Our academic and research staff are undertaking experimental, analytical and theoretical research on wind energy infrastructure and technology.
Our research ranges from the loading effects of wind turbines on different soil classifications, to the reduction of vibration effects on the wind turbine blades and the life cycle environmental impacts and circular economy performance of this renewable technology.
Our wind energy team is made up of researchers with expertise in energy, life cycle assessment, geotechnical and structural design.
Professor, Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering
Nonlinear Waves, Hydrodynamics, Mathematical Oceanography, Nonlinear Analysis, Renewable Energy Technologies, Smart Grid, Wind Energy, Offshore Wind Turbines, Wave Energy, Structural Health Monitoring, Passive, Active and Semi-active Vibration Control, Random Vibrations, Wind & Earthquake Engineering, Time-frequency and Wavelet Analysis, Non-stationary Processes, Tarffic Flow Theory and Control
Professor of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering
The central objective of my research is protection " of the built environment, of human health and of climate. I protect civil society by studying interactions between engineered and natural systems. Hence, my key research projects have developed improved methods for protecting buildings and their occupants during earthquakes, for protecting the health of individuals from exposure to air pollution and for protecting the climate through renewable energy production. My primary research approach is the integrated mathematical-information modelling of complex systems, especially the effects of environmental loads (earthquake and wind) on engineering structures, and the effects of anthropogenic emissions (e.g. road transport) on air quality. My research is highly multidisciplinary, and I have achieved research breakthroughs by exchanging ideas and methods between diverse fields. Hence my research spans disciplines from atmospheric scienceg to solid mechanics, and the research methods I employ include computational modelling, numerical simulation, experimental investigation and engineering design. I have collaborated and published with researchers from a wide variety of fields including engineers, environmental scientists, physicists, economists, clinicians, health scientists and seismologists. My research strengths in integrating information about real world processes with physical theory based mathematical models have allowed me to transform conventional approaches to globally important activities and achieve real impact through the generation of knowledge alongside my contributions to broader society. My research has made a unique and substantive contribution to a wide field and has had a high impact on policies and practices supporting societal protection, sustainable development, and economic efficiency. The main pathway for these contributions has been through the development of modelling tools that support innovation. For example, I have developed advanced air quality forecasting models to protect the health of vulnerable people, promoted renewable energy by creating methods for the simulation of the dynamic response of wind turbines, and extended urban resilience by improving the design of earthquake-resistant building structures. I have a sustained track-record of research achievement, having been awarded major research grants from several national (e.g. IRC, EPA) and international programmes (e.g. EU FP5-7, H2020), and maintained substantial research teams (PhD students, postdoctoral researchers and PIs) for over two decades. I have led multi-partner, multi-project European and national research programmes in more than one topic. I have published widely in fora that reach both scientific and professional engineering communities. As evidence of research leadership, I led the formation of the consortium recently awarded the National Construction Technology Centre by Enterprise Ireland. The lead PIs in all the other universities in this consortium completed their PhDs under my supervision or within our research group at Trinity. With initial platform funding of €5m, `ConstructInnovate" will contemporise the Irish construction industry. In the field of air quality, in which there had been almost no research activity before I joined Trinity, I have founded and led a research group that has published over 100 journal articles and won over €10M in research grants. As Associate Dean of Research and PI on the CHARM-EU TORCH project I am developing new University policies and strategies in Responsible Research and Innovation to ensure that Trinity remains at the forefront of European research practice.
Assistant Professor, Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering
Dr Breiffni Fitzgerald received the B.A.I. and Ph.D. degrees in Civil and Structural Engineering from Trinity College Dublin in 2009 and 2013, respectively. He was a Research Fellow with Trinity College Dublin from 2013 to 2014 and a Lecturer with the Technological University of Dublin from 2015 to 2016. He is currently an Ussher Assistant Professor in Energy in the School of Engineering, Trinity College Dublin.His research interests include wind turbine aerodynamics and structural dynamics, dynamics and damping of structures, wind engineering, vibration control, and control theory. He has received funding to work in these areas from Science Foundation Ireland, the Irish Research Council, Enterprise Ireland, H2020, Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and industry partners.
Dr Fitzgerald is a Chartered Engineer of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland. He has been appointed by the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) as a technical expert for the development of Structural Eurocode EN 1991-1-4: Wind loads. Dr Fitzgerald has also been appointed by the International Energy Agency (IEA) to serve as Ireland's international expert on Wind Farm Control.
Position: Assistant Professor in Environmental Systems Modelling, School of Engineering, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin. Experience: Design and assessment of passive air pollution control systems using life cycle assessment to generate low-carbon and resource efficient conclusions without negative consequences i.e. aligning with circular economy goals. Approach: Delivering innovative solutions to current environmental and energy challenges and problem solving using the 3M technique (Measurement, Modelling and Mitigation). Activity: Co-investigator on several National and European projects: two INTERREG projects, and one Horizon2020, Erasmus+, SEAI and EPA project on air pollution, energy efficiency/recovery measurement and circular economy solutions. Teaching: Delivered lectures and workshops on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes across Europe. Dissemination & Collaboration: Actively disseminating research through social and public media outlets. International research and industry sector collaborations: air, energy, water and construction.
My research interests are mainly focused on Geotechnical and Offshore Engineering where I lead the offshore geotechnics research group which is focused on solving the technical challenges in offshore wind energy (aligning with UN Sustainable Development Goals 7 and 13). I am actively involved in driving innovation within the geotechnical engineering community through advancements in fundamental understanding of soil behaviour, numerical modelling and experimental testing. My research has had a significant impact on the offshore wind industry, helping to reduce the costs and increase economic viability. I was a key contributor to the UK Carbon Trust Pile Soil Analysis (PISA) project, which developed new design methods for offshore wind foundations. The PISA design model is now the de-facto design approach used by engineers designing offshore wind foundations worldwide. This new approach is estimated to save ~30% of steel weight compared to the previous industry standard approach. The PISA project won the prestigious BGA Fleming Award and was recognised by the Carbon Trust as one of the 10 most high impact projects undertaken in the last 10 years by the Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA) program (which estimates its projects have resulted in £34 Billion cost savings for the offshore wind industry by 2030). I am currently collaborating with the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol, Southampton, Western Australia, Imperial College London, TU Delft. Geotechnical Engineering is historically poorly funded. Prior to my joining TCD, there had been no large grants (>€150k) won in this area in the previous 10 years. By harnessing my expertise in offshore geotechnics and targeting research funding supporting the Renewable Energy transition, I have managed to bring in significant research funding of €1.14 million to TCD in the past 3 years (with total consortium funding >€3 million), funded by SFI, SEAI, IRC and Geological Survey Ireland. In 2021 I joined the SFI ICRAG research centre as a funded Investigator where I was recently awarded funding of €170k. The program for government (2020) has targeted 5GW of offshore wind to be developed by 2030 which will require an investment of ~10 Billion. I have made this area one of the hot topics within the department and I will continue to grow my research group to position Trinity as Irelands leading University supporting Offshore Wind Geotechnics.
Chair of Structural Engineering/Head of School
Dr. Alan O'Connor is a Professor in the Dept. of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. He is a Fellow of that institution (FTCD). He is also a Chartered Engineer (CEng) and Fellow of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland (FIEI).
He has extensive national/international experience in risk and resilience analysis of critical infrastructure, asset lifecycle performance optimisation, code development/calibration and in probabilistic safety assessment. He has advised clients such as: Irish Rail, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, The Danish Roads Directorate; Danish Railways; Swedish Railways; The Norwegian Roads Authority, The Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management and the World Bank. At Trinity College Dublin, the research group which he leads are focused on investigating: infrastructural asset management and probabilistic safety assessment, risk and resilience analysis of critical infrastructure elements and systems, statistical load modelling, structural health monitoring, stochastic modelling of engineering systems, engineering for extremes and structural reliability analysis. He has authored over 250 academic papers in these areas. He has delivered Keynote Addresses at international conferences in Europe, the United States and Australia.
Associate Professor, Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering
Brendan O'Kelly earned bachelor's, masters and Doctoral degrees in civil and geotechnical engineering in 1992, 1994 and 2000 from University College Dublin, where he held the posts of Pierce-Newman Fellow in Civil Engineering, Research Fellow in Soil Mechanics and Assistant Lecturer in Civil Engineering for successive two-year periods (1994-2000). He earned his PhD on the topic of 'Development of a new apparatus for hollow cylinder testing under generalised stress conditions'. He then worked as a geotechnical engineer with Scott Wilson Consulting Engineers, UK (serving geotechnical design and resident engineer secondments), before joining the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, Trinity College Dublin, as Lecturer in Geotechnical Engineering late 2001. He was made a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin (2010). In 2012, during sabbatical, he served as Experienced Researcher on Marie Curie IAPP project (Nonstationary response of spatially extended structures) based in Plaxis BV, The Netherlands. He is an Associate Editor for the journals Environmental Geotechnics (ICE, UK) and Geotechnics (MDPI) and a Council Member of The International Society of Environmental Geotechnology. His main research interests are soil consistency limits, ground improvement, geotechnics of water- and wastewater-treatment sludges and the geomechanical behavior/properties of peat and other highly organic soils, on which he has published more than 100 refereed journal papers.
