Dr Robert Barthorpe
MEng, CEng, PhD
School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering
Senior Lecturer
+44 114 222 7762
Full contact details
School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering
D213, Central Wing
Sir Frederick Mappin Building
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
- Profile
-
Rob is a Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He completed his MEng in Mechanical Engineering with German at the University of Sheffield in 2005 and his PhD in 2010. His research interests span dynamics, structural health monitoring and, more recently, energy applications.
- Research interests
-
The underlying theme of Rob's research is the development of tools for integrating experimental and numerical data to overcome challenging engineering problems. This encompasses techniques for model validation, uncertainty quantification, machine learning, and optimal decision making under uncertainty.
His research has historically focused on application to a range of problems within structural dynamics, and particularly Structural Health Monitoring. Within SHM, this has included developing methods for overcoming the lack-of-data problem that acts as key barrier to wider adoption of machine learning based approaches to damage identification.
In recent years, his focus has moved to applications with the energy field, and in particular the role that distributed thermal and electrical energy storage may play as part of the transition to a low-carbon energy grid. This work has included the development of hierarchical control methodologies incorporating model predictive control, and evaluation of how they may be employed for optimal decision making over differing time horizons such that the potential of novel storage technologies may be fully exploited.
- Publications
-
Books
- . River Publishers.
Journal articles
- . IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 1331(1).
- . Energies, 18(11), 2853-2853.
- . Structural Health Monitoring, 23(4), 2358-2390.
- . Data-Centric Engineering, 3.
- . Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 168.
- . Wind Energy Science, 6(5), 1107-1116.
- . Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 152.
- . Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 150.
- . Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 144.
- . Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks, 9(3).
- . Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 143.
- . ASCE - ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part B. Mechanical Engineering, 6(3).
- . ASCE - ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part B. Mechanical Engineering, 6(3).
- . Journal of Verification, Validation and Uncertainty Quantification, 4(3).
- . Applied Mechanics and Materials, 885, 18-31.
- . Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 112, 194-232.
- . Journal of Sound and Vibration, 409, 43-64.
- . Nonlinear Dynamics.
- . Journal of Sound and Vibration, 333(20), 5181-5195.
- . Applied Mechanics and Materials, 564, 164-169.
- . Journal of Sound and Vibration, 333(3), 971-990.
- . Key Engineering Materials, 588, 166-174.
- . Journal of Sound and Vibration.
- . Key Engineering Materials, 569-570, 1109-1115.
- . Key Engineering Materials, 569-570, 547-554.
- . J SOUND VIB, 329(12), 2349-2366.
- Vibration-based structural health monitoring using large sensor networks. SMART STRUCTURES AND SYSTEMS, 6(3), 335-347.
- . SHOCK AND VIBRATION, 17(4-5), 589-599.
- . Key Engineering Materials, 413-414, 151-158.
- . International Journal of Sustainable Materials and Structural Systems, 2(1/2).
Book chapters
- , Atlantis Highlights in Engineering (pp. 12-19). Atlantis Press International BV
- , Handbook of Experimental Structural Dynamics (pp. 989-1061). Springer New York
- , Handbook of Experimental Structural Dynamics (pp. 1-72). Springer New York
- , Handbook of Experimental Structural Dynamics (pp. 1-72). Springer New York
- In Boller C, Chang F & Fujino YZ (Ed.), Encyclopedia of structural health monitoring (pp. 1239-1250). Chichester: Wiley.
Conference proceedings
- (pp 123-132)
- (pp 57-65)
- (pp 185-191)
- . 2025 ASHRAE Winter Conference
- (pp 181-188)
- (pp 45-58)
- (pp 119-126)
- (pp 175-183)
- (pp 23-36)
- . Proceedings of the International Renewable Energy Storage and Systems Conference (IRES 2023), Vol. 32 (pp 187-194). Aachen, Germany, 28 November 2023 - 28 November 2023.
- . European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring: EWSHM 2022 - Volume 1, Vol. LNCE 253 (pp 533-542). Palermo, Italy, 4 July 2022 - 4 July 2022.
- Assessment criteria for optimal sensor placement for a structural health monitoring system. Structural Health Monitoring 2021 : Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring Stanford University, March 15-17 2022 (formerly December 7-9, 2021) (pp 365-375). Lancaster, PA, USA, 15 March 2022 - 15 March 2022.
- On robustness of optimal sensor placement to environmental variation for SHM. Structural Health Monitoring 2021 : Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring Stanford University, March 15-17 2022 (formerly December 7-9, 2021) (pp 977-987). Lancaster, PA, USA, 15 March 2022 - 15 March 2022.
- The role of features in a hierarchical modelling strategy for forward model-driven structural health monitoring. Proceedings of ISMA 2022 International Conference on Noise and Vibration Engineering and Usd 2022 International Conference on Uncertainty in Structural Dynamics (pp 4925-4933)
- . Dynamics of Civil Structures, Volume 2: Proceedings of the 39th IMAC, A Conference and Exposition on Structural Dynamics, 2021 (pp 49-60). Orlando, Florida, 8 February 2021 - 8 February 2021.
- . Model Validation and Uncertainty Quantification, Volume 3 Proceedings of the 38th IMAC, A Conference and Exposition on Structural Dynamics 2020, Vol. 3 (pp 55-64). Houston, Texas, USA, 10 February 2020 - 10 February 2020.
- . Rotating Machinery, Optical Methods & Scanning LDV Methods: Proceedings of the 38th IMAC, A Conference and Exposition on Structural Dynamics 2020, Vol. 6 (pp 109-114). Houston, Texas, 10 February 2020 - 10 February 2020.
- . Dynamics of Civil Structures : Proceedings of the 38th IMAC, Vol. 2 (pp 201-212). Houston, Texas, 10 February 2020 - 10 February 2020.
- On decision-making for adaptive models combining physics and data. Proceedings of ISMA 2020 - International Conference on Noise and Vibration Engineering and USD 2020 - International Conference on Uncertainty in Structural Dynamics (pp 3623-3637). Virtual Conference, Leuven, Belgium, 7 September 2020 - 7 September 2020.
- On robust equation discovery: A sparse Bayesian and Gaussian process approach. Proceedings of ISMA 2020 International Conference on Noise and Vibration Engineering and Usd 2020 International Conference on Uncertainty in Structural Dynamics (pp 3599-3610)
- . Proceedings of the XI International Conference on Structural Dynamics (pp 3846-3864), 23 November 2020 - 26 November 2020.
- . Structural Health Monitoring 2019: Enabling Intelligent Life-Cycle Health Management for Industry Internet of Things (IIOT), Vol. 2 (pp 2152-2160). Stanford, CA, USA, 10 September 2019 - 10 September 2019.
- . Structural Health Monitoring 2019: Enabling Intelligent Life-Cycle Health Management for Industry Internet of Things (IIOT), Vol. 2 (pp 2357-2366), 10 September 2019 - 10 September 2019.
- . ASME 2019 Verification and Validation Symposium. Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 15 May 2019 - 15 May 2019.
- . Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Vol. 1264(1). Valpre, France, 15 April 2019 - 15 April 2019.
- . Model Validation and Uncertainty Quantification, Volume 3, Vol. 3 (pp 285-295). Reno, NV, USA, 3 June 2019 - 3 June 2019.
- . Model Validation and Uncertainty Quantification, Volume 3, Vol. 3 (pp 267-272). Reno, NV, USA, 3 June 2019 - 3 June 2019.
- A probabilistic framework for forward model-driven SHM. Proceedings of the 9th European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring (EWSHM 2018)(2018-11). Manchester, UK, 10 July 2018 - 10 July 2018.
- . ASME 2018 Verification and Validation Symposium, VVS 2018
- On NARX models using treed Gaussian processes. Proceedings of ISMA 2018 International Conference on Noise and Vibration Engineering and Usd 2018 International Conference on Uncertainty in Structural Dynamics (pp 2775-2782)
- A multi-level uncertainty integration strategy for forward model-driven SHM. Proceedings of ISMA2018 and USD2018 - International Conference on Uncertainty in Structural Dynamics (pp 3681-3692). Leuven, Belgium, 17 September 2018 - 17 September 2018.
- . Structural Health Monitoring 2017: Real-Time Material State Awareness and Data-Driven Safety Assurance, Vol. 2 (pp 2019-2027). Stanford, CA, USA, 12 September 2017 - 12 September 2017.
- Experimental evaluation of environmental effects on a polymer-coated aluminium structure: a time-series analysis and pattern recognition approach. PROCEEDINGS OF ISMA2016 INCLUDING USD2016. Leuven, Belgium
- The development of a damage model for the use in machine learning driven SHM and comparison with conventional SHM Methods. Proceedings of ISMA2016 including USD2016 (pp 3333-3346). Leuven, Belgium, 19 September 2016 - 19 September 2016.
- (pp 325-345)
- On the validation of nonlinear MDOF system models. Proceedings of ISMA 2016 International Conference on Noise and Vibration Engineering and Usd2016 International Conference on Uncertainty in Structural Dynamics (pp 2785-2796)
- Bayesian Parameter Estimation and Model Selection of a Nonlinear Dynamical System using Reversible Jump Markov Chain Monte Carlo. Proceedings of ISMA 2014, International Conference on Noise and Vibration Engineering. Leuven, Belgium, 15 September 2014 - 15 September 2014.
- Bayesian System Identification of Dynamical Systems using Reversible Jump Markov Chain Monte Carlo. Proceedings of IMAC XXXII, Conference and Exposition on Structural Dynamics. Orlando, Florida USA, 3 February 2014 - 3 February 2014.
- Aircraft parametric structural load monitoring using Gaussian process regression. 7th European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring Ewshm 2014 2nd European Conference of the Prognostics and Health Management Phm Society (pp 1933-1940)
- Towards an ontology for verification and validation in structural dynamics. Proceedings of ISMA 2014 International Conference on Noise and Vibration Engineering and Usd 2014 International Conference on Uncertainty in Structural Dynamics (pp 1171-1178)
- Autoregressive Gaussian processes for structural damage detection. Proceedings of ISMA 2014 International Conference on Noise and Vibration Engineering and Usd 2014 International Conference on Uncertainty in Structural Dynamics (pp 469-483)
- An experimental investigation of feature complexity and diversity in nominally similar test structures. Proceedings of ISMA 2014 International Conference on Noise and Vibration Engineering and Usd 2014 International Conference on Uncertainty in Structural Dynamics (pp 4665-4674)
- An approach to fault detection using a unified linear Gaussian framework. Structural Health Monitoring 2013 A Roadmap to Intelligent Structures Proceedings of the 9th International Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring Iwshm 2013, Vol. 2 (pp 2752-2759)
- Auto-Association and Novelty Detection: Truths and Myths?. STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING 2013, VOLS 1 AND 2 (pp 243-250)
- The effect of attenuation on the identification of impact damage in CFRP laminates. Proceedings of the 6th European Workshop Structural Health Monitoring 2012 Ewshm 2012, Vol. 1 (pp 698-706)
- Impact damage detection for composite material typical of wind turbine blades using novelty detection. Proceedings of the 6th European Workshop Structural Health Monitoring 2012 Ewshm 2012, Vol. 2 (pp 1287-1296)
- . MODERN PRACTICE IN STRESS AND VIBRATION ANALYSIS 2012 (MPSVA 2012), Vol. 382
- . Key Engineering Materials, Vol. 518 (pp 298-318)
- . Key Engineering Materials, Vol. 518 (pp 319-327)
- . Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series, Vol. 4 (pp 57-65)
- . Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series, Vol. 4 (pp 49-56)
- . Proceedings of SPIE the International Society for Optical Engineering, Vol. 8348
- . Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series, Vol. 1 (pp 195-201)
- Bayesian sensitivity analysis of numerical models for structural health monitoring. Structural Health Monitoring 2011 Condition Based Maintenance and Intelligent Structures Proceedings of the 8th International Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring, Vol. 1 (pp 1300-1308)
- . 9th International Conference on Damage Assessment of Structures. Oxford, UK
- Damage location using added masses in a Piper Tomahawk aircraft wing. Proceedings of ISMA 2010: International Conference on Noise and Vibration Engineering. Leuven, Belgium
- Finite Element Model-based Feature Generation for Structural Health Monitoring. IMAC-XXVII: Conference & Exposition on Structural Dynamics. Orlando, FL
- Selecting Features for Damage Identification without Damaging the Structure. IWSHM2009, 7th International Workshop on Structural Engineering Dynamics. Stanford, CA
- Identification of robust damage-sensitive features for model-based structural health monitoring: an effect screening approach. USD2009 2nd International Conference on Uncertainty in Structural Dynamics. Sheffield, UK
- A comparative study of approaches to damage detection. XIX Congresso AIMETA. Ancona, Italy
- A forward approach to model-based structural health monitoring. ICEDyn 2009, International Conference on Structural Engineering Dynamics. Ericeira, Portugal
- An Investigation into the Necessary Model Fidelity for SHM Feature Selection. PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH EUROPEAN WORKSHOP ON STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING 2008 (pp 980-989)
- The Use of Pseudo-Faults for SHM Feature Selection and Pattern Recognition. PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH EUROPEAN WORKSHOP ON STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING 2008 (pp 1104-1112)
- Fault induction using added masses for structural damage identification. PROCEEDINGS OF ISMA 2008: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON NOISE AND VIBRATION ENGINEERING, VOLS. 1-8 (pp 3333-3344)
- A risk-based active learning approach to inspection scheduling. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure. Porto, Portugal, 30 June 2021 - 30 June 2021.
- . Structural Health Monitoring 2019, 24 October 2018 - 26 October 2018.
- . Structural Health Monitoring 2019, 24 October 2018 - 26 October 2018.
- . Structural Health Monitoring 2017, 12 September 2017 - 14 September 2017.
- . Structural Health Monitoring 2015
Other
- Preface. Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series, v.
- Preface. Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series, 3, v.
- Preface. Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series, 3 Part F2, v.
- . Structural Control and Health Monitoring, 24(1), e1970-e1970.
- Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series: Preface. Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series, 4.
Preprints
- , arXiv.
- , arXiv.
- .
- Grants
-
Selected Grants:
- BEIS Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, ADSorB (Advanced Distributed Storage for grid Benefits), 2022-24, £2.59M (PI)
- Horizon 2020, DyVirt (Dynamic virtualisation: modelling performance of engineering structures), 2018-23, £556k (CoI)
- EPSRC, Structural Dynamics Laboratory for Verification and Validation (LVV) Across Scales and Environments, 2016-22, £4.15M (CoI)
- ERDF, Laboratory for Verification & Validation (LVV), 2017-19, £3.2M (CoI)
- EPSRC/Wellcome Trust, Doctoral Prize Fellowship, 2010-11, £40k (PI)
- Teaching activities
-
Dr Barthorpe currently teaches MEC321 Control Engineering for Mechanical Engineers