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Grants XXXVII Cycle

Three grants are available.
While two may deal to research themes freely proposed by students (with the only constraint to be consistent to the general goals of the curriculum), the third one will deal with one of the three possible research themes (A, B and C) described in the following:




Theme A

Title: A resilience-based methodology for the multi-risk assessment of urban settlements to be implemented in sustainable planning and management tools
Proposers: Giorgio Boni, Serena Cattari, Giorgio Roth, Francesca Pirlone
Curriculum: Risk and Resilience Engineering for the Natural, Industrialized and Built Environments

Description: Natural hazards at large scale, like floods and earthquakes, may produce huge damage and losses to urban settlements such to produce very slow recovery time. The research aims to develop a resilience-based methodology applicable to multiple hazards for identifying the set of urban structures (i.e. the “minimum urban system”) to which act to strengthen the robustness and ensure a fast recovery of the urban settlement, preserving as much as possible its essential attributes. While such concepts have been already introduced in some literature works dealing with the seismic engineering, the main goal of the research is twofold: i) to extend the approach by considering in an integrated way various hazards (in particular, earthquake and flood); ii) to define effective strategies (including the financial ones) to implement the methodology into urban planning tools and, thus, to be really applicable by the pertinent stakeholders. The concept of resilience will involve not only the structural response of the built environment but also the social, cultural and economic functions of the urban settlement. The tools developed will be tested in one or more case studies involving multi-hazard risk scenarios. Ideal candidates should have a solid background in civil engineering and, possibly, experience in urban planning and risk assessment.

Figura 1

For more information please contact Prof. Serena Cattari, serena.cattari@unige.it

Link to the group or personal webpage:
On Researchgate:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Giorgio-Boni
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Serena-Cattari
https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Francesca-Pirlone-2026533103
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Giorgio-Roth
Institutional website:
Giorgio Boni
Serena Cattari
Francesca Pirlone
Giorgio Roth

References:

  1. Boni G., De Angeli S., Taramasso A.C., Roth G. (2020) Remote Sensing-Based Methodology for the Quick Update of the Assessment of the Population Exposed to Natural Hazards, Remote Sensing, 12, 3943; doi:10.3390/rs12233943
  2. Lagomarsino S., Cattari S., Ottonelli D. (2021) The heuristic vulnerability model: fragility curves for masonry buildings. Bull Earthq Eng. https://doi.org/10.1007/s1051 8-021-01063 -7
  3. Pirlone F., Spadaro I., Candia S. (2020) More Resilient Cities to Face Higher Risks. The Case of Genoa, Sustainability, 12, 4825; doi:10.3390/su12124825




Theme B

Title: Damage survey, analysis and prediction of windstorms
Proposer: Massimiliano Burlando
Curriculum: Risk and Resilience Engineering for the Natural, Industrialized and Built Environments

Figura 1
Description: In the context of the ERC Project THUNDERR (https://www.thunderr.eu), the PhD candidate will be asked to make a windstorm-related damage survey in the coastal area of the Ligurian and the Tyrrhenian Sea. The focus will be paid, in particular, on commercial seaports (Genova, Savona-Vado, Livorno), which are considered by EU strategic infrastructural gateways to the trans-European transport network (TEN-T). Port work is an occupation with a high risk of accidents and health implications for workers, and the wind is considered the most dangerous cause of disasters and malfunctions in port areas, directly affecting operation and safety. The research activity will consist of windstorm classification between mesoscale phenomena and local thunderstorms, analysis of the weather scenarios in which the most striking events occur, and development of a procedure to nowcast/forecast the most dangerous weather conditions.

For more information please contact Prof. Massimiliano Burlando, massimiliano.burlando@unige.it

Link to the group or personal webpage:

Institutional website: https://www.gs-windyn.it

References:

  1. Burlando M., D. Romanic, G. Boni, M. Lagasio and A. Parodi (2020) Investigation of the Weather Conditions During the Collapse of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa on 14 August 2018 using Field Observations and WRF Model. Atmosphere 11, 724
  2. Solari G., M. Burlando, and M. P. Repetto (2020) Detection, simulation, modelling and loading of thunderstorm outflows to design wind-safer and cost-efficient structures. J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 200, 104142




Theme C

Title: Resilient aircraft sandwich materials and structures
Proposer: Roberta Massabò
Curriculum: Risk and Resilience Engineering for the Natural, Industrialized and Built Environments

Figura 1 Description: The project is part of a research program funded by ONR Global (NICOP) and the U.S. Office of Naval Research, divisions of Solid Mechanics and Aerospace Structures and Materials, on the mitigation of damage in sandwich structures under combined environmental and anthropic hazards. The student will work under the guidance of Prof. R. Massabò (UNIGE) and Prof. C. Berggreen (DTU) in order to assess risks and establish the fundamental mechanics associated with the scenario of cold climate loading, combined with dynamic events and fatigue damage propagation in aircraft sandwich structures, and develop novel mitigation concepts for the design of systems with improved damage tolerance and resistance and minimized risk of catastrophic failures. The work will be mostly theorical/numerical; supporting experimental tests will be carried out at the Technical University of Denmark.

For more information please contact Prof. Roberta Massabò, roberta.massabo@unige.it

Link to the group or personal webpage:

Institutional website: https://rubrica.unige.it/personale/VUZEUl1v

On Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/R-Massabo

References:

  1. Barbieri L, Massabò R, Berggreen C. (2018) The effects of shear and near tip deformations on interface fracture of symmetric sandwich beams. Eng Fract Mech 2018;201:298–321. 10.1016/j.engfracmech.2018.06.039
  2. Massabò R. (2020) Effective Modeling of Interlaminar Damage in Multilayered Composite Structures Using Zigzag Kinematic Approximations. In: Voyiadjis G.Z. (eds) Handbook of Damage Mechanics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8968-9_91-1

DICCA - Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Chimica e Ambientale
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