About me
Dr. Xinxin Yu earned her PhD under supervision of Prof. Aki Mikkola from LUT University, Finland, in 2021. Her thesis was awarded "Pass with Distinction" and received an honorable mention for the Lagrange Award for Outstanding PhD Thesis in Multibody System Dynamics. Following her PhD, she completed postdoctoral research under supervision of Prof. Jose Escalona at the University of Seville, Spain (2023), and later under supervision of Prof. Zili Li at Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands (2024). She has been awarded with a Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellowship in 2023 and Academy Research Fellow in 2026.
In June 2024, Dr. Yu was appointed as a tenure-track Assistant Professor at Tampere University. She is Academy Research Fellow, leader of the Machine Dynamics Group (Machine Design) and Full-scale Wheel-rail Lab. Her research focuses on multibody dynamics, vibration, frictional contact analysis, and computational and experimental railroad vehicle dynamics. Her group current research focus on fusing physical-based dynamic modelling with different sensor technology, such as optical, acoustic and vibration sensors methodology for condition monitoring and asset management for both fleet and infrastructure.
Responsibilities
Leader of Machine Dynamics Group (Machine Design) & Full-scale Wheel-rail Lab.
Responsible teacher of KONE.845 CONDITION MONITORING AND DIAGNOSTICS OF MACHINE SYSTEMS.
Research topics
Multibody system dynamics
Model-driven estimation of wheel frictional forces for mobile machines
Friction estimation of sliding friction of Pantograph-Contacting wire
Experimental and computational vehicle dynamics.
Research unit
Automation Technology and Mechanical Engineering
Research career
08.2025 and 08.2026, Teacher for the summer school of BIP INDUSTRY 4.0 TECHNIQUES APPLIED TO EXPERIMENTAL TESTING IN ENGINEERING organized by University of A Coruna, Spain.
12.2024, Visiting researcher, Centre for Vehicle Systems & Safety, Mechanical Engineering. Virginia Tech, The United States. Supervisor: Prof. Mehdi Ahmadian.
06.2024 - present, Assistant professor (tenure-track). Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Tampere University, Finland.
08. 2023 - 06.2024, Post-doc researcher, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geoscience, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands. Supervisor: Prof. Zili Li.
02. 2023 - 03. 2023, Visiting researcher, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal. Supervisors: Prof. Jorge Ambrósio.
06. 2022 - 08. 2023, Post-doc researcher, Department of Mechanical Engineering. University of Seville, Spain. Supervisor: Prof. Jose Escalona.
01. 2022 - 06. 2022, Post-doc researcher, Department of Mechanical Engineering. Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. Supervisor: Prof. Aki Mikkola.
01. 2018 - 12. 2021, Junior researcher, Department of Mechanical Engineering. Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. Supervisor: Prof. Aki Mikkola.
Top achievements
2026 Academy Research Fellow funded by Research Council of Finland (2026-2030).
2024 Best theoretical Award (Honourable Mention). Issued by Journal of Mechanism and Machine Theory at MMT Symposium for celebrating 60 years of journal's foundation.
2023 Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellowship.
2022 Lagrange Award - Multibody System Dynamics Outstanding PhD Thesis Prize (Honourable Mention). Issued by Journal of Multibody Dynamics and the International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science (IFToMM).
2021 PhD Thesis pass with distinction, under 10% to 15% per year at Lappeenranta University of Technology.
Funding
Research Council of Finland, Finnish Research Impact Foundation (Vaikuttavuussäätiö), Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellowship, Business Finland.
Selected publications
- X. Yu, S. Muñoz, P. Urda, J. F Aceituno, M. R. Gómez, J. L. Escalona, "Experimental study of the use of a transfer function to find rail corrugation from axle-box accelerations." Measurement (2025): 117058.
- X. Yu, A. Zwölfer, A. Mikkola, An efficient finite-element floating frame of reference based recursive formulation for the modelling of planar flexible applications, Journal of Sound and Vibration, 547 (2023) 117542.
- S. Muñoz, P. Urda, X. Yu, A. Mikkola, J. L. Escalona, Real-time measurement of track irregularities using an instrumented axle and Kalman filtering techniques, Journal of Computational and Nonlinear Dynamics 18.11 (2023): 111005.
- Q. Khadim, Y. S. Hagh, D. Jiang, L. Pyrhönen, S. Jaiswal, V. Zhidchenko, X. Yu, E. Kurvinen, H. Handroos, A. Mikkola, Experimental investigation into the state estimation of a forestry crane using the unscented Kalman filter and a multiphysics model, Mechanism and Machine Theory, In press (2023).
- X. Yu, J. F. Aceituno, E. Kurvinen, M. K. Matikainen, P. Korkealaakso, A. Rouvinen, D. Jiang, J. L. Escalona, A. Mikkola, Comparison of numerical and computational aspects between two constraint-based contact methods in the description of wheel/rail contacts, Multibody System Dynamics (2022).
- X. Yu, A. Mikkola, Y. Pan, J. L. Escalona, The explanation of two semi-recursive multibody methods for educational purpose, Mechanism and Machine Theory 175 (2022) 104935.
- Y. Pan, L. Huang, W. Dai, J. Zhao, X. Yu, A. Mikkola, Rod-removal technique for flexible-rods in the framework of semi-recursive multibody formulation, Mechanism and Machine Theory 169 (2022) 104625.
- M. Mohammadi, Y. S. Hagh, X. Yu, A. Mikkola, State estimation of flexible multibody systems based on nonlinear kalman filter, IEEE Access 10 (2022) 40237-40248.
- J. L. Escalona, X. Yu, J. F. Aceituno, Wheel-rail contact simulation with lookup tables and KEC profiles: A comparative study, Multibody System Dynamics 52 (4) (2021) 339-375.
- B. Bozorgmehri, X. Yu, M. K. Matikainen, A. B. Harish, A. Mikkola, A study of contact methods in the application of large deformation dynamics in self-contact beam, Nonlinear Dynamics 103 (1) (2021) 581–616.
