treated. In the fir...

This paper presents an improved finite-element model of a membrane strip actuated by a single piezoelectric bimorph. The paper also treats the static shape control problem of the structure under study. The membrane strip is modeled as an Euler—Bernoulli beam under tension, with non-uniform physical properties. The finite-element method allows the d...

The modeling of an energy harvesting device consisting of a piezoelectric based stack is presented. In addition, the optimization of the power acquired from the energy harvester is considered. The harvesting device is a piezoceramic element in a stack configuration, which scavenges mechanical energy emanating from a 1D-sinusoidal-base excitation. T...

Cantilevered piezoelectric harvesters have been extensively considered in the energy harvesting literature. Mostly, a traditional cantilevered beam with one or more piezoceramic layers is located on a vibrating host structure. Motion of the host structure results in vibrations of the harvester beam and that yields an alternating voltage output. As...

A switching sliding mode controller for the static shape control of a membrane strip is considered. The membrane strip is augmented with two macro fiber composite (MFC) bimorphs. MFC patches are modeled as monolithic piezoceramics. The combined structure is modeled as an Euler-Bernoulli beam under tensile load. The two bimorphs are actuated indepen...

Harvesting energy from persistent ambient vibrations for powering small electronic com- ponents has been an attractive subject for researchers in recent years. The direct piezo- electric eect of piezoceramic materials makes them very appealing for such applications. Typically, a piezoelectric harvester is a cantilevered bender with one or more piez...

The behavior of many mechanical systems, such as overhead cranes, can be predicted through intuitive observation of their motion under various forces. Mathematical modeling of an overhead crane shows that it is highly coupled. Nonetheless, it is surprisingly easy for an experienced crane operator to drive payloads to target positions with minimal c...

A switching sliding mode controller for the static shape control of a membrane strip is considered. The membrane strip is augmented with two macro fiber composite (MFC) bimorphs. MFC patches are modeled as monolithic piezoceramics. The combined structure is modeled as an Euler-Bernoulli beam under tensile load. The two bimorphs are actuated indepen...

Since its introduction to engineering applications, fuzzy logic has attracted many researchers because of its simplicity and robustness. Experience with a system is translated into heuristic rules which can be used to control that system. This article proposes a novel method for a generalized inverse dynamics based fuzzy logic controller (FLC) of a...

The behavior of a membrane mirror strip actuated using a piezoelectric bimorph is treated. An improved model for the transverse vibration is presented. The model accounts for the changes in physical properties of the membrane strip at the location of the piezoelectric bimorph. The membrane strip is modeled as a pinned-pinned beam under tension and...

This paper presents the modeling and experimental validation of a membrane strip actuated in bending and tension. This investigation is a prelude to the modeling of a circular membrane augmented with smart actuators around its outer rim. Two macroliber composite bimorph actuators are attached near the ends of the membrane strip. We treat two config...

The authors present a comprehensive study of the effects of damping and electromechanical coupling on the power optimality of a vibration-based energy harvester. The harvester under consideration utilizes a piezoceramic element operating in the {33} mode to scavenge mechanical energy emanating from a sinusoidal-base excitation. Under typical operat...

This work investigates improving the imaging quality of membrane mirrors using multiple active fiber composite (AFC) actuators. It is demonstrated in the literature that the structural characteristics of a circular membrane lens can be used advantageously to eliminate nearly 100% of a 5th order image aberration. The approach here is to study the tr...

The sliding mode technique is used to control the deformation of a membrane mirror strip. A membrane mirror strip is augmented with two macro fiber composite (MFC) bimorphs. The first bimorph is actuated in bending whereas the second is actuated in tension. Membrane strips are usually tensioned uniformly. However, the presence of the tension bimorp...

An alternative circuit to improve the performance of a vibration-based energy harvester is proposed. The harvesting device considered consists of a piezoceramic element operating in the {33} direction. In normal operating conditions, piezoceramics experience small deflection and hence the small signal linear constitutive law of piezoelectricity is...

Membrane mirrors are expected to improve imaging quality in space and aeronautical applications. These lightweight structures can be stored compactly, directly reducing launching cost. Despite these advantages, membrane mirrors experience residual vibrations and optical aberrations that degrade their performance. Active fiber composite (AFC) actuat...

In this paper, we introduce an analytical modeling approach for dynamic shape characterization of the ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) actuator under the input voltages based on the RC electrical model and mechanical beam model. The proposed method can be used for modeling the general IPMC bending actuator in a single segment or multiple segmen...

Several fuzzy control schemes of overhead cranes have been proposed. Most of these schemes are valid for a specific crane configuration only. Extensive experimentation is needed to apply such schemes to a different crane. This paper presents an approach for automatically creating anti-swing fuzzy logic controllers for two-dimensional overhead crane...

This paper presents an improved model for the one-dimensional behavior of a membrane mirror strip actuated using a piezoelectric bimorph. This model specifically accounts for the changes in physical properties of the membrane strip at the location of the piezoelectric bimorph. The membrane strip is modeled as a pinned-pinned beam under tension and...

This paper presents a novel approach for automatically creating anti-swing fuzzy logic controllers for overhead cranes with hoisting. This approach uses the inverse dynamics of the overhead crane to determine the ranges of the variables of the controllers. The control action is distributed among three fuzzy logic controllers (FLCs): travel controll...

As currently envisioned, over 70,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste would be stored inside the planned Yucca Mountain repository. After emplacement, the site must be maintained and guarded for over 10,000 years. The reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel is a possible alternative to geological storage. Here, depleted Uranium would be separated from P...

This paper treats end point regulation of multi-link light-weight flexible manipulators using the State Dependent Riccati Equation: SDRE method. It is well known that end point trajectory control using widely used feedback linearization techniques is not possible when the equilibrium state of the zero dynamics of the system is unstable or weakly st...

This paper presents a novel method for adaptive anti-swing fuzzy logic control for overhead cranes with hoisting. The control action is distributed between three fuzzy logic controllers (FLC’s): trolley controller, hoist controller, and anti-swing controller. A method for varying the ranges of the variables of the three controllers as a function of...