Plenary Sessions

Today's propulsion and power industry is in the middle of a Digitalization Journey which requires large investments and cultural changes to achieve challenging goals. Digitalization promises significant improvements in workforce efficiency, increase pace in design, manufacture and test, but also interconnectivity driven by more compute power, modern IT hardware and faster digital networks. A significant contributor to the Digitalization Journey is data.

A vast amount of data exist in organisations which needs to be better managed and utilized in order to support data-driven decisions and to create a data-centric culture. Challenges arise in a multitude of areas, belonging to data gathering, storing, handling and interpretating.

With invited speakers from cross-industrial organisations, this plenary session will explore and discuss the utilization and management of data in organisations and the application of modern data analytics and data science techniques to help with the Digitalization Journey in the Propulsion and Power community.

Speakers

Frida Björneld, Head of Technology & Innovation Industrial Applications division, Siemens Energy
Frida Björneld is Head of Technology & Innovation for the Industrial Applications Division in Siemens Energy since April 1st, 2020. Frida Björneld has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Linköping. With broad experience in research and development of Gas turbines, Aero engines, Auxilliary systems, and portfolio management. As an employee of Siemens +15 years, Frida Björneld has held several management positions within Siemens. Before entering the current role, she was Director of R&D effectiveness and Product Interaction. Additional management positions have been in the areas of fluid systems, mechanical systems, and control systems. Main focus areas in current role are areas associated to decarbonization, digitalization and design enabled by additive manufacturing. In addition to Siemens’ positions, Frida Björneld has also been a project manager and stress analysist at Volvo Aero (GKN), focusing on aircraft engines on military and commercial aero engines. The combination of sustainable technology & innovation, strategic portfolio management, and agile methods have been focus areas for Frida Björneld in her various positions.

 

Dr. Timothy C. Lieuwen, Executive Director, Strategic Energy Institute, Georgia Institute of Technology
Dr. Tim Lieuwen is a Regents’ Professor, the David S. Lewis, Jr. Professor, and the Executive Director of the Strategic Energy Institute at Georgia Tech. In this capacity, he manages Georgia Tech's overall strategy and external relations for its energy portfolio. He is also founder and CTO of TurbineLogic, an analytics firm working in the energy industry. Prof. Lieuwen is an international authority on clean energy and propulsion, and his work has contributed to numerous commercialized innovations in the energy and aerospace sectors. He has authored 4 books and over 400 other publications. Current and past board positions include governing/advisory boards for Oak Ridge National Lab, Pacific Northwest National Lab, and the National Renewable Energy Lab, appointment by the DOE Secretary to the National Petroleum Counsel, and board member of the ASME International Gas Turbine Institute.

He is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of ASME, APS, and AIAA, and foreign fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering. Major awards include the AIAA Lawrence Sperry Award, AIAA Pendray Award, and ASME’s George Westinghouse Gold Medal.

 

David Robert Noble, Generation Gas Turbine Programs Manager, Electric Power Research Institute
Bobby Noble is the Program Manager for the GT Life Cycle Management (Program 216) and GT Advanced Components and Technologies (Program 217) in the Generation Sector at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). His primary gas turbine expertise is in experimental gas turbine combustion research, with focus on combustion dynamics, instrumentation and diagnostics – including GT digital twins, high-hydrogen and alternative fuels usage, and next-generation, low-NOx combustor architectures.

Noble has more than 18 years of experience in the gas turbine and power industry. He holds two patents and has authored/co-authored 14 journal publications and 43 conference publications. Noble received a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Clemson University in 2003. He received his master of science degree in aerospace engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2006. He is an ASME Fellow and inductee to the Georgia Tech Council of Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni. He is also a 2020 Public Utilities Fortnightly Under 40 rising star recipient.

 

Professor Bill Dawes, Founding Director, CTO and Chairman, Cambridge Flow Solutions Ltd
Bill Dawes is the Francis Mond Professor of Aeronautical Engineering at Cambridge University. After completing a PhD at Cambridge he worked for the UK’s Central Electricity Generating Board where he developed and applied early computer-based flow simulation methods to steam turbine operational problems. Returning to Cambridge in 1984 he continued to work on a range of numerical methods – by now called CFD - aimed at predicting fully 3D viscous flow in turbomachines. His blade-to-blade RANS code (BT0B3d) became an industry standard design tool and was licenced to over 50 companies & organisations around the world. He then broadened the application base beyond blading to shroud flows, secondary air systems and blade cooling and then on to geometry itself as a research theme. For the last 20 years his research has drawn inspiration from advanced computer graphics and physics-based animation and attempted to enable seamless and tactile integration between solid modelling, mesh generation, geometry editing and flow simulation. The resulting software & environment, BOXER, is being developed by Cambridge Flow Solutions Ltd (of which Bill is a Founding Director, CTO and Chairman). Bill is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and of the Royal Aeronautical Society and is a Chartered Engineer.

 

Moderators

Dr. Eva Verena Klapdor, VP Generation Service Global Operations, Siemens Energy
Verena holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from University of Duisburg-Essen and a MSc as well as a PhD in Mechanical engineering from the Technical University of Darmstadt. She joined Siemens Energy as a Performance Engineer in 2011 and later led the Combustion Design Team for new Combustion Technologies. After that she headed the products portfolio development team and later the Gas Turbine Technology organization where she played a leading role for the H2 gas turbine portfolio at Siemens Energy. Verena is very committed to the German turbomachinery industry. She was board member of AG Turbo from 2017 to 2020 and has been spokesperson for the BMWI's Research Network for Flexible Energy Conversion since 2018, where she leads the Turbomachinery Working Group.

Since 2021 she is leading the Service Global Operations, ensuring successful maintenance, repair and Upgrades of the Siemens Energy Gasturbine, Steamturbine and Generator Fleet.

 

Dr. Akin Keskin, Engineering Associate Fellow - Design Systems, Rolls-Royce
Akin holds a degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Technical University of Berlin in Germany and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the Cottbus University in Germany. Akin joined Rolls-Royce Deutschland in 2001 as a CFD Methods Development Engineer and continued his career as a Compressor Aerodynamicist before moving to the UK and leading multiple high profile simulation and modelling capability development projects. Akin has been appointed to an Engineering Associate Fellow in Design Systems and Methodologies and is currently Global Capability Lead in Design Systems within the Rolls-Royce Group.

He has extensive experience in leading and contributing to German, UK and European funded research projects. Akin is an active member of the AIAA and ASME with more than 30+ publications, is regular keynote speaker and panelist at various international conferences and workshops, member of the IGTI Executive Committee and the ATI Specialist Advisory Group.

 

Developing and deploying hydrogen technologies for generating electricity and for powering aviation is critical to reducing carbon emissions to address climate change and improve the environment. This panel of recognized experts will present the state of the art for hydrogen generation and transport, energy storage, and the use of hydrogen for power and propulsion. A detailed overview of the state of art energy storage technologies including status of development and deployment will be presented. Challenges for converting current and installing new infrastructure for handling, transporting, and storing hydrogen for use in power and propulsion will be discussed. Ongoing development for hydrogen for propulsion by the aircraft industry will also be presented.

Speakers

Sarah Hopkin, Hydrogen Researcher - H2 Mobility and Supply, ESPTG / Shell Oil
Sarah is a materials engineer working in the hydrogen research department within Shell’s Projects & Technology organization. Previously involved with the corrosion management and assuring asset integrity of Shell’s gas platforms in the Southern North Sea, she is now focused on understanding the technical materials challenges related to transporting hydrogen through pipelines, and how pipelines might fit into an integrated hydrogen value chain. She also screens new technologies to identify future opportunities for the hydrogen supply chain. Sarah holds a Master’s Degree in Materials Science from the University of Oxford, where her thesis focused on hydrogen embrittlement of bearing steels. She is a Chartered Engineer with the Institute of Materials, Mining and Minerals (IOM3).

 

 

Christian Sattler, Head of Solar Chemical Engineering, DLR
Dr. Christian Sattler has been the acting Divisional Board Member for Energy and Transport at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- and Raumfahrt; DLR) since November 2021. He has also been acting head of the DLR Institute of Future Fuels since 2020. From 2011 o 2020, Dr. Sattler was head of the department of Solar Chemical Engineering at the research area of Solar Material Conversion at the DLR Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics in Cologne. In 2015, Sattler was appointed Professor for Solar Fuels at TU Dresden, where he conducts research into the conversion of solar energy into liquid fuel.

Sattler studied chemistry at the University of Bonn and received his doctorate in chemistry from the Kekulé Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Bonn. He has been a DLR employee since 1997. Christian serves as Chair of the CETG Hydrogen Sub-Committee.

 

Arnie Feldman, President/Principal, JJDS Environmental
Mr. Feldman earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering at New Mexico State University in 1969. Before beginning environmental work, he held a variety of engineering and production positions at industrial facilities in the U.S. In 1980 Mr. Feldman became the Environmental Manager at a large chemical plant in Illinois where he was responsible for overall compliance of the plant along with energy use/conservation. Since then, he held numerous positions in the environmental field with a heavy concentration on regulatory compliance and remedial programs. He was responsible for compliance monitoring and assistance for a wide range of industrial facilities for Olin and FMC Corporation's throughout the world. Mr. Feldman has developed various environmental training tools and compliance assistance programs. In 1999, Mr. Feldman set up his own Environmental, Security, Safety and Quality consulting firm, JJDS Environmental, dedicated to complying with laws and regulations on a cost- effective basis. Mr. Feldman was a USACE/NAVFAC Certified Quality Manager. He is now semi-retired.

Mr. Feldman is a Senior Member of AIChE and a Life Fellow of ASME. He is former Chair of the ASME Environmental Systems Division. Mr. Feldman is a member of the Clean Energy Task Group and Chair of the Energy Storage Committee. Mr. Feldman served as the ASME representative on the United Engineers Association Founders Society Carbon Management Task Force where he was Chair of the Scorecard Committee and is Co-chair of the Transportation Committee. He is the new Chair of the Energy and Environment Standards Advisory Board and is Chair of the International Conference on Radioactive Waste Management and Environmental Remediation. He is past Chair of the ASME Task Force on MultiPollutant Legislation Analysis.

 

Tim Allison, Machinery Department Director, Southwest Research Institute
Dr. Tim Allison is the Machinery Department Director at Southwest Research Institute® where he leads an organization that focuses on R&D for the energy industry. His research experience includes analysis, fabrication, and testing of turbomachinery and systems for advanced power or oil & gas applications including high-pressure turbomachinery, centrifugal compressors, expanders, gas turbines, reciprocating compressors, and test rigs for bearings, seals, blade dynamics, and aerodynamic performance. Dr. Allison holds two patents, has authored four book chapters and co-edited two books, and has published over 79 articles on various turbomachinery topics. He received the best tutorial/paper awards from the ASME Oil & Gas and Supercritical CO2 Power Cycle Committees in 2010, 2014, 2015, and 2018. He is a past chairman of the ASME Oil & Gas Applications Committee, past and current co-chair for the Thermal-Chemical-Mechanical Energy Storage Workshop, a member of the Supercritical CO2 Symposium Planning Committee, and an Associate Editor for the ASME Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines & Power.

 

Dr. Steven R. Wellborn, Head of Aerothermal and Functional Design, Senior Fellow – Turbomachinery Systems, Rolls-Royce
Steve is currently the Lead for Aerothermal and Functional Design at Rolls-Royce in addition to holding his Senior Fellow position. In this role he leads an aerothermal research, technology and capability across Rolls-Royce. Steve joined Rolls-Royce in 1996 after obtaining his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University. Working first in methods, his responsibilities included the development and implementation of advanced three-dimensional viscous flow analyses tools for multistage turbomachinery design. Putting those tools into practice, he moved into aerodynamic design and was directly involved with over a dozen turbomachinary configurations. Throughout his career, Steve has driven simulation throughout engineering and in 2013 he took the role of the Head of Design Systems Engineering for all of Rolls-Royce. The team was responsible for the development, deployment, support and maintenance of computational design systems which enabled faster and more accurate prediction and optimization of performance and cost attributes of Rolls-Royce products. Steve was also the Director of DaVinci (Design and Validate in the Computer Investment), which was a program to develop and deploy virtual engine technology within Rolls-Royce. Steve has been lucky to perform and fund research with several US and European universities and continues his close relationship with these institutions by lecturing often to both undergraduate and graduate students. He has also works closely with US government agencies. Steve is a member of ASME, AIAA and RAeSoc and has received several team and individual awards, including the Royal Aeronautical Society Gold Award.

Steve is married to Stephanie, who is also an Iowa State University alum. They have two boys, Owen and Evan, who are both gainfully employed. The family loves spending time relaxing at the lake house, or at the track watching the Indy cars fly past.

Moderators

Frank Michell, Founder, Power Industry Consulting, LLC
Chairman of ASME Clean Energy Technology Group, Past Chairman of ASME Power Division. And an ASME Fellow. Frank Michell recently retired from American Electric Power (AEP). Prior to retiring, Frank managed the Applications Engineering and Balance of Plant Mechanical Equipment Group in the Engineering Services Organization; responsible for providing engineering services to AEP’s Fossil and Hydro Generating Fleet in the areas of Mechanical Engineering Analysis (fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, heat transfer, stress analysis & CFD modeling), fire protection engineering and balance of plant mechanical equipment & system expertise/design basis for pumps, heat exchangers, cooling towers, HVAC & dust collection and other misc. equipment. 

Following retirement from AEP, Frank formed Utility Industry Consulting, LLC to provide consulting services to the industry.

Frank is active in several Industry Organizations including the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Cooling Technology Institute (CTI), and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). 

Frank holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Polytechnic Institute of New York.

 

Dr. Natalie Smith, Senior Research Engineer, Southwest Research Institute
Dr. Natalie Smith is a Senior Research Engineer in the Machinery Department at Southwest Research Institute. Her research experience includes aerodynamic design and testing of turbomachinery and advanced system analysis for programs related to power generation, aviation, oil & gas and energy storage both in academia and industry. She is a demonstrated leader in energy storage in which she has designed and operated first-of-kind laboratory-scale facilities. Her contributions in turbomachinery have resulted in 18 journal publications, three book chapters, 30 conference papers, and three best paper awards. Dr. Smith serves on the ASME Global Gas Turbine News editorial committee, has served on the ASME PTC-10 update committee, and has held leadership positions in Turbo Expo at the technical committee and organizing committee levels. She served as the Review Chair for Turbo Expo 2022. Finally, she teaches thermodynamics at a local university, coaches a high school mountain bike team, and holds two national titles in mountain biking.