Amrit Verma
Principal Investigator
Wind Energy and Marine Operations (WEMO) lab
Dr. Verma’s Wind Energy and Marine Operations (WEMO) lab facilitates interdisciplinary research at the interface of dynamics, control and mechanics of composite materials for solving complex design and decision-making problems with an emphasis on onshore/offshore wind energy applications. Among our special interests is improving wind turbine blade reliability through their damage tolerance design and damage diagnosis. In addition, we are focused on understanding the complex dynamics of marine operations, including modelling, establishing operational limits, and weather window assessment for critical events associated with the transportation, assembly, and maintenance of offshore wind turbine assets. The lab’s approach is based on both experiments and predictive models (including analytical, numerical, and stochastic approaches) as a means to comprehend the phenomena fully. Ultimately, our lab’s mission is to generate new knowledge to improve the efficiency, reliability, and safety of wind turbines. WEMO Lab is also committed to integrating research and education and preparing students for workforce development in the rapidly growing area of offshore wind. See our recently funded education-based projects here and here.
The following are the broad areas of research we conduct:
1. Integrated methods for global dynamic load and response analysis of onshore and offshore wind turbines
2. Numerical modeling and time-domain simulations of installation operation for offshore wind turbine components
3. Response-based methods for weather window and operability assessment of marine operations
4. Fiber hybridization techniques for enhancing impact toughness of composites
5. Damage tolerance and damage diagnosis of fiber composite wind turbine blades
6. Understanding wind turbine blade erosion with emphasis on rain and hail impact
Google Scholar Profile: Link
Research Group
Photo (from Left to Right): Patrick, Dr. Verma, Amir, Saravanan
Graduate Students:
Amir Baharvand
Amir is currently working as a doctoral student at Dr. Verma’s WEMO Lab. The focus area of his PhD research is the impact modelling and damage assessment of wind turbine blades including novel fiber hybridization techniques. Before joining UMaine, he completed his masters degree from the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), The Netherlands, and the Technical University of Denmark in Aerospace and Wind Energy Engineering. During his master’s thesis, he worked on the failure of wind turbine blades under anti-plane loading. Besides research, Amir loves reading books, listening to country music and drinking coffee.
Patrick Moroney
Patrick is a military veteran and retiree which makes him a non-traditional student. He worked for 30 years in the military and commercial aerospace industry and for 6 years in academia, where he taught undergraduate solid mechanics courses. Patrick is now fully retired and focused on his lifelong educational pursuits. Patrick is currently working as a doctoral student at Dr. Verma’s WEMO Lab. The focus area of his PhD research is wind turbine blade service life prediction using durability and damage tolerance analysis. Besides research, Patrick enjoys traveling, golfing, skiing, and gaming.
Saravanan Bhaskaran
Saravanan is currently working as a doctoral student at Dr. Verma’s WEMO Lab. The focus area of his PhD research is dynamic modelling and operability assessment of marine operations for floating offshore wind turbines. Saravanan research interests include simulation of marine operations, dynamic analysis using probabilistic methods and operation and maintenance of wind turbines. Before joining UMaine, he completed his master’s degree from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway. During his master’s thesis, he worked on dynamic modelling and analysis of offshore wind turbine blade using jack-up crane vessels.
Undergraduate students
Blaise Michaud (Spring 2022, Summer 2022)
David LaPointe (Fall 2021)
Highlights of WEMO Lab and some recent funded projects
1. Dr. Verma received the UMaine 2023 Early Career Teaching Award & Sigma Phi Epsilon Teaching Faculty of the Year Award!
2. Recent TV interview with WABI TV on funded educational proposal on offshore wind
3. Verma leads UMaine to create new opportunities for students to study offshore wind in Norway
Dr. Amrit Verma received an educational award of $292,000 award from the Norwegian government to partner with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and bolster growth in research and education in rapidly growing field of offshore wind energy.
Here is the press release: Link
4. “The Maine Governor’s Energy Office has awarded Dr. Amrit Verma and his collaborators over a quarter million dollars in support of OffshoreWind4Maine initiative that seeks to enhance workforce development in the area of offshore wind.”
News and important events:
Spring 2023:
January 2023: I started teaching my new course that I developed MEE491/591: Offshore Wind Farm Engineering sponsored by Governor’s Energy Office, State of Maine. There are more than 40 enrollments in this course which indicates very high interest among students at UMaine in this rapidly growing area of offshore wind.
January 2023: Congratulations Patrick on passing your PhD qualifying exam!
January 2023: The teaching evaluation reports for Fall 2022 are published:
Dr. Verma received an average rating of 4.92/5 for MEE270: Dynamics and 4.89/5 for MEE251: Strength of Materials. These evaluations always motivate me to apply innovative and effective pedagogical skills in the classroom to improve learning experience for students. It is highly rewarding to see student enjoying my courses.
Some of the signed comments from students include:
1. “I liked the fact that the professor had a significant amount of real world experience with engineering and applied that acquired, first hand, knowledge to lectures in the class to supplement or improve our knowledge. The class was also very structured and organized which made it easier to manage as I always knew what was going on.”
2. “Strength of Materials was a course I went into the semester not expecting to enjoy very much, after some experiences with the subject in high school, but Dr. Verma made the experience quite the opposite of my expectations!”
3. “Overall one of the best instructors I have had, very clear and explains concepts very thoroughly”
4. “This course was easily my favorite that I have take this far in my college career. The reason for this was the clear expectations and the direct correlation to what we are learning and the assignments as well as the exams. The lectures were very clear and well thought out.”
5. “The professor made the concepts really clear, and showed his method rather than reading from the book”
6. “Overall one of the best instructors I have had, very clear and explains concepts very thoroughly”
7. “Great class, Great professor, knows the material inside and out, expectations were clear making the class not only interesting but fun.”
8. “Absolutely Fabulous Professor. Will take his Dynamics Course in the Spring Semester.”
9. “I was worried about this course at the start, but it has turned into one of my most enjoyed courses. It was a definite refresh of the other courses, and I thank you very much.”
10. “Professor Verma was my favorite professor this semester. Classes were always immensely profitable, information was presented incredibly clearly, and grading was completely fair. Thank you very much, Professor.”
11. “This is perhaps one of the best post–secondary courses I have taken. Great instruction, interesting subject matter, fair grading, clear criteria. I’ve heard other students bragging about having courses with Prof. Verma.”
Fall 2022:
November 2022: Dr. Verma received a 4 year education cum mobility award of ~$168K from the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research under the UTFORSK program. The grant will help to establish and bolster collaboration with Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in the area of offshore wind engineering. This is the second major educational grant that Dr. Verma receives in last few months. The proposal was titled
“Norway-US partnership on higher education and research for strengthening the development of next generation offshore Wind infrastructures (NUWind)”. Here is the press release: Link
October 2022: Dr. Verma and Dr. Goupee received a grant of ~$10K from the UMaine EMPOWER program.
September 2022: Dr. Verma received an educational grant of ~$270K for developing new courses/programs at the Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Maine. See details
here.
September 2022: Dr. Verma started teaching his second undergraduate MEE course MEE251: Strength of Materials. This semester he is teaching two courses: MEE270 and MEE251.
August 2022: Dr. Verma’s new course MEE491/591: Offshore Wind Farm Engineering course is approved to be taught in the Spring 2023.
August 2022: Dr. Verma welcomes Patrick Moroney as his new PhD student at the WEMO Lab. Patrick comes with an extensive experience from aerospace engineering and we are excited to have him apply his knowledge to wind turbine blades.
August 2022: Dr. Verma welcomes Saravanan Baskaran as his new PhD student at the WEMO Lab. Saravanan has extensive experience in marine operations.
Spring 2022:
June 2022: Dr. Verma presented his work at 5th International Conference on Advances in Extreme Value Analysis and Application to Natural Hazards (Abstract Accepted for Oral presentation) Orlando, FL Verma, A.S., Teuwen JJE.,” A probabilistic rainfall model to combat leading-edge erosion of wind turbine blades”
May 2022: Dr. Verma received an average rating of 4.64/5 on his teaching evaluation for MEE270: Dynamics. Some of the signed comments mentioned,
1. “This professor did an amazing job making Dynamics easy to understand. I would definitely recommend this instructor to anyone taking the course in the future.”
2. “The professor definitely values the students’ understanding and was very accommodating and helpful. I enjoyed this course so far and would recommend this professor to anyone taking dynamics”
3. “My favorite professor of the semester, was extremely fair. This course was very engaging and it you paid attention you would yet a good grade he explained everything very well”
4. “Overall, Amrit is an excellent instructor. He was very clear in his presentation (especially problem-solution structure—something I can’t emphasize enough)…”
May 2022: Dr. Verma welcomes Amir Baharvand as his first PhD student at the WEMO Lab. Amir comes with an extensive experience on wind energy and wind turbine blades. We are excited to have him at our lab.
April 2022: Dr. Verma two conference papers got accepted at the OMAE2022 conference. Congratulations Saravanan and Pang!
Paper 1: Bhaskaran S., Verma, A.S., Yuan S, Halse KH 2022 (2022) “Dynamic Analysis of Blade Mating Process Using Jack-Up Crane Vessel: A Code-to-Code Comparison” 41st International Conference on Ocean, Offshore Arctic Engineering, Hamburg, Germany (Accepted)
Paper 2: Pang Z., Feng A, Chen K, Verma, A.S., Jiang Z., (2022). “Nonlinear Hydrostatic Restoring Characteristics Of Floating Wind Turbines” 41st International Conference on Ocean, Offshore Arctic Engineering, Hamburg, Germany (Accepted)
March 2022: Dr. Verma received Spring 2022 Bangor Savings Bank/LoRusso Faculty Development Award of ~$2500 at the University of Maine System. This will provide travel support to present two conference papers at 41st International Conference on Ocean, Offshore & Arctic Engineering Congress Center Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
February 2022: Dr. Verma and Dr. Julie presented their collaborative work at International Symposium On Leading Edge Erosion Of Wind Turbine Blades, DTU, Denmark. Teuwen JJE., Verma, A.S. (2022) “Influence of test conditions in a pulsating jet erosion tester on erosion incubation time” Invited Lecture in Third International Symposium On Leading Edge Erosion Of Wind Turbine Blades, DTU, Denmark.
January 2022: Dr. Verma started teaching his undergraduate course MEE270: Dynamics
Fall 2021
December 2021: Time to take a Christmas Break. The Fall 2021 semester was great with lots of learning, knowing new colleagues, and new responsibilities. Looking forward to the new year!
December 2021: Dr. Verma received an average rating of 4.29/5 on his teaching evaluation for MEE270: Dynamics. Some of the signed comments mentioned, “Overall, this was an excellent class. I’m not sure if Amrit has taught before but he did an excellent job lecturing and structuring the class. This was/is one of the best (organized, fair, etc) classes I have taken at UMaine.”
December 2021: Dr. Verma presented his work to MEE freshmen students in the course MEE101. The presentation was titled “Recent research activities on offshore wind turbine technology”
December 2021: Dr. Verma published a paper titled
Verma A.S., Vedvik, N.P., Gao, Z., Castro, S.G. and Teuwen, J.J., 2021. Bondline thickness effects on damage tolerance of adhesive joints subjected to localized impact damages: Application to leading edge of wind turbine blades. Materials, 14(24), p.7526.
November 2021: Dr. Verma published a paper in collaboration with Dr. Zhiyu Jiang’s group at University of Agder, Norway. The paper was titled
“Bjørni, F.A., Lien, S., Midtgarden, T.A., Kulia, G., Verma, A. and Jiang, Z., 2021, November. Prediction of dynamic mooring responses of a floating wind turbine using an artificial neural network. In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (Vol. 1201, No. 1, p. 012023). IOP Publishing.”
October 2021: Dr. Verma submitted an internal proposal to “UMaine Flagship Doctoral Research Fellowship”. (Status: Although the proposal was not funded, the reviews were very encouraging and it was a great learning experience.)
October 2021: Dr. Verma presented at the MEE Graduate Seminar. The title of the presentation was “A probabilistic framework for efficient installation of offshore wind turbines”
October 2021: Dr. Verma submitted a full proposal to NOWRDC (DOE) solicitation as a PI. (Status: Although the proposal was not funded, the reviews were very encouraging and it was a great learning experience.)
September 2021: Dr. Verma submitted a 4 page concept paper to NOWRDC (DOE) solicitation as a PI. The concept paper was reviewed and was accepted for a full submission.
September 2021: Dr. Verma started teaching his first undergraduate MEE course MEE270: Dynamics
August 2021: Dr. Verma moved to UMaine, US after working for more than 6 years in Europe
