Challenges for the contemporary society call for significant technological improvements to be achieved in different fields, such as risk mitigation of Cultural Heritage, sustainable raw material supply and safeguard of social security, in accordance with the topics of the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme. Among the cited challenges, we plan to solve the following target problems:
• Structural analysis of Heritage building and Reliability of masonry structures
• Next generation materials and methodologies for vibration abatement and enhanced design
• Structural nonlinear analysis of Concrete and Composite buildings
It is believed that the key to successfully approach such a broad range of problems is the study of the mechanical behavior of innovative materials, relying on effective constitutive and structural modeling and advanced numerical methods. Such investigations require a final validation step, implemented through the analysis of specific real-life case studies, belonging to different engineering areas in which innovation is needed.
The study of the mentioned problems will be performed by using a multidisciplinary approach, involving interactions of several internationally recognized research units, which have already proved their capability of mutual collaboration (having won many PRIN and European Grants). The Research will focus on the following four different levels:
1. CONSTITUTIVE MODELS to capture material responses of importance for the applications of interest. In particular, attention will be devoted to classes of materials and effects, ranging from concrete, masonry, FRCM composites to carbon-nanotubes.
2. STRUCTURAL MODELS to capture the response of macro- and micro-structures of interest.
3. NUMERICAL METHODS to perform simulations of real-life cases related to the project applications. In particular, attention will be devoted to integration schemes for the proposed constitutive equations as well as to techniques for the solution of initial/boundary-value problems, e.g., advanced approaches for nonlinear structural statics and dynamics, meshless methods for multiphysics interaction, homogenization and multiscale methods for micro/macro interaction.
4. REAL-LIFE CASE STUDIES to validate both the proposed constitutive models and numerical methods as tools to explore innovative solutions within the project target problems. In particular, the project will propose innovative solutions for the following real-life applications:
• Structural analysis of real masonry buildings (in Perugia, Venice, Palermo, Emilia Romagna, Rome);
• Design of sustainable retrofit techniques for civil structures based on high-performance concrete and composite materials;
• Development of advanced monitoring tools for structures and infrastructures.
For the topics under investigation we plan to adopt a virtual testing approach. Accordingly, the numerical models are calibrated using experimental data produced within the project.
Abstract