Professor Annie Bekker

Stellenbosch University

Professor Anriëtte(Annie) Bekker discovered her passion for the vibration of structures as a third-year student in Mechanical Engineering at Stellenbosch University.

This field has led her career to diverse research topics including dynamic seat comfort of cars for Ford Motor Company and the prediction of bone fracture of vehicle occupants during landmine blast events for the Armaments Corporation of South Africa. In industry, she worked as the technical lead on noise, vibration and harshness for Optimal Energy Pty. Ltd. She joined the Faculty of Engineering at Stellenbosch University in July 2011 where she has been a professor since 2020.

She is a keen test engineer and has led multi-sensor measurement campaigns on the heavy mobile equipment fleet for Richards Bay Minerals and polar ships including the South African SA Agulhas II and the German Polarstern. Presently, her work aims to reap novelty from the use of operational data for decision aiding. She is registered as a professional engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa and Editor of the Elsevier Journal Cold Regions Science and Technology.

She currently serves as the Gibela Engineering Research Chair to drive research into South Africa’s new passenger trains. In 2025 she was awarded a second Chair position as the DSTF/SAIMI Chair in Naval Architecture and Design.

SA Agulhas II – Flagship for Vessel 4.0

The SA Agulhas II is a polar vessel – and the only ship of her kind owned by any country in Africa. Her missions require navigation in the volatile Southern Ocean and remote Antarctic ice. Her expansive structure has been equipped with an “engineering nervous system” where sensors and models are used to pinpoint every impact and shudder as she interacts with her dynamic environment. This research aims to develop a “digital SA Agulhas II” where data and models prototype a “Flagship for Vessel 4.0” with the aim to support strategic, tactical and operational decisions towards insight and foresight in ships of the future. This talk presents specific gains in terms of emergent hull responses and the added understanding gained from long term operational measurements, observations and virtual sensing. Some critical questions are raised in terms of the complexities related to the real deployment of structural digital twins for ships and the tangible value-add to industry.