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Dr. John Kennedy

Assistant Professor (Mechanical, Manuf & Biomedical Eng)
PARSONS BUILDING
      
Profile Photo

Dr. John Kennedy

Assistant Professor (Mechanical, Manuf & Biomedical Eng)
PARSONS BUILDING

 JOHN.KENNEDY@tcd.ie

 3531896 4252


Dr. John Kennedy is Assistant Professor in Vibrations, Acoustics and Dynamics at Trinity College Dublin. His research career focuses aero-acoustic problems and the development of novel noise control technologies. His research has applied advanced correlation and spectral analysis techniques to experimental data of turbulence (LDV, X-hotwire and high speed PIV) and included advanced beamforming and partial coherence techniques for source localisation using microphone array data. He current research focuses on the how the latest additive manufacturing technologies can be used to produce novel metamaterials for the control of enviornmental noise, including optimised design strategies using deep learning. He leads a research group of 3 PhD students and 2 Postdoctoral researchers and is co-lead in the Fluids, Vibrations and Acoustics research group. He has also engaged in interdisciplinary research with psychologists from the University of Bath and the University of Aberystwyth into the influence of noise exposure on human performance in transport applications including hazard detection, risk perception and annoyance. He has secured over EUR 2 million in research funding, including over EUR 1 million focusing on the design and additive manufacture of metamaterials. He works closely with Irish SME partners in the commercialisation of acoustic metamaterials including in the H2020 SME instrument project TANDEM. He has been the scientific coordinator and lead technical manager of the FP7 Clean Sky projects WENEMOR, ALLEGRA and ARTIC and PI on the H2020 project AERIALIST. His responsibilities on these projects included the conduct of Preliminary and Critical Design Reviews, test planning and supervision of the wind tunnel test campaigns. Dr. Kennedy has published 74 peer-reviewed journal articles and conference publications. He has been a member of the scientific committee of the 21st and 23rd Workshops of the Aeroacoustics Specialists Committee of the Council of European Aerospace Societies. He was a member of the Scientific Committee of the 45th and 51st International JVE (Journal of Vibroengineering) Conferences. He is a session chair at the Internoise 2022 and ISMA 2022 conference. He is also Irish coordinator for the industrially focused institute of Acoustics' Diploma in acoustics and noise control. His work in transport aero-acoustics has led to press releases by the Acoustical Society of America and the American Institute of Physics.
  ACOUSTICS   Aerodynamics   Aeronautics   Air Transport Technology   Applied thermodynamics and energy   Computational Fluid Dynamics   Environmental aspects of transportation   Fluid Dynamics   Fluid Mechanics   Fluids and vibration   Manufacturing engineering   Mechanical Engineering   Noise pollution, technology   Signal processing   Sound Engineering   Transport psychology and safety   Turbomachinery   Turbulence   Vibration and Accoustic Engineering   Wind Tunnels
Project Title
 Atmospheric wind tunnel for aerodynamic research
From
To
Summary
The Windshape facility enables cutting edge experimental aerodynamics research. Wind tunnels are essential for studying the aerodynamic characteristics of objects such as aircraft wings, vehicle bodies, and propellors. The facility will be used to analyse airflow patterns, boundary layer effects and turbulence, which are fundamental concepts in mechanical engineering. A key research topic enabled by the facility is UAV aerodynamics. A strategic research initiative within the School is the Sustainable Aviation Research Centre. This research centre focuses on future aviation technologies including UAV / UAS devices.
Funding Agency
Research Boost Programme Stream 1
Project Title
 ADAPT - Improving the Audio performance of speakers through LED screens
From
31/12/23
To
31/3/25
Summary
This project will conduct research on the modelling and experimental testing of next generation audio equipment for theatres. The work is a collaboration between IMAX and the ADAPT centre and hosted in the Department of Mechanical, Manufacturing and Biomedical Engineering.
Funding Agency
IMAX Theatres International Limited
Person Months
13
Project Title
 Noise mapping for the minimal noise aircraft fleet
From
01/09/2021
To
31/08/2025
Summary
With the advent of the Environmental Noise Directive (END) population level modelling of exposure to aircraft noise has increased within Europe. Present noise exposure legislation focuses on airports whereas the greatest potential to implement noise reduction technologies lies with the airlines and aircraft manufacturers. This work focuses on the modelling the noise emission of the fleet of Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers, Ryanair. The noise reduction achieved at a fleet level will be evaluated and the impact of changing fleet makeup assessed. Noise contours generated with SoundPLAN show the noise effects of the different aircraft types of the historic, current and future Ryanair fleet under realistic operating conditions. The generated noise contours provide an evidence base for decision making within the airline for investments aiming to reduce noise levels around airports.
Funding Agency
Ryanair Sustainable Aviation Research Centre
Project Title
 The application of Deep Learning Methods for breakthrough noise and vibration control using Metamaterials
From
01/09/2021
To
31/08/2023
Summary
The past two decades has witnessed overwhelming research growth into phononic crystals and acoustic metamaterials (AMs). These artificially engineered structures have breakthrough dynamic mechanical properties and wave phenomena that are unattainable from naturally occurring materials. Radically new approaches in transportation and energy production will substantially modify the urban and interurban acoustic landscapes. This project aims to apply recent advances in AI based deep learning (DL) methods for AM design optimization which will include the performance of the additive manufacturing technologies required to realize structures that were once imagined unmanufacturable. The research is conducted with Irish SME partner Lios.
Funding Agency
Irish Research Council
Programme
Enterprise Partnership Scheme Postdoctoral Fellowship
Project Title
 The application of Deep Learning methods for breakthrough noise and vibration control using metamaterials
From
01/09/2021
To
31/08/2025
Summary
Sustainable development of society is only possible in the presence of an enduring effort to reduce the environmental signature of human activities. In this context noise mitigation will be one of the major challenges of the next decades and noise scenarios will change dramatically in terms of absolute levels and frequency content. Acoustic metamaterials (AMs) offer the potential for radical changes in our approach to noise and vibration control. These materials are non-intuitive and achieve properties previously considered impossible in natural materials. Traditional or human centered approaches to design are incapable of achieving optimal solutions in the vast design spaces offered by AMs. This research intends to overcome these challenges by developing Deep Learning methods for optimized, low-cost design tools. The application of these tools to the latest additive manufacturing technologies aims to achieve designs that, until recently, would have been considered unmanufacturable.
Funding Agency
Provost's PhD Awards

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Details Date From Date To
Member of the Institute of Acoustics (MIOA) - The Institute of Acoustics is the UK's professional body for those working in acoustics, noise and vibration. It was formed in 1974 and is a nominated body of the Engineering Council, offering registration at Chartered and Incorporated Engineer levels. The range of interests of members embraces aspects such as aerodynamics, architectural acoustics, building acoustics, electroacoustics, engineering dynamics, noise and vibration, hearing, speech, underwater acoustics, together with a variety of environmental aspects. May 2020
Karina Einicke, John Kennedy, Predicting airport noise impact to 2040: Traffic growth and technology uptake, Applied Acoustics, 227, 2025, p110229 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Jujhaar SINGH, John KENNEDY, Advancing noise reduction strategies for domestic air-source heat pumps, INTER-NOISE and NOISE-CON Congress and Conference Proceedings, 270, (6), 2024, p5601-5612 , Conference Paper, PUBLISHED
Oluwaseyi OGUN, John KENNEDY, Comparison of traditional and deep learning optimisation for the design of acoustic metamaterials, INTER-NOISE and NOISE-CON Congress and Conference Proceedings, 270, (10), 2024, p1352-1362 , Conference Paper, PUBLISHED
John KENNEDY, Sophie WELDON, Low cost modelling tools for the design of additively manufactured acoustic materials, INTER-NOISE and NOISE-CON Congress and Conference Proceedings, 270, (8), 2024, p3505-3515 , Conference Paper, PUBLISHED
Karina EINICKE, Kennedy JOHN, Re-surging airport noise: understanding aircraft noise dynamics during and after the COVID-19 pandemic at Dublin airport, INTER-NOISE and NOISE-CON Congress and Conference Proceedings, 270, (11), 2024, p789-797 , Conference Paper, PUBLISHED
Karina EINICKE, Kennedy JOHN, The future of airport noise: a comprehensive analysis of population exposure at Dublin airport 2023 to 2030, INTER-NOISE and NOISE-CON Congress and Conference Proceedings, 270, (11), 2024, p798-805 , Conference Paper, PUBLISHED
Agnieszka Ciochon, John Kennedy, Efficient modelling of surface roughness effects in additively manufactured materials, Applied Acoustics, 220, 2024, p109953 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Rebecca Wogan, John Kennedy, Crowdsourced cycling data applications to estimate noise pollution exposure during urban cycling, Heliyon, 10, (6), 2024, pe27918 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Niklas Braun, John Kennedy, Natalia Lishchenko, Garret E. O"Donnell, Examining the Feasibility of Acoustic Resonance Testing (ART) for Quality Control in Manufacturing, IMC39, 2024, p10 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Agnieszka Ciochon, John Kennedy, Raphael Leiba, Lara Flanagan, Mark Culleton, The impact of surface roughness on an additively manufactured acoustic material: An experimental and numerical investigation, Journal of Sound and Vibration, 546, 2023, p117434 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
  

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John Kennedy, Turbulence and Noise, Faculty of Engineering, University of Bristol, February, 2018, Professor Mahdi Azarpeyvand, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
Kennedy, J., Holt, N., Walker, I., The influence of sound on the safety of vulnerable road users, SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research, 2011, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED

  


Award Date
Teaching Innovation Award (Faculty of Engineering, Mathematics and Science, Trinity College Dublin) 2015