Research (main topics)

Aerospace Structures; structural dynamics; acoustics (interior and external) and vibration; noise and vibration control in the aerospace field; advanced structural analysis through optimization codes (ModeFrontier) integrated into structural computation codes (Nastran, Ansys); Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and Non Destructive Testing by ultrasounds (Lamb’s Waves); Advanced Composite Materials (investigation about the impact performance of composites with properly designed stack sequence); Aircraft Morphing with bistable materials; aerospace structural joints (advanced adhesives); corrosion of aeronautical structures and techniques for corrosion damage identification; numerical and experimental vibrational analysis of light structures for NDT.

Teaching

He has achieved the following teaching activities (since 1998 to now):

(at University of Salento):

academic years since 2008/2009 to now:

in charge of the Course of Aerospace Structures (9 CFU, 1 CFU = 9 hours of lesson in classroom) for students of 1st year of the second level Degree in Aerospace Engineering;

academic year 2008/2009:

in charge of the Course of Aeronautical Certification (3 CFU) for students of 2nd year of the second level Degree in Aerospace Engineering;

academic years 2009/2010, 2010/2011:

in charge of the Course of Aerospace Structures Laboratory (3 CFU) for students of 2nd year of the second level Degree in Aerospace Engineering;

academic year 2011/2012:

in charge of the Course of Advanced Computations for Aerospace Structures (3 CFU) for students of 2nd year of the second level Degree in Aerospace Engineering;

Supervisor for 20 graduation thesis on topics related to the structural dynamics, acoustics and vibration.

Supervisor of 2 PhD students.

Mentoring for one Post-doc Researcher.

Appointed by “Fondazione ITS Aerospazio Puglia” as Advanced Trainer for the following teaching activities:

2012 (Aerospace Structures, Production Technologies in Aerospace)

2013 (Aerospace Structures)

2015 (Aerospace Structures)

2016 (Aerospace Structures)

2017 (Aerospace Structures)

2018 (Aerospace Structures)

• from 1/9/2018 to 28/2/2019

and from 1/7/2019 to 28/2/2020

Visiting Researcher at University College of Dublin (Dublin, Ireland) for scientific collaboration with Prof. Alojz Ivankovic. Main research topics during this stay: Improvement of Structural Adhesives for Composite Materials through composite surface treatments (UV, Atmospheric plasma) – experimental and numerical activities, investigation of fiber/matrix adhesion on fracture toughness of composites.

• from 1/2/2014 to 31/1/2015

Visiting Researcher at University of Bath (Uk) for scientific collaboration with Prof. Michele Meo (Dept of Mech Eng): main research topics during this stay: Structural Health Monitoring, Non Destructive Testing, Power Harvesting, Aircraft Morphing, Advanced Composite Materials with high impact performance

• from 2001 to 2008

Post-doc, Senior Researcher

Università di Napoli “Federico II” – Dipartimento di Progettazione Aeronautica (DPA) then Dipartimento di Ingegneria Aerospaziale (DIAS) now Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale (DII) – Via Claudio n. 21 80125 – Napoli

Research and Teaching Assistant

Research assistance

Research Programmes, Contracts with Private and Public bodies. He has been active researcher and POC (Point Of Contact) in the following Programmes funded by European Union in which the Department of Aerospace Engineering of University of Naples “Federico II” was Partner: MADAVIC: employment of magnetostrictive materials for the design of innovative actuators; ADTurB II: structural problems concerning the turbomachinery; CAPECON: employment of UAV for civil purposes; SEFA: airport noise and exposure of communities to aircraft noise; HISAC: design of small supersonic business jet; COSMA: aircraft noise and mitigation of the exposure of communities to sound pressure levels due to airport operations.

Teaching assistance

(at University of Naples) lessons inside the Courses of:

Aerospace Structures (Theory and Practice) for students of 5th year of the Degree in Aerospace Engineering (old system);

Aerospace Structures II (Theory and Practice) for students of 3rd year of the Degree in Aerospace Engineering (new system).

Supervisor for 15 graduation thesis on topics related to the structural dynamics, acoustics and vibration.

Francesco Nicassio is Junior Researcher at University of Salento, Department of Engineering for Innovation. He graduated in Aerospace Engineering at University of Salento on 24th July 2012 with full honours; he has achieved the Ph.D. in Industrial and Mechanical Engineering at University of Salento, on discussing a thesis on the following topic: “Analysis methods and innovative materials for flexible aerospace vehicles”. He performed research activities at University of Bath (2014-2015), University “Parthenope” of Naples (2016-2017) and University of Salento since 2013 to now.

He is currently active in the following research fields: structural dynamics; definition of innovative solutions for morphing aircraft structures; power harvesting with bistable materials; advanced structural analysis through optimization codes integrated into structural computation codes; corrosion of aeronautical structures; numerical and experimental vibrational analysis of light structures for NDT/SHM.

He has achieved the following teaching activities (since 2012 to now)

• school year 2012/2013:

in charge of the Course of “Air Traffic” and “Air Navigation” at “Istituto Tecnologico per i Trasporti aeronautici Euclide”;

• academic year since 2013/2014 to now:

lessons inside the Courses of “Aircraft Design” and “Aerospace Structures” at University of Salento;

• academic year 2015/2016:

in charge of the Course of “Aerospace Structures” for SPIA and MASTCO project, at DTA-Puglia;

• academic year 2016/2017 and 2017/2018:

in charge of the Course of “Space Structures” at ITS-Aerospace-Puglia;

• academic year 2018/2019:

in charge of the Course of “Aerospace Systems” at University of Salento (6 CFU);

• academic year 2019/2020 to now:

in charge of the PhD Course of “FEM non lineare per strutture a parete sottile” at University of Salento (Scuola di Dottorato di “Ingegneria dei materiali, delle strutture e nanotecnologie”);

• academic year 2019/2020 to now:

in charge of the Course of “Fundamental of helicopter design production and maintenance” at University of Salento (6CFU).

Research (main topics)

Machine learning applications for SHM of aerospace structures