Business from technology

Lasse Makkonen

Current position at VTT

Principal scientist

Research background and current research topics

Dr. Makkonen background is in geophysics, meteorology and ice research but his approach is multidisciplinary. He is best known for his work in modeling of icing of structures with applications to power lines, communication towers, ships and wind turbines. These models are applied worldwide in the design of structures. Dr. Makkonen has published more than 230 scientific papers out of which 60 in international journals and he is an author of 11 patents.

Dr. Makkonen’s present main interest is in microphysics of surface phenomena such as phase change, friction and adhesion. The applications include solidification processes in all scales, particularly as they relate to accretion of ice and snow. Another present interest area of Dr. Makkonen is the theory of extreme value analysis and its application to evaluating structural safety and the strength of materials.

Current major research projects at VTT

Friction of ice
Icephobic coatings
Icing of wind turbines
Uncertainty in extreme value statistics

Education

Adjunct professor (docent) 1993, University of Helsinki
PhD 1985, University of Helsinki
MSc 1977, University of Helsinki

Work history

Principal Scientist, VTT, 2010
Senior Research Scientist, VTT, 1985
Senior Fellow, Academy of Finland, 2001
Visiting professor, Ice and Snow Technology Laboratory, Hokkaido University, Japan, 1998
Visiting professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta, Canada, 1984
Government of Canada Visiting Fellow 1983-84

Positions of trust and professional assignments

Assingnements
Scientific Editor, Journal of Glaciology, 1992 – 1997
Editor, Annals of Glaciology, 1993
Editorial advisory board member, Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology, 2012–
Council Member, International Glaciological Society, 1988–1995
President, Finnish Ice Research Society, 1995–2000
Chairman, International Union of Testing and Research Laboratories of Materials and Structures, Technical Committee 118 "Ice and Construction", 1988-1994
Committee Member, International Association for Hydraulic Research, Section on Ice
Research and Engineering, 1993–1999
Chairman, Working Group 1 "Modelling", COST Action 727, 2004-2009
Chairman, International Glaciological Society (IGS) Symposium on Applied Ice and Snow Research, Rovaniemi, Finland, 1993
Member, International Advisory Committee, International Symposium on Thermal Engineering and Science in Cold Regions, 1996-2001
Member, International Scientific Committee, International Workshop on Atmospheric Icing of Structures (IWAIS), 1988-
Member, International working group “Measurement of Slipperiness”, WG6, 1999-2001

Duties as a scientific expert
Expert, Queen’s National Scholars, Canada, 1986
Expert, NATO Research Grants Programme, 1987
Member of the Evaluation Committee, Cold Tech Foundation, Sweden, 1993
Evaluator, European Commission, Marine Sciences and Technologies Programme, 1996 and 1997
Evaluator, European Commission, Environment and Climate Programme, 1997
Referee, Academy of Science, The Royal Society of Canada, 1998
Referee, Austrian Science Fund, 1999
Referee, J. Gordin Kaplan Award, University of Alberta, Canada, 2000
Referee, Patterson Medal Award, Canada, 2001
Referee, Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, 2002
Referee, The Finnish Work Environment Fund, 2004
Reviewer for the Fourth IPCC Report on Climate Change, 2007
Reviewer, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), 2007-
Reviewer for more than 40 international scientific journals

Selected publications

Makkonen, L., 1984: Atmospheric Icing of Sea Structures. U.S. Army Cold Regions Research & Engineering Laboratory, CRREL Monograph 84-2, 102 p.

Makkonen, L., 1984: Modeling of ice accretion on wires. Journal of Climate and Applied Meteorology, 23 (6): 929 - 939. (Also published in Guizhou Qixiang, 1990 (4): 22-29 (in Chinese)

Makkonen, L., 1987: Salinity and growth rate of ice formed by sea spray. Cold Regions Science and Technology, 14: 163 – 171.

Makkonen, L., 1988: A model of icicle growth. Journal of Glaciology, 34 (116): 64 - 70.

Makkonen, L., 1997: Surface melting of ice. Journal of Physical Chemistry B101 (32): 6196-6200.

Makkonen, L., 1998: Modelling power line icing in freezing precipitation. Atmospheric Research, 46: 131-142.

Makkonen, L., 1999: Spacing in solidification of dendritic arrays. Journal of Crystal Growth, 208: 772-778.

Makkonen, L., 2000: Models for the growth of rime, glaze, icicles and wet snow deposits on structures. Philosophical Transactions A, 358(1776): 2913-2940.

Makkonen, L., 2000: On the methods to estimate surface energies. Langmuir, 16(20): 7669-7672.

Makkonen, L., Laakso, T., Marjaniemi, M. & Finstad, K.J., 2001: Modeling ice accretion on wind turbines. Wind Engineering, 21(1): 3-21.

Makkonen, L. & Laakso, T., 2005: Humidity measurements in cold and humid environments. Boundary-Layer Meteorology, 116: 131-147.

Makkonen, L. (ed.), 1994: Ice and Construction. Chapman & Hall, 132 p. Second edition, e- Book, 2007.

Makkonen, L., 2008: Problems in the extreme value analysis. Structural Safety 30: 405-419.

Makkonen, L., 2010: Solid fraction in dendritic solidification of a pure liquid. Applied Physics Letters 96, 091910.

Lasse Makkonen's s publications in VTT Publications Register