Professor Karen M Holford

CBE, FREng, CEng, FIMechE, FLSW, FWES

Professor

School of Engineering

: holford@cardiff.ac.uk
: +44 (0)29 20 874607
: VCO, Main Building, Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3AT

: Media commentator
: Available for postgraduate supervision

My current role at Cardiff University is Deputy Vice-Chancellor. I also continue to engage in research as Research Professor in Mechancial Engineering. From 2012 -2017 I led the College of Physical Sciences and Engineering as the founding Pro Vice-Chancellor and prior to this I was Head of the School of Engineering.

In 2015 I was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and in 2016 I was named as one of the top 50 most influential women engineers in the UK. In 2018 I received a CBE for services to engineering and the advancement of women in engineering and in 2019 received the Suffrage Science award in Physical Sciences and Engineering. I have served as a Council member for UKRI STFC and a member of the ESPRC Strategic Advisory Network, having previously served as the external Chair of the EPSRC Engineering Strategic Advisory Team. I recently (2020) took up the role of Chair of the Royal Academy of Engineering Research Committee.

My engineering career spans industry and academia; beginning at Rolls-Royce (Aero) as an undergraduate engineer, followed by a number of roles at AB Electronic Products Ltd., culminating in a position as senior engineer with technical responsibility for all projects and leadership of a large mechanical design team, before pursuing an acdemic career where, during 30 years at Cardiff University, I have engaged in research with industrial impact and research-led learning and teaching together with a significant administrative and leadership profile.

I am the Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Cardiff University and Professor in Mechanical Engineering. In my primary role I work with the Vice-Chancellor and Pro Vice-Chancellors to provide leadership to the University and deliver the goals of our strategy and I deputise for the Vice-Chancellor in his absence. My specific responsibilities include: strategic oversight of resource allocation and budgeting; strategic planning processes and policies; University estate and staff strategies; oversight of the dignity, diversity and staffing strategies and policies; the sustainable development of the University in its widest sense and leadership of projects of strategic importance across the breadth of our activities. I have particular interests in facilitating industrial collaborations in research and teaching, inclusivity, equality and diversity, championing of interdisciplinary activities and the development of early career researchers. In 2015 I was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and in 2016 I was named as one of the top 50 most influential women engineers in the UK. In 2018 I received a CBE for services to engineering and the advancement of women in engineering.

My career spans industry and academia. At Rolls Royce I contributed to a range of technical projects including development of Adour and Pegasus engines in collaboration with engineers from Europe and the United States. At AB Electronic Products I was responsible for management of technical projects including the design and development of a significant new product (a thin film pressure sensor for BMW ABS systems) as well as developing automotive electronic products for Jaguar Rover. On promotion to senior engineer in 1988 I had technical responsibility for all projects and led a large mechanical design team.

During 30 years at Cardiff University I have engaged in research with industrial impact and research-led learning and teaching together with a significant administrative and leadership profile. In my first role as Course Director for a new degree scheme (Integrated Engineering) I was responsible for gaining Engineering Council approval to be one of 6 Universities to pilot this scheme; I designed the curriculum, obtained industrial sponsorship and achieved IMechE/IEE accreditation. As Mechanical Engineering Degree Scheme Director I oversaw a major reorganisation of teaching into a modular structure. As Research Institute Director I led the Mechanical UOA submission for RAE2008, which saw the greatest improvement in Cardiff of any UoA. As Head of School of Engineering I led the merger of the Manufacturing Engineering Centre with the School. As founding Pro Vice-Chancellor, College of Physical Sciences and Engineering at Cardiff University from 2012 -2017 I contributed to the leadership of major organisational change during our transition into a College structure and was responsible for the submission of 8 Units of Assessment for REF2014 in which Cardiff University was ranked 5th in the UK for research quality and 2nd in the UK for the impact our work. I have published 160+ research works including 90+ papers in peer-reviewed journals and have been PI/CI on research projects totalling over £7.5M, funded from a wide range of sources including EPSRC, InnovateUK, KTP, EU and industry. I have successfully supervised 22 research students and currently supervise 3 PhD students.

My primary research theme is damage assessment using acoustic emission applied across a range of industrial applications including bridges (commercialised under licence agreement with Physical Acoustics Ltd and included in a Highways Agency Advice note and the topic of a 4* REF2014 Case Study) and aerospace landing gear (with EPSRC and Messier-Dowty) and across a range of materials including composites (with Airbus and Boeing), concrete and metals. I engage with industry at every level, from leading global engineering organisations such as Airbus through to local SMEs.

I also contribute to engineering policy and advice: for example through membership of STFC Council, EPSRC Strategic Advisory Network (SAN) the RAEng Engineering Policy Centre working Group and Research Committee.

Honours and awards

Honours and awards

2019 Suffrage Science award; Physical Sciences and Engineering
2018 named of one of Wales' 100 most influential women http://100women.walesonline.co.uk/index.html
2017 CBE for contributions to engineering and advancement of women in engineering
2016 Top 50 most influential women engineers in the UK
2015 elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering
2001 Shortlisted "UKRC Women of Outstanding Achievement” award for Inspiration and Leadership
2009 IMechE, Charles Sharpe Beecher prize. Aerospace Division BEST PAPER
2007 WISE Excellence Award for “personal contribution to engineering and a long term commitment to supporting girls and young women in science and engineering
2006 Welsh Woman of the Year in Science and Technology “in recognition of notable achievements in her field”
2002 Royal Academy of Engineering prize: “Engineering Excellence” in TCS work
1993 - 1997 Esso/Royal Academy Engineering Teaching Fellow; One of 6 awards out of 76 applicants

Patents and Licences

2005 Licence agreement awarded with Physical Acoustics Ltd for Monitoring of Bridges using Acoustic Emission

Participation in advisory, review, funding or standard setting bodies

2019 Member of the Wales HE Camm Governance Review Group
2019 onwards Chair of the Royal Academy of Engineering Research Committee
2019 onwards Member of the NPL Science and technology Advisory Committee
2019 onwards Member of Welsh Government Women in STEM, Industry sub committee
2018 onwards Member of Welsh Government Women in STEM Board
2017 - 2020 Non-Executive Director UKRI STFC Council; including membership of Finance and Governance Committee, Science Board Applications and Nominations Committee and STFC/Innovate UK joint forum.
2017 Member of RG Post-18 review advisory group
2017 Panel Member for the “Reid Review of Research and Innovation Funding in Wales”
2016 Chair Welsh Government review and co-author of report “Talented women for a Successful Wales” – on the recruitment, retention and promotion of women in STEM-related study and careers
2012 - 2019 Member of EPSRC Strategic Advisory Network (SAN)
2013 - 2016 Chair of EPSRC Engineering SAT (member since 2012)
2003 onwards EPSRC College of Peer Review
2004 -2006 BINDT AE Working Group: Standards and examinations for AE (CM-GEN)
2001 - 2009 DTI Measurement Advisory Committee (MAC) Working Group on Acoustics

Professional memberships

FREng

CEng

FIMechE

FLSW

FWES

Academic positions

External Examiner Motorsport MSc Cranfield 2005 - 2009.

Research degree External Examiner at Sheffield, Southampton, Heriot-Watt, Cranfield, Robert Gordon, Loughborough, Derby, Queens University Belfast, University of Iceland and Queensland University of Technology.

Speaking engagements

Invited Keynote Speaker, World Conference on Acoustic Emission, Beijing, 2011.
Invited Keynote Speaker, DAMAS 2009, Beijing, China.
Invited Seminars; UNSW Australia and Hong Kong Polytechnic (2007)
Chair of 27th European Conference on Acoustic Emission testing (Sept 2006)
Chair of 4th International Conference on Damage Assessment 2001 in Cardiff (sponsored by IMechE, IOP, EPSRC)
International Advisory Board; 19th International Acoustic Emission Symposium, Kyoto, Japan, 2008

Committees and reviewing

External Commitees

Panel Member Research England "Expanding Excellence in England" 2018
Panel Member "Reid Review" 2017
Council Member STFC 2017 -
Royal Academy of Engineering Research Committee 2016 -
Royal Academy of Engineering Membership Commitee Panel 5
Chair, EPSRC Engineering Strategic Advisory Team 2012 - 2016
Member EPSRC Strategic Advisory Network 2012 - present
Elected Member of EPSRC College of Peer Review since 2003

2022

Almudaihesh, F., Holford, K., Pullin, R. and Eaton, M. 2022. A comparison study of water diffusion in unidirectional and 2D woven carbon/epoxy composites. Polymer Composites 43(1), pp. 118-129. (10.1002/pc.26361)
McCrory, J. P., Vinogradov, A., Pearson, M. R., Pullin, R. and Holford, K. M. 2022. Acoustic emission monitoring of metals. In: Grosse, C. U. et al. eds. Acoustic Emission Testing: Basics for Research – Applications in Engineering. Springer, pp. 529-565., (10.1007/978-3-030-67936-1_18)
Grigg, S., Usui, T., Watabe, K., Shiotani, T., Pullin, R. and Holford, K. M. 2022. Wireless acoustic emission systems. In: Grosse, C. U. et al. eds. Acoustic Emission Testing: Basics for Research – Applications in Engineering. Springer Tracts in Civil Engineering Springer, Cham, pp. 711-729., (10.1007/978-3-030-67936-1_23)

2021

Abdulaziz, A. H., Hedaya, M., Elsabbagh, A., Holford, K. and McCrory, J. 2021. Acoustic emission wave propagation in honeycomb sandwich panel structures. Composite Structures 277, article number: 114580. (10.1016/j.compstruct.2021.114580)
Abdulaziz, A. H., McCrory, J., Holford, K., Elsabbagh, A. and Hedaya, M. 2021. Experimental three-point bending test of glass fibre aluminium honeycomb sandwich panel with acoustic emission damage assessment. Insight - Non-Destructive Testing & Condition Monitoring 63(12), pp. 727-733. (10.1784/insi.2021.63.12.727)
Almudaihesh, F., Grigg, S., Holford, K., Pullin, R. and Eaton, M. 2021. An assessment of the effect of progressive water absorption on the interlaminar strength of unidirectional carbon/epoxy composites using acoustic emission. Sensors 21(13), article number: 4351. (10.3390/s21134351)
Wang, Y., Pullin, R., Pearson, M., Davies, R. and Holford, K. 2021. Detection and evaluation of vascular network based self-healing concrete using acoustic emission. Presented at: World Conference on Acoustic Emission 2019 (WCAE), Guangdong, China, 5-8 November 2019 Presented at Shen, G., Zhang, J. and Wu, Z. eds.Advances in Acoustic Emission Technology: Proceedings of the World Conference on Acoustic Emission—2019, Vol. 259. Springer Proceedings in Physics Springer; 1999, (10.1007/978-981-15-9837-1_25)

2020

McCrory, J. P., Pearson, M. R., Pullin, R. and Holford, K. M. 2020. Optimisation of acoustic emission wavestreaming for structural health monitoring. Structural Health Monitoring 19(6), pp. 2007-2022. (10.1177/1475921720912174)
Pearson, M., Featherston, C. A., Pullin, R. and Holford, K. M. 2020. Optimized placement of parasitic vibration energy harvesters for autonomous structural health monitoring. Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures 31(11), pp. 1403-1415. (10.1177/1045389X20922907)
Almudaihesh, F., Holford, K., Pullin, R. and Eaton, M. 2020. The influence of water absorption on unidirectional and 2D woven CFRP composites and their mechanical performance. Composites Part B: Engineering 182, article number: 107626. (10.1016/j.compositesb.2019.107626)

2019

Albadr, A., McCrory, J., Holford, K., Hedaya, M. and Elsabbagh, A. 2019. Effects of honeycomb core on acoustic emission wave propagation in glass fibre composite plates. Presented at: 58th Annual British Conference on Non-Destructive Testing, Telford, UK, 3 - 5 September 2019.
Middleton, C. A., McCrory, J. P., Greene, R. J., Holford, K. and Patterson, E. A. 2019. Detecting and monitoring cracks in aerospace materials using post-processing of TSA and AE data. Metals 9(7), pp. 748. (10.3390/met9070748)
Almudaihesh, F., Grigg, S., Pullin, R., Holford, K. and Eaton, M. 2019. The influence of water absorption on the damage mechanism of unidirectional and 2D woven CFRP.. Presented at: 22nd International Conference on Composite Materials (ICCM22 2019), Melbourne, Australia, 11-16 August 2019Proceedings of the 2019 International Conference on Compostie Materials. RMIT University
Albadr, A., Hedaya, M., McCrory, J. and Holford, K. 2019. Parametric study of honeycomb composite structure using open source finite element software. Presented at: 27th UK Association of Computational Mechanics Conference, City, University of London, London, England, April 2019. pp. -.
Albadr, A., McCrory, J., Holford, K., Hedaya, M. and Elsabbagh, A. 2019. Effects of honeycomb core on acoustic emission wave propagation in glass fibre composite plates. Presented at: the 58th Annual British Conference on Non-Destructive Testing, Telford, UK, 3 - 5 September 2019.

2018

Al-Jumaili, S. K., Eaton, M. J., Holford, K. M., Pearson, M. R., Crivelli, D. and Pullin, R. 2018. Characterisation of fatigue damage in composites using an Acoustic Emission Parameter Correction Technique. Composites Part B: Engineering 151, pp. 237-244. (10.1016/j.compositesb.2018.06.020)
Clarke, A., Cahill, B., Pullin, R. and Holford, K. 2018. Damage detection in high performance gears using a magnetoelastic sensor to measure rate of change of torque. Presented at: Leeds-Lyon Symposium on Tribology, Leeds, 4-7 September 2018.
Almudaihesh, F., Pullin, R., Holford, K. and Eaton, M. 2018. The effects of fibre architecture on water absorption induced degradation in CFRP laminates.. Presented at: 18th European Conference on Composite Materials (ECCM 2018), Athens, Greece, 24-28 June 201818th European Conference on Composite Materials (ECCM-18). Applied Mechanics Laboratory

2017

Al-Azzawi, A. S. M., McCrory, J., Kawashita, L. F., Featherston, C. A., Pullin, R. and Holford, K. M. 2017. Buckling and postbuckling behaviour of glare laminates containing splices and doublers. Part 1: instrumented tests. Composite Structures 176, pp. 1158-1169. (10.1016/j.compstruct.2017.04.030)
Pearson, M. R., Eaton, M., Featherston, C., Pullin, R. and Holford, K. 2017. Improved acoustic emission source location during fatigue and impact events in metallic and composite structures. Structural Health Monitoring 16(4), pp. 382-399. (10.1177/1475921716672206)
Holford, K. M., Eaton, M. J., Hensman, J. J., Pullin, R., Evans, S. L., Dervilis, N. and Worden, K. 2017. A new methodology for automating acoustic emission detection of metallic fatigue fractures in highly demanding aerospace environments: An overview. Progress in Aerospace Sciences 90, pp. 1-11. (10.1016/j.paerosci.2016.11.003)

2016

Cockerill, A., Clarke, A., Pullin, R., Bradshaw, T., Cole, P. and Holford, K. M. 2016. Determination of rolling element bearing condition via acoustic emission. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part J: Journal of Engineering Tribology 230(11), pp. 1377-1388. (10.1177/1350650116638612)
Al-Jumaili, S. K., Pearson, M. R., Holford, K. M., Eaton, M. J. and Pullin, R. 2016. Acoustic emission source location in complex structures using full automatic delta T mapping technique. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 72-73, pp. 513-524. (10.1016/j.ymssp.2015.11.026)

2015

Cockerill, A., Clarke, A., Pullin, R., Holford, K. M., Bradshaw, T. and Cole, P. 2015. Acoustic emission as an aid to understanding raceway damage in rolling element bearings [Abstract]. Presented at: 42nd Leeds-Lyon Symposium on Tribology, Lyon, France, 7-9 September 2015Proceedings of the 42nd Leeds-Lyon Symposium on Tribology. Lyon: pp. 1.
Cockerill, A., Holford, K., Bradshaw, T., Cole, P., Pullin, R. and Clarke, A. 2015. Use of high frequency analysis of acoustic emission signals to determine rolling element bearing condition. Journal of Physics. Conference Series 628, article number: 12074. (10.1088/1742-6596/628/1/012074)
Al-Jumaili, S., Holford, K. M., Eaton, M. J. and Pullin, R. 2015. Parameter Correction Technique (PCT): A novel method for acoustic emission characterisation in large-scale composites. Composites Part B: Engineering 75, pp. 336-344. (10.1016/j.compositesb.2015.01.044)
Crivelli, D., Guagliano, M., Eaton, M., Pearson, M., Al-Jumaili, S., Holford, K. and Pullin, R. 2015. Localisation and identification of fatigue matrix cracking and delamination in a carbon fibre panel by acoustic emission. Composites Part B: Engineering 74, pp. 1-12. (10.1016/j.compositesb.2014.12.032)
Al-Jumaili, S. K., Holford, K. M., Eaton, M. J., McCrory, J. P., Pearson, M. R. and Pullin, R. 2015. Classification of acoustic emission data from buckling test of carbon fibre panel using unsupervised clustering techniques. Structural Health Monitoring 14(3), pp. 241-251. (10.1177/1475921714564640)
McCrory, J. P. et al. 2015. Damage classification in carbon fibre composites using acoustic emission: A comparison of three techniques. Composites Part B: Engineering 68, pp. 424-430. (10.1016/j.compositesb.2014.08.046)
Al-Azzawi, A., McCrory, J., Kawashita, L., Featherston, C., Pullin, R. and Holford, K. 2015. Buckling and postbuckling behaviour of glare laminates containing splices and doublers: experimental and numerical investigation. Presented at: 3rd International Conf erence on Buckling and Postbuckling Behaviour of Composite Laminated Structures, Braunschweig, Germany, 25-27 March 2015. pp. S65-S65.
Pearson, M. R., Eaton, M. J., Featherston, C. A., Pullin, R. and Holford, K. M. 2015. Improved acoustic emission damage source location during fatigue testing of complex structures. In: Proceedings of the 34th Conference and the 28th Symposium of the International Committee on Aeronautical Fatigue and Structural Integrity. ICAF, pp. 846-853.

2014

Al-Jumaili, S. K., Eaton, M. J., Holford, K. M., McCrory, J. and Pullin, R. 2014. Damage characterisation in composite materials under buckling test using acoustic emission waveform clustering technique. Presented at: The 53rd Annual Conference of The British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing, Manchester, UK, 9-11 September 2014.
Pearson, M. R., Eaton, M. J., Pullin, R., Featherston, C. A. and Holford, K. M. 2014. Airborne acoustic damage location for structural health monitoring applications. Presented at: ICEM 16 - 16th International Conference on Experimental Mechanics, Cambridge, England, 7-11 July 2014.
Crivelli, D., Eaton, M., Pearson, M. R., Holford, K. M. and Pullin, R. 2014. Chebyshev descriptors for SHM with acoustic emission and acousto ultrasonics. International Journal of Structural Integrity 5(3), pp. 202-213. (10.1108/IJSI-04-2014-0013)
Marks, R., Pullin, R., Clarke, A., Holford, K. M., Featherston, C. A. and Kawashita, L. 2014. Optimisation of acoustic emission sensor positioning on aerospace structures using 3D scanning laser vibrometry. Presented at: 16th International Conference on Experimental Mechanics, Cambridge, UK, 7 - 11 July 2014.
Cockerill, A., Clarke, A., Holford, K. M., Bradshaw, T., Cole, P. and Pullin, R. 2014. Damage assessment of rolling element bearings using acoustic emission. Presented at: 16th International Workshop on Experimental Mechanics, Cambridge, UK, 7 - 11 July 2014.
Al-Jumaili, S. K., Eaton, M., Holford, K. M. and Pullin, R. 2014. A Parameter Correction Technique (PCT) for acoustic emission characterisation in large-scale composites. Presented at: 31st European Conference on Acoustic Emission Testing (EWGAE), Dresden, Germany, 3-5 September 2014. pp. 1-8.
McCrory, J., Al-Jumaili, S. K., Pearson, M., Eaton, M. J., Holford, K. M. and Pullin, R. 2014. Automated corrected MAR calculation for characterisation of AE signals. Presented at: 31st European Conference on Acoustic Emission Testing (EWGAE), Dresden, Germany, 3-5 September 2014.
Al-Azzawi, A., McCrory, J., Kawashita, L., Featherston, C., Pullin, R. and Holford, K. 2014. Delamination characteristics of splices and doublers in glare laminates during buckling. Presented at: 11th World Congress on Computational Mechanics (WCCM XI), Barcelona,Spain, 25 July 2014. pp. S65-S65.

2013

Shahidan, S., Pullin, R., Muhamad Bunnori, N. and Holford, K. M. 2013. Damage classification in reinforced concrete beam by acoustic emission signal analysis. Construction and Building Materials 45, pp. 78-85. (10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2013.03.095)
Kural, A., Pullin, R., Holford, K. M., Lees, J., Naylon, A. J., Paget, C. and Featherston, C. A. 2013. Design and characterization of an ultrasonic lamb-wave power delivery system. IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control 60(6), pp. 1134-1140. (10.1109/TUFFC.2013.2676)
Elfergani, H. A., Pullin, R. and Holford, K. M. 2013. Damage assessment of corrosion in prestressed concrete by acoustic emission. Construction and Building Materials 40, pp. 925-933. (10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2012.11.071)
Featherston, C., Holford, K. M., Pullin, R., Lees, J., Eaton, M. J. and Pearson, M. R. 2013. An autonomous structural health monitoring solution. Presented at: Microtechnologies 2013, Grenoble, France, 24-26 April 2013Proc. SPIE 8763, Smart Sensors, Actuators, and MEMS VI. Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) pp. 876302., (10.1117/12.2018401)
Pullin, R., Pearson, M. R., Eaton, M. J., Featherston, C. A., Holford, K. M. and Clarke, A. 2013. Automated damage detection in composite components using acoustic emission. Key Engineering Materials 569-57, pp. 80-87. (10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.569-570.80)
Holford, K. M., Eaton, M. J., Clarke, A., Pearson, M. R., Featherston, C. A. and Pullin, R. 2013. Approaches to acoustic emission monitoring with applicability to key components in wind turbines. Presented at: 9th International Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring, Stanford, CA, USA, 10-12 September 2013.
Crivelli, D. et al. 2013. Classification of acoustic emission data from Buckling Test of carbon fiber panel using neural networks. Presented at: 3rd European Aeronautics Science Network Workshop on Aerostructures, Milan, Italy, 11 October 2013.

2012

Eaton, M. J., Pullin, R. and Holford, K. M. 2012. Towards improved damage location using acoustic emission. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part C: Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science 226(9), pp. 2141-2153. (10.1177/0954406212449582)
Aljets, D., Chong, A., Wilcox, S. and Holford, K. M. 2012. Acoustic emission source location on large plate-like structures using a local triangular sensor array. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 30, pp. 91-102. (10.1016/j.ymssp.2012.01.012)
Eaton, M. J., Pullin, R. and Holford, K. M. 2012. Acoustic emission source location in composite materials using Delta T Mapping. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing 43(6), pp. 856-863. (10.1016/j.compositesa.2012.01.023)
Featherston, C. A., Eaton, M. J. and Holford, K. M. 2012. Modelling the effects of geometric imperfections on the buckling and initial post-buckling behaviour of flat plates under compression using measured data. Strain 48(3), pp. 208-215. (10.1111/j.1475-1305.2011.00813.x)
Pullin, R., Clarke, A., Eaton, M. J., Pearson, M. R. and Holford, K. M. 2012. Identification of the onset of cracking in gear teeth Using acoustic emission. Journal of Physics. Conference Series 382(1), article number: 12050. (10.1088/1742-6596/382/1/012050)
Pearson, M. R., Eaton, M. J., Pullin, R., Featherston, C. A. and Holford, K. M. 2012. Energy Harvesting for Aerospace Structural Health Monitoring Systems. Journal of Physics. Conference Series 382(1), article number: 12025. (10.1088/1742-6596/382/1/012025)
Pullin, R. et al. 2012. On the Development of a Damage Detection System using Macro-fibre Composite Sensors. Journal of Physics. Conference Series 382(1), article number: 12049. (10.1088/1742-6596/382/1/012049)

2011

Hensman, J., Worden, K., Eaton, M. J., Pullin, R., Holford, K. M. and Evans, S. L. 2011. Spatial scanning for anomaly detection in acoustic emission testing of an aerospace structure. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 25(7), pp. 2462-2474. (10.1016/j.ymssp.2011.02.016)
Muhamad Bunnori, N., Lark, R. J. and Holford, K. M. 2011. The use of acoustic emission for the early detection of cracking in concrete structures. Magazine of Concrete Research 63(9), pp. 683-688. (10.1680/macr.2011.63.9.683)
Pearson, M. R., Eaton, M. J., Featherston, C. A., Holford, K. M. and Pullin, R. 2011. Impact Damage Detection and Assessment in Composite Panels using Macro Fibre Composites Transducers. Journal of Physics: Conference Series 305(1), article number: 12049. (10.1088/1742-6596/305/1/012049)
Eaton, M. J., May, M., Featherston, C. A., Holford, K. M., Hallet, S. and Pullin, R. 2011. Characterisation of Damage in Composite Structures using Acoustic Emission. Journal of Physics: Conference Series 305(1), article number: 12086. (10.1088/1742-6596/305/1/012086)
Eaton, M. J., Pullin, R., Featherston, C. A. and Holford, K. M. 2011. Acoustic Emission Source Characterisation in Large-Scale Composite Structures. Applied Mechanics and Materials 70, pp. 381-386. (10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.70.381)
Elfergani, H. A., Pullin, R. and Holford, K. M. 2011. Acoustic Emission Analysis of Prestressed Concrete Structures. Journal of Physics: Conference Series 305(1), article number: 12076. (10.1088/1742-6596/305/1/012076)
Eaton, M. J., Pullin, R., Hensman, J. J., Holford, K. M., Worden, K. and Evans, S. L. 2011. Principal component analysis of acoustic emission signals from landing gear components: an aid to fatigue fracture detection. Strain 47(Supp.1), pp. e588-e594. (10.1111/j.1475-1305.2009.00661.x)
Kural, A., Pullin, R., Featherston, C. A., Paget, C. and Holford, K. M. 2011. Wireless power transmission using ultrasonic guided waves. Journal of Physics. Conference Series 302(1), article number: 12088. (10.1088/1742-6596/305/1/012088)
Holford, K. M. and Eaton, M. J. 2011. Recent advances in acoustic emission. Presented at: World Conference on Acoustic Emission - 2001 Beijing, Beijing, China, 24-26 August 2011 Presented at Shan, G. and Wu, Z. eds.Proceedings of World Conference on Acoustic Emission - 2011. Chinese Society for Non-destructive Testing pp. 58-66.

2010

Featherston, C. A., Eaton, M. J., Evans, S. L., Holford, K. M., Pullin, R. and Cole, M. 2010. Development of a Methodology to Assess Mechanical Impulse Effects Resulting from Lightning Attachment to Lightweight Aircraft Structures. Applied Mechanics and Materials 24-25, pp. 129-134. (10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.24-25.129)
Pullin, R., Clarke, A., Eaton, M. J., Holford, K. M., Evans, S. L. and McCory, J. P. 2010. Detection of cracking in gear teeth using Acoustic Emission. Applied Mechanics and Materials 24-25, pp. 45-50. (10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.24-25.45)
Pullin, R., Eaton, M. J., Hensman, J. J., Holford, K. M., Worden, K. and Evans, S. L. 2010. Validation of acoustic emission (AE) crack detection in aerospace grade steels using Digital Image Correlation (DIC). Presented at: 7th BSSM International Conference on Advances in Experimental Mechanics, Liverpool, UK, 7 - 9 September 2010 Presented at Mines, R. A. W. and Dulieu-Barton, J. M. eds.Advances in Experimental Mechanics. Applied Mechanics and Materials Vol. 24-25. Zurich: Trans Tech Publications pp. 221-226., (10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.24-25.221)
Pullin, R., Clarke, A., Eaton, M. J., Holford, K. M., Evans, S. L. and McCrory, J. 2010. Detection of cracking in gear teeth using acoustic emission. Presented at: 7th BSSM International Conference on Advances in Experimental Mechanics, Liverpool, UK, 7-9 September 2010.
Featherston, C. A., Eaton, M. J., Evans, S. L., Holford, K. M., Pullin, R. and Cole, M. 2010. Development of a methodology to assess mechanical impulse effects resulting from lightning attachment to lightweight aircraft structure. Presented at: 7th BSSM International Conference on Advances in Experimental Mechanics, Liverpool, UK, 7 - 9 September.

2009

Holford, K. M., Pullin, R., Evans, S. L., Eaton, M. J., Hensman, J. and Worden, K. 2009. Acoustic emission for monitoring aircraft structures. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering 223(5), pp. 525-532. (10.1243/09544100JAERO404)
Hensman, J., Pullin, R., Eaton, M. J., Worden, K., Holford, K. M. and Evans, S. L. 2009. Detecting and Identifying Artificial Acoustic Emission Signals in an Industrial Fatigue Environment. Measurement Science and Technology 20(4), article number: 45101. (10.1088/0957-0233/20/4/045101)
Eaton, M. J., Pullin, R., Holford, K. M., Evans, S. L., Featherston, C. A. and Rose, A. 2009. Use of Macro Fibre Composite Transducers as Acoustic Emmission Sensors. Remote Sensing 1(2), pp. 68-79. (10.3390/rs1020068)
Featherston, C. A., Holford, K. M. and Greaves, B. 2009. Harvesting Vibration Energy for Structural Health Monitoring in Aircraft. Key Engineering Materials 413-41, pp. 439-446. (10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.413-414.439)
Featherston, C. A., Holford, K. M. and Waring, G. 2009. Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting for Wireless Sensor Systems in Aircraft. Key Engineering Materials. 413-41, pp. 487-494. (10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.413-414.487)
Holford, K. M. 2009. Acoustic Emission in Structural Health Monitoring. Key Engineering Materials. Damage Assessment of Structures VIII 413 -, pp. 15-28. (10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.413-414.15)
Aljets, D., Chong, A., Wilcox, S., Holford, K. M., Pullin, R. and Eaton, M. J. 2009. Classification of delamination and matrix cracking in carbon fibre composite plates using Acoustic Emission (AE). Presented at: Proceedings of the ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences, and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference 2009 (DETC2009), San Diego, USA, Vol. 1. pp. 29-36.
Davies, H. C., Holford, K. M., Assoune, A., Trioulier, B. and Courtney, W. 2009. Pedestrian protection using a shock absorbing liquid (SALi) based bumper system. Presented at: 21st International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles, Stuttgart, Germany. Vol. 09-002.
Featherston, C. A., Eaton, M. J., Pullin, R. and Holford, K. M. 2009. Structural health monitoring of buckling composite structures using acoustic emission. Presented at: International Conference on Computational and Experimental Engineering Sciences, Phuket, Thailand.

2008

Pullin, R., Eaton, M. J., Hensman, J. J., Holford, K. M., Worden, K. and Evans, S. L. 2008. A principal component analysis of acoustic emission signals from a landing gear component. Presented at: 6th International Conference on Advances in Experimental Mechanics, London, UK, 9-10 September 2008 Presented at Dulieu-Barton, J. M., Dennis Lord, J. and Greene, R. J. eds.Advances in experimental mechanics VI : selected peer reviewed papers from 6th International Conference on Advances in Experimental Mechanics, 9th-11th September 2008, National Physical Laboratory, London, UK. Trans Tech pp. 41-47., (10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.13-14.41)
Chaston, A., Edwards, C., Evans, S. L. and Holford, K. M. 2008. Shear Wave Ultrasonic Coupling Performance of Different Adhesives. Insight - Non-Destructive Testing and Condition Monitoring 50(11), pp. 633-636. (10.1784/insi.2008.50.11.633)
Hensman, J., Pullin, R., Eaton, M. J., Worden, K., Holford, K. M. and Evans, S. L. 2008. Detecting and Identifying Artificial Acoustic Emission Signals in an Industrial Fatigue Environment. Applied Mechanics and Materials: Advances in Experimental Mechanics VI 13-14, pp. 251-260. (10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.13-14.251)
Eaton, M. J., Pullin, R., Holford, K. M. and Featherston, C. A. 2008. AE wave propagation and novel source location in composite plates. Presented at: 28th European Conference on Acoustic Emission, Krakow, Poland.
Featherston, C. A., Eaton, M. J. and Holford, K. M. 2008. Imperfection sensitivity in plates - An assessment using DIC, SEM XI. Presented at: SEM XI International Congress & Exposition on Experimental and Applied Mechanics, Orlando, FL, 2 - 5 June 2008.
Pullin, R., Holford, K. M., Lark, R. J. and Eaton, M. J. 2008. Acoustic emission monitoring of bridge structures in the field and laboratory. Presented at: 28th European Conference on Acoustic Emission, Krakow, Poland.
Lark, R. J., Pullin, R. and Holford, K. M. 2008. Acoustic emission monitoring of concrete structures. Presented at: Onsite assessment of concrete, masonry and timber structures, International RILEM Conference (SACoMaTiS 2008), Varenna, Italy.
Pullin, R., Holford, K. M., Lark, R. J. and Eaton, M. J. 2008. Acoustic emission monitoring of bridge structures in the field and laboratory. Journal of Acoustic Emission 26, pp. 172-181.

2007

Baxter, G., Pullin, R., Holford, K. M. and Evans, S. L. 2007. Delta T source location for acoustic emission. Mechanical systems and signal processing 21(3), pp. 1512-1520. (10.1016/j.ymssp.2006.05.003)
Eaton, M. J., Holford, K. M., Featherston, C. A. and Pullin, R. 2007. Damage in carbon fibre composites: the discrimination of acoustic emission signals using frequency. Journal of Acoustic Emission 25, pp. 140-148.
Bunnori, N. M., Holford, K. M. and Lark, R. J. 2007. Acoustic emission monitoring of concrete structures suffering from reinforcement corrosion. Concrete 41(1), pp. 25-27.
Nicholas, M. K. D., Waters, M. G. J., Holford, K. M. and Adusei, G. 2007. Analysis of rhelogical properties of bone cement. Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine 18(7), pp. 1407-1412. (10.1007/s10856-007-0125-2)
Pullin, R., Hensman, J. J., Holford, K. M., Worden, K. and Evans, S. L. 2007. Principal component analysis of acoustic emission signals from a landing gear component. Key Engineering Materials 347, pp. 139-144.
Pullin, R., Holford, K. M. and Evans, S. L. 2007. Confidence of detection of fractures using acoustic emission signals. Applied Mechanics and Materials 07-08, pp. 147-152. (10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.7-8.147)
Pullin, R., Theobald, P., Holford, K. M. and Evans, S. L. 2007. A Numerical Determination of Acoustic Emission Sensor Response in Plates Using Dispersion Curves. Key Engineering Materials 347, pp. 381-386. (10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.347.381)
Pullin, R., Baxter, M., Eaton, M. J., Holford, K. M. and Evans, S. L. 2007. Novel acoustic emission source detection. Journal of Acoustic Emission 25, pp. 215-223.
Eaton, M. J., Holford, K. M., Featherston, C. A. and Pullin, R. 2007. An investigation of frequency as an acoustic emission signal discriminator in carbon fibre composite materials. Presented at: 6th International Conference on Acoustic Emission, (ICAE6), Lake Tahoe, Nevada, USA. pp. 312-217.
Holford, K. M., Pullin, R. and M., B. 2007. Current practice and applications of acoustic emission. Presented at: 13th International Conference on Experimental Mechanics (ICEM 13), Alexandroupolis, Greece.
Pullin, R., Baxter, M., Eaton, M. J., Holford, K. M. and Evans, S. L. 2007. Novel acoustic emission source detection. Presented at: 5th International Conference on Acoustic Emission, Lake Tahoe, USA.
Pullin, R., Holford, K. M. and Evans, S. L. 2007. Confidence of detection of fracture signals using acoustic emission. Presented at: 5th International Conference on Advances in Experimental Mechanics, Manchester, Manchester, UK.
Pullin, R., Holford, K. M., Evans, S. L., Baxter, M. and Hensman, J. J. 2007. Advanced location and characterisation of damage in complex metallic structures using acoustic emission. Presented at: 13th International Conference on Experimental Mechanics (ICEM07), Alexandroupolis, Greece.
Pullin, R., Theobald, P., Holford, K. M. and Evans, S. L. 2007. Numerical determination of acoustic emission sensor response in plates using dispersion curves. Presented at: 7th International Conference on Damage Assessment of Structures (DAMAS 2007), Turin, Italy.

2006

Holford, K. M. 2006. Advice notes on the Non-Destructive Testing of highway structures. Technical Report.
Muhamad Bunnori, N., Pullin, R., Holford, K. M. and Lark, R. J. 2006. A practical investigation into acoustic wave propagation in concrete structures. Advanced Materials Research 13-14, pp. 205-212. (10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.13-14.205)
Pullin, R., Holford, K. M., Evans, S. L. and Baxter, M. G. 2006. Acoustic emission testing of a landing gear component. Advanced Materials Research 13-14, pp. 29-34. (10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.13-14.29)
Pullin, R., Theobald, P., Holford, K. M. and Evans, S. L. 2006. Experimental validation of dispersion curves in plates for acoustic emission. Advanced Materials Research 13-14, pp. 53-60. (10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.13-14.53)
Eaton, M. J., Holford, K. M., Featherston, C. A. and Pullin, R. 2006. Acoustic emission monitoring of delamination defects inbuckling CFRP composite panels. Advanced Materials Research 13-14, pp. 259-266. (10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.13-14.259)
Bunnori, N. M., Holford, K. M. and Lark, R. J. 2006. The application of acoustic emission monitoring of concrete structures suffering from reinforcement corrosion. Presented at: Concrete Communication Conference, University College London, London, UK.

2005

Baxter, M. G., Pullin, R., Holford, K. M. and Evans, S. L. 2005. Detection of fatigue crack growth in aircraft landing gear, 4 point bend specimens. Key Engineering Materials 293-94, pp. 193 -200. (10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.293-294.193)
Pullin, R., Holford, K. M. and Baxter, M. G. 2005. Modal analysis of acoustic emission signals from artificial and fatigue crack sources in aerospace grade steel. Key Engineering Materials 293-29, pp. 217-224. (10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.293-294.217)
Watton, J. and Holford, K. M. 2005. Industrial digital control in undergraduate fluid power courses: a student-centred approach using an active suspension test rig. Australian Journal of Mechanical Engineering 2(2), pp. 117-124.
Eaton, M. J., Ann, F. C., Holford, K. M. and Pullin, R. 2005. Buckling and postbuckling of impact damaged composite plates. Presented at: SEM Annual Conference, Portland, USA.
Ostachowicz, W. M. et al. eds. 2005. Damage assessment of structures VI. Key Engineering Materials Vol. 293-39. Trans Tech Publications.
Holford, K. M. and Lark, R. J. 2005. Acoustic emission testing of bridges. In: Fu, G. ed. Inspection and Monitoring Techniques for Bridges and Civil Structures. Cambridge: Woodhead Publishing, pp. 183-215.
Holford, K. M. and Worden, K. 2005. Special issue on acoustic emission [Editorial]. Journal of Strain Analysis for Engineering Design 40(1), pp. i-iii. (10.1177/030932470504000101)
Featherston, C. A., Holford, K. M., Holt, C. A., Manning, D. and Claisse, A. 2005. Measuring the torsional stiffness of a space frame chassis using 3D motion capture techniques. Presented at: 4th International Conference on Advances in Experimental Mechanics, Southampton, UK, 6-8 September 2005 Presented at Dulieu-Barton, J. M. and Quinn, S. eds.Advances in experimental mechanics IV : proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Advances in Experimental Mechanics, Vol. 3-4. London: Trans-Tech Publications pp. 423-428.

2004

Watton, J., Holford, K. M. and Surawattanawan, P. 2004. The application of a programmable servo controller to state control of an electrohydraulic active suspension. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D: Journal of Automobile Engineering 218(12), pp. 1367-1377. (10.1243/0954407042707650)
Holford, K. M., Pullin, R. and Lark, R. J. 2004. Acoustic emission modelling of concrete hinge joint models. Journal of Acoustic Emission 22, pp. 166-172.
Holford, K. M., Featherston, C. A., Pullin, R. and Eaton, M. J. 2004. Acoustic emission monitoring of buckling behaviour in impact-damaged composite plates. Presented at: 26th European Conference on Acoustic Emission Testing, Berlin, Germany. pp. 427-434.
Baxter, M. G., Pullin, R. and Holford, K. M. 2004. Detection of fatigue cracks in aircraft landing gear. Presented at: 26th European Conference on Acoustic Emission Testing, Berlin, Germany. pp. 331-341.
Pullin, R., Holford, K. M. and Lark, R. J. 2004. Christchurch Hill (Royal Oak) Overbridge: an investigation of the use of acoustic emission to monitor the behaviour of the thrust hinges. Project Report.
Pullin, R., Holford, K. M. and Lark, R. J. 2004. An investigation of the use of acoustic emission to monitor hinge joints. Project Report.

2003

Beck, P., Bradshaw, T. P., Lark, R. J. and Holford, K. M. 2003. A quantitative study of the relationship between concrete crack parameters and acoustic emission energy released during failure. Key Engineering Materials 245-24, pp. 462-466. (10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.245-246.461)
Beck, P., Lark, R. J. and Holford, K. M. 2003. Moment tensor analysis of acoustic emission in concrete specimens failed in four-point bending. Key Engineering Materials 245-46, pp. 443-450. (10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.245-246.443)
Rippengill, S., Worden, K., Holford, K. M. and Pullin, R. 2003. Automatic classification of acoustic emission patterns. STRAIN 39(1), pp. 31-41. (10.1046/j.1475-1305.2003.00041.x)
Pullin, R., Holford, K. M., Lark, R. J. and Beck, P. 2003. Acoustic emission assessment of concrete hinge joints. Key Engineering Materials 245-24, pp. 323-330.
Evans, S. L., Thomas, K., Pullen, R. and Holford, K. M. 2003. Problems in the fatigue testing of PMMA bone cements. Presented at: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on New Biomedical Materials, Cardiff, UK.
Watton, J. and Holford, K. M. 2003. Industrial digital control in undergraduate fluid power course: a student-centered approach using an active suspension test rig. Presented at: Ist International Conference on Computational Methods in Fluid Power Systems, Melbourne, Australia. pp. 535-542.
Dulieu-Barton, J. M. et al. eds. 2003. Damage assessment of structures V: DAMAS 2003. Key Engineering Materials. Zurich: Trans Tech Publications.
Holford, K. M., Pullin, R. and Davies, A. W. 2003. Damage location by acoustic emission techniques. Presented at: 3rd International Conference on Identification in engineering systems, Swansea, UK, April 2002 Presented at Lees, A. W., Prells, U. and Norton, J. P. eds.Identification in engineering systems : proceedings of the third international conference held in Swansea, April 2002. Swansea: University of Swansea pp. 198-207.

2002

Pullin, R. and Holford, K. M. 2002. Single sensor source location of AE from fatigue cracks. Presented at: 25th European Conference on Acoustic Emission Testing EWGAE, Prague, Czech Republic. Vol. 11. pp. 95-102.
Bradshaw, T., Holford, K. M., Cole, P. and Davies, A. W. 2002. Ball bearing calibration of concrete structures using AE. Presented at: 25th European Conference on Acoustic Emission Testing EWGAE, Prague, Czech Republic. Vol. 1. pp. 91-98.

2001

Watton, J., Holford, K. M. and Surawattanawan, P. 2001. Electrohydraulic effects on the modelling of a vehicle active suspension. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D: Journal of Automobile Engineering 215(10), pp. 1077-1092. (10.1243/0954407011528635)
Holford, K. M., Carter, D. C., Davies, A. W. and Pullin, R. 2001. Damage location in steel bridges by acoustic emission. Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures 12(8), pp. 567-576. (10.1177/10453890122145311)
Holford, K. M., Manson, G., Pullin, R. and Worden, K. 2001. Visualisation and dimension reduction of acoustic emission data for damage detection. Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures 12(8), pp. 529-536. (10.1177/10453890122145375)
Staszewski, W. J. and Holford, K. M. 2001. Wavelet signal processing of acoustic emission data. Key Engineering Materials 204-20, pp. 351-358. (10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.204-205.351)
Watson, J. R., Cole, P. T., Holford, K. M. and Davies, A. W. 2001. Damage assessment using acoustic emission. Key Engineering Materials 204/05, pp. 309-318. (10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.204-205.309)
Holford, K. M. et al. eds. 2001. Damage assessment of structures IV: DAMAS 2001. Key Engineering Materials Vol. 204-5. Zurich: Trans Tech Publications.

1999

Holford, K. M. and Carter, D. C. 1999. Acoustic emission source location. Presented at: International Conference on Damage Assessment of Structures (DAMAS 99), Dublin, Ireland, 28-30 June 1999 Presented at Gilchrist, M. D., Dulieu-Barton, J. M. and Worden, K. eds.Damage Assessment of Structures. Key Engineering Materials Vol. 167/68. Durnten-Zurich: Trans Tech Publications pp. 162-171.
Pullin, R., Carter, D. C. and Holford, K. M. 1999. Damage assessment in steel bridges. Presented at: International Conference on Damage Assessment of Structures (DAMAS 99), Dublin, Ireland, 28-30 June 1999 Presented at Gilchrist, M. D., Dulieu-Barton, J. M. and Worden, K. eds.Damage Assessment of Structures. Key Engineering Materials Vol. 167/68. Durnten-Zurich: Trans Tech Publications pp. 335-342.

1998

Carter, D. C. and Holford, K. M. 1998. Strategic considerations for the AE monitoring of bridges: a discussion and case study. Insight - Non-Destructive Testing and Condition Monitoring 40(2), pp. 112-116.

TEACHING PROFILE (to 2012)

Nominated for an “enriching student life award” 2016
HEFCW Teaching assessment awarded an “excellent” rating
Consistent and sustained Course Monitoring and Evaluation of teaching above 4.5 out of 5
Engaged in teaching and related administration at all undergraduate and postgraduate levels over a wide range of engineering subjects
Led the Mechanical Engineering Teaching Discipline as Director of Studies and Chair of Board of Studies
Published five papers connected with teaching, one of which was recognised nationally by the IEEE as being a paper of significant importance.
School of Engineering “Teacher of the Year” awards in 2006 and 2010.

Research theme: Mechanics, Materials and Advanced Manufacturing

RESEARCH PROFILE

I have worked in the field of Acoustic Emission (AE) since 1984, when I was a contributor to the SERC Marine Technology Programme "The behaviour of wire ropes in offshore applications" through my PhD. I also worked as a consultant to a programme of research into AE of wire ropes at the National Engineering Laboratory. Upon return to academia following a period in industry, I worked hard and independently to establish myself in an area of research which was new to the University. The now substantial reputation of the AE group in Cardiff has grown through provision of research funds from EPSRC, InnovateUK, EU and industrial sponsors. The work is directed towards the application of AE for damage assessment of structures and the strategy has been to achieve long-term quality by well-designed research programmes and transfer of technology to field applications; recognition of this is exemplified by the high level of industrial support, a licence agreement with Physical Acoustics for bridge inspection, an impact case study for REF 2014 and the Highways Agency advice note for the use on the technique in the field. I have directed a research team by drawing in researchers in other disciplines across the school and in other major UK universities. In 2007 I led the development of the Cardiff University Structural Performance (CUSP) laboratories, a £2.4M project that I led from inception to completion and which integrates theoretical, experimental and computational research methodologies to develop new materials and structures and advance multi-scale modelling of mechanical response and damage mechanisms. Through my leadership, Cardiff University has gained an international reputation for research in AE and has the best equipped experimental AE facility in Europe.

Initially, signal characterisation was the theme of a series of collaborative projects with research fellows from China, funded by the British Council and The Royal Society Fellowship Programme. Subsequently I realised that accurate source location was essential to implementation of AE for structural health monitoring; an extensive programme of work on bridge monitoring was conducted in collaboration with Physical Acoustics UK Ltd and resulted in the successful transfer of the technology into the field as exemplified by contracts with organisations such as WS Atkins and The Highways Agency for the evaluation of major motorway bridges and background research, this formed a highly rated impact case study for REF2014. The papers published during this programme have been cited widely. A major research programme for fatigue damage assessment of landing gear was completed in conjunction with Messier-Dowty Ltd (now Saffran Group), under an EPSRC grant and extended into the verification stage. My group is making a major contribution to the knowledge of the technique of Acoustic Emission in particular the application of the technique to the location of faults in real engineering structures. The current work is not only addressing parts of the technique which were previously ignored, such as the relationship between the physical parameters and the detected signal, but also the use of computational techniques in order to exploit these features for classification purposes and to increase location accuracy.

In recognition of the challenges faced by industry and society in quest of a new generation of safe, high performance lightweight, sustainable engineering products, the recent work of my group has been directed towards advanced materials, structures and mechanisms and novel manufacturing techniques which will become a vital part of almost every technological or engineering project. I continue as an active researcher but in order to accommodate University leadership responsibility my co-investigator, Dr Rhys Pullin, has recently succeeded me as Research Group Leader.

Research/Industrial Contracts Awarded

SPONSOR	TITLE	DATES	VALUE	Co-investigators
SERC	Health Monitoring of Steel Bridges-Graded Alpha 3	April 1993 - April 1996	£49,667	Mr A W Davies
HEFCW	Optimised Life	Jan1997 - July 1998	£95,260	Dr A W Davies
	TCS	A condition monitoring method for the remaining life assessment of steel structures	June 1998 - June 2000	£86,888	Dr A W Davies
	Royal Society	Royal Fellowship Programme	Jan 1998 - Dec1998	£11,000	Dr Tinghu Yan (Nanjing)
	WS Atkins	Monitoring of M6 motorway using Acoustic Emission	Dec1998 – Feb 1998	£21,398	Dr A W Davies
	WSP Civils Ltd	AE Monitoring Steel Corbels - Queenhill Viaduct M50	July 2000	£8,146	Dr A W Davies
	WSP Group plc	Kirkless Viaduct M62 - AE monitoring of bearings	July 2000	£1,780	Dr A W Davies
	WS Atkins	Trial Monitoring Transverse Steel Box Girders M5 J2	Oct 2000	£9,425	Dr A W Davies
	EPSRC CASE/PAL	Quantitative Damage Assessment of Concrete Structures Using AE and AEUT	October 2000	£48,050	Dr A W Davies
	TCS	Development of a new AE monitoring service for the damage assessment and structural integrity monitoring of a variety of structures	October 2000	£96,112	Dr A W Davies
	Birmingham City Council	Investigating a probable fatigue cracking at a welded joint on the Aston Expressway	May 2001	£5,539	Dr A W Davies
	WDA/NAFL/ELWa	Centre of Excellence for sustainable energy and process management	May 2001	£300,000*	PI Prof N Syred etc (13)
	TRL	Management of bridges with sub-standard shear studs – AE testing	July 2001 – Jan 2002	£6,102	Dr A W Davies
	ELWA	Acoustic Emission Technology Package	Dec2001 - July 2002	£147,884	Dr A W Davies and Dr R Lark
	The Royal Mint	Flaw Detection during continuous casting by Acoustic Emission	Jan 2002 - May 2002	£1,405	Dr A W Davies and Dr R Pullin
	Amey Mouchal	AE monitoring of roller bearings	July 2002 – Feb 2003	£48,340	Services Rendered with Dr A W Davies
	Gwent Consultancy	Usk River Bridge - Investigation of Deck Beam Thrust Hinges	August 2002 - Sept 2002	£11,892	PI Dr R Lark
	WS Atkins	AE monitoring of Orwell Bridge Bearings	October 02	£9,453	Services Rendered
	Messier Dowty	Damage Detection by AE during landing gear fatigue testing	March 03 – February 06	£128,278	Sole investigator
	Amey Mouchal	AE monitoring of transverse box girder deck beam supports	Jan 03	£40,578	Sole investigator
	Highways Agency	AE in Hinge Joints	April 03 – April 04	£25,388	Dr R Lark
	Capita Gwent Consultancy	Christchurch Hill (Royal Oak) overbridge: Investigation of Deck beam thrust hinges	March 04	£8,000	Dr R Lark
	EPSRC	Characterisation of Damage in Complex structures by AE during fatigue testing	November 2004	£267,237	Dr S Evans
	Messier Dowty	Characterisation of Damage in Complex structures by AE during fatigue testing	November 2004	£125,000	Dr S Evans
	WDA (KEF)	Performance Engineering	Jan 2005 – Dec 2005	£6,600	Dr M R Spratt
	HEFCW	SRIF3 CUSP Laboratories	April 2006	£2,500,000	Dr S Evans, Dr C A Featherston, Dr R Lark, Dr CA Holt
	TRL	Testing and monitoring to determine the condition of metallic structures (Highways agency advice note BA86)	July 2005	£7,000	Dr R Pullin
	NPL	Validation of NPL reference source	March – May 2007	£6,000	Sole investigator
	British Energy Group	Acoustic Emission Monitoring	Feb 2007 – June 2008	£9,910	Dr R Pullin
	Atkins Ltd	Concrete Hinge Model Investigation	July 2007 – Dec 2007	£51,500	PI Dr R Lark
	Messier Dowty	Fatigue of test lugs	Nov 2008 – ongoing	£31, 331	Dr S Evans, Dr R Pullin
	Mesuro	Design and Manufacture		£6,981	Dr R Pullin
	Technology Strategy Board	A lightweight Structural Health Monitoring System (SHeMS)	July 2009 – Sept 2012	£151, 154	Dr R Pullin, Dr S Evan, Dr CA Featherston
	NPL	Acoustic Monitoring of a bridge structure	April 2009 – August 2009	£4,699	Prof R J Lark, Dr R Pullin
	National Assembly for Wales (HEFCW)	ARROW – Aerospace Research Organisation Wales	June 2009 – Feb 2010	£18,662	Dr C A Featherston (PI)
	National Assembly for Wales (HEFCW)	KTC Performance Engineering	Aug 2009 – July 2010	£281,246	Mr D J McCann, Dr R Pullin, Dr K M Holford
	Royal Academy of Engineering	Acoustic Emissions in Structural Health Monitoring DAMAS CHINA	Aug 2009	£600	Sole Recipient
	EADS UK Ltd	Measurement of displacement of composite panels due to lightening	Oct 2009-Dec 2009	£14,200	Dr CA Featherston (PI), Dr SL Evans, Dr R Pullin
	AIRBUS UK	Power harvesting for aircraft structural health monitoring systems	Jan 2010 – Dec 2012	£34,000	Dr CA Featherston (PI), Dr R Pullin
	EPSRC	PATHWAYS:	Nov 2011 – June 2012	£39,164	Dr Liana Cipcigan(PI) Dr Huw Davies
	EPSRC	Upgrading Small Equipment Base	Oct 2012 – March 2013	£498,326	PI with 30 ECR CIs
ECFP7	Design, manufacture and impact testing of advanced composite materials CARHAY2011	July 2013 - Sept 2013	£34424	CI with 3 others
	Reid Lifting	Mechanical loading and drop testing of mounting brackets and T-Davit structures for lifting devices”	Aug 2012 – Nov 2012	£2552	CI with 3 others
	TSB	Self-powered autonomous device for wireless structural health monitoring (SANDWICH)	May 2013 – Oct 2016	£39816	CI with 3 others
	TSB	SENsors to Inform and Enable wireless NeTworks (SENTIENT)	Jan 2014 – Dec 2016	£143963	CI with 3 others
	GW4 AF 010	Advance the state of the art in damage detection in metallic and composite structures		£68,000	CI with 6 others
	GW4 AF 010	Unlocking the science for an autonomous structural health monitoring system		£11, 414	CI with 6 others
	Innovate UK (TSB)	MONTAGU	May 2015 – Oct 2017	£114378	CI with 3 others
	Mercedes AMG F1	Rate of Change of Torque (RoC) sensor technology to monitor torque fluctuations in gear systems in order to detect the development of fault conditions on the gear teeth.	July 2014- June/2017	£30k	CI with Pullin and Clarke
	HEFCW	Ser Cymru Research Chair in Advanced Engineering and Materials	April 2016 – March 2020	£450,000	CI with 1 other
	Ser Cymru	Ser Cymru Research Chair in Advanced Engineering and Materials	April 2016 – March 2021	£2,050,000	CI with 1 other

Current supervision

Yu Wang

Research student

Faisel Almudaihesh

Research student

Past projects

Supervised Students

Title	Student	Status	Degree
DAMAGE DETECTION IN ROTATING ELEMENTS USING ACOUSTIC EMISSION	COCKERILL Aaron James	Graduate	PhD
Ultrasonic Lamb Wave Energy Transmission System for Aircraft Structyral Health Monitoring Applications	KURAL Aleksander	Graduate	PhD
Development Of A Transducer To Be Used In Long Range Ultrsonic Testing	CHASTON Andrew Mark	Graduate	EngD
The Use of a Novel Rate of Change of Torque Technique for Damage Detection in Gear Systems	CAHILL Ben	Graduate	PhD
ACOUSTIC EMISSION TECHNIQUES FOR THE STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY MONITORING OF STEEL BRIDGES	CARTER Damian Charles	Graduate	PhD
Acoustic Diagnostics in a Hot Strip Mill	MURRAY David Ian	Graduate	EngD
Hot Mill Downcoiler Wrapper Gap Control	DAVIES Dyfyr Llywel	Graduate	EngD
AE Analysis of Prestressed Concrete Structures	ELFERGANI Hisham	Graduate	PhD
Advanced Acoustic Emission (AE) Monitoring Techniques for Aerospace Structures	MCCRORY John Patrick	Graduate	PhD
CONDITION MONITORING OF STEEL BRIDGES USING ACOUSTIC EMISSION	WATSON Jonathan Richard	Graduate	MPhil
Acoustic Emission (AE) Monitoring of Buckling and Failure in Carbon Fibre Composite Structures	EATON Mark Jonathan	Graduate	PhD
Damage Assessment by Acoustic Emission (AE) During Landing Gear Fatigue Testing	BAXTER Matthew	Graduate	PhD
Development of Experimental Rubber Toughened Bone Cements	NICHOLAS Myfanwy	Graduate	PhD
Property Prediction Of Continuous Annealed Steels	WIGLEY Nicholas Roy	Graduate	EngD
Structural Health Monitoring-smart Bridge	MUHAMAD BUNNORI Norazura	Graduate	PhD
QUANTITATIVE DAMAGE ASSESSMENT OF CONCRETE STRUCTURES USING ACOUSTIC EMISSION	BECK Paul	Graduate	PhD
THE INFLUENCE OF HYDRAULIC SYSTEM DYNAMICS ON THE BEHAVIOUR OF A VEHICLE ACTIVE SUSPENSION	SURAWATTANAWAN Prakob	Graduate	PhD
Structural Integrity Monitoring of Steel Bridges Using Acoustic Emission Techniques	PULLIN Rhys	Graduate	PhD
Development of a Magneto-Rheological Active Damping System to Improve the Yaw Response of a Racing Vehicle	ELLIOTT Richard Christopher	Graduate	PhD
DAMAGE ASSESSMENT IN COMPLEX STRUCTURES USING ACOUSTIC EMISSION	AL JUMAILI Safaa Khairry Jeaaz	Graduate	PhD
TRIBOLOGY AND DEFORMATION MECHANICS IN THE CONDITION MONITORING OF SHEET METAL FORMING	MCCARTAN Sean Gerard	Graduate	EngD
Acoustic Emission For Fatigue Crack Monitoring In Nuclear Piping System	MOHD Shukri	Graduate	PhD
Acoustic Emission Monitoring in Industrial Applications	BRADSHAW Timothy	Graduate	MPhil
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INDUSTRIAL LEARNING CLASSIFIED SYSTEM FOR APPLICATION TO A STEEL NOT STRIP MILL	BROWNE William Neil Longbourne	Graduate	EngD

Professor Karen M Holford

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