Research Overview
My research interests are in Computational and Solid Mechanics, Mechanics of Materials and Structures.
My research goals are to achieve a fundamental understanding of the complex behavior of materials and to exploit this understanding for the engineering of new materials and structures to solve challenging problems in biomedical, mechanical, civil, and aerospace engineering. I strongly encourage multidisciplinary research and I combine novel theoretical, computational, and experimental methods.
The research areas are:
MATERIAL MODELING: development and analysis of effective phenomenological constitutive models, formulated in a consistent thermodynamic framework, to accurately describe the behavior of smart materials (e.g., shape-memory polymers and shape-memory alloys).
NUMERICAL METHODS: development and analysis of robust and efficient numerical algorithms, methods, and computational tools for design purposes in mechanics. Numerical simulations of smart components or structures through finite element or mixed finite element analyses.
FATIGUE MODELING: development and analysis of methodologies for the fatigue-life assessment of structures subjected to cyclic loading (e.g., cardiovascular stents). Analysis of the response to low- and high-cycle fatigue of metallic alloys (e.g., 316L steel, shape memory alloys).
3D/4D PRINTING: activity focusing on the analysis and design of 3D/4D printed structures within a multidisciplinary framework combining theoretical, numerical, and experimental approaches.