In the last 15 years I have been investigating the behaviour of structural systems subjected to accidental actions, i.e. fire and earthquake. Particular focus has been devoted to the behaviour of steel structures. Three main strands of interest encompass my research activity:
- Structural fire engineering
- Design of steel structures
- Earthquake engineering
FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS AND PARTICIPATION IN RESEARCH PROJECTS AS P.I.
International and National Research Projects on competitive bases
2024 – Present Research Fund of Coal and Steel “TAPERFRAME – Design of steel portal frames made of web tapered members with and without openings at normal temperature and fire conditions”: 5 partners, total funding 1,502,527.98€; unit funding 254,568.99€ (Local P.I.)
2022 – Present CARITRO Foundation “Risk analysis and mitigation criteria of the bridges subjected to fire – FIREBRIDGE”; total funding 54,000€ (P.I.)
2021 – Present Research Fund of Coal and Steel “FISHWALL – Fire and seismic performances of hybrid fire walls in case of single-storey industrial and commercial steel”: 8 partners, total funding 822,515.79€; unit funding 188,006.67€ (Local P.I.)
2018 – 2022 Research Fund of Coal and Steel “DISSIPABLE – Fully dissipative and easily repairable devices for resilient buildings with composite steel-concrete structures”: 8 partners, total funding 907,405.82€; unit funding 149,214.90€ (Local P.I.)
2018 – 2021 Transnational Access Use within the H2020 SERA Project. Access to the ELSA Laboratory at the Joint Research Centre (Ispra, Italy) “EQUFIRE – Multi-hazard performance assessment of structural and non-structural components subjected to seismic and fire following earthquake by means of geographically distributed testing” (Local P.I.)
2017 – 2018 Research Fund of Coal and Steel “LOCAFIplus Temperature assessment of a vertical steel member subjected to localised fire – Valorisation”: 20 partners, total funding 813,700.65€; unit funding 41,705.80€ (Local P.I.)
2016 – 2020 HORIZON2020 ITN Marie Skłodowska-Curie “XP-RESILIENCE Extreme loading analysis of petrochemical plants and design of metamaterial-based shields for enhanced resilience”: total funding 3,393,811.98€; unit funding 516,122.64€ (Coordinator Co-P.I.)
Individual Fellowships on competitive bases
2010 – 2013 FP7 Marie Curie Individual Fellowship COFUND “FIRAS” PAT Post-doc 2009–Outgoing: research project on the resistance of steel and steel-composite structures subjected to fire and seismic loadings, total funding 180,000€ (P.I.)
Industrial Research Projects devoted to Knowledge Transfer
2023 – Present ArcerlorMittal “Automatized choice of fire design of steel structure with new generation of fire models”, Luxembourg, total funding 131,000€ (P.I.)
2014 – 2015 Tenaris Dalmine, “Analysis of structural systems made of fire-resistant steel subjected to fire”, Italy, total funding 31,000€ (P.I.)
Regional Research Projects
2019 – 2021 Autonomous Province of Trento Research Fund “Analysis and methods for the evaluation of the seismic vulnerability of existing school buildings and possible retrofitting according to the Building Code D.M. 17.01.2018”, total funding 80,000€ (P.I.)
SUPERVISION OF GRADUATE STUDENTS
2013 – Present 7 PhD students
Sara Pasquali Supervisor – (2021-Present)
Topic: Seismic performance of hybrid fire walls in case of single-storey industrial and commercial steel buildings
Giulia Giuliani Co-Supervisor – (2019-2023)
Topic: Experimental and numerical analysis of steel frames equipped with repairable dissipative seismic components
Co-Supervisor: Prof. O.S. Bursi (University of Trento)
Roberto Andreotti Co-Supervisor – (2018-2022)
Topic: Dissipative replaceable components and impact mass dampers towards more resilient earthquake-resistant steel structures
Co-Supervisor: Prof. O.S. Bursi (University of Trento)
Patrick Covi Supervisor – (2017-2021)
Topic: Multi-hazard analysis of steel structures subjected to fires following earthquake
Luca Possidente Co-Supervisor – (2016-2021) double-degree with KTH Stockholm
Topic: Development and application of co-rotational finite elements for the analysis of steel structures in fire
Co-Supervisor: Prof. J.-M. Battini (KTH Stockholm)
Jérôme Randhaxe Co-Supervisor – (2017-2020)
Topic: Development of a probabilistic fire demand model and a fire protection for performance-based fire design of petrochemical plants
Co-Supervisor: Eng. Nicoleta Popa (ArcerlorMittal)
Andrea Morbioli Co-Supervisor – (2013-2017)
Topic: Analysis and development of nonlinear Finite Elements for modelling steel structures at ambient and elevated temperature
Co-Supervisor: Prof. J.-M. Battini (KTH Stockholm)