Teaching Activities

Courses

Our group teaches courses at both the bachelor’s and master’s levels, covering all aspects of continuum and structural mechanics. Our lectures range from theoretical modelling to computational modelling, preparing students to meet the demands of industry and society.

We provide a solid foundation for tackling transformative challenges, along with in-depth knowledge of the fundamental methods that underpin all numerical software environments used in the computer-aided design of mechanical systems.

Applications are of particular interest to Civil, Mechanical, and Biomedical Engineering.

Structural and Continuum Mechanics

Scienza delle Costruzioni

This is the fundamental course for understanding continuum and structural mechanics. The concepts introduced will be an invaluable resource throughout the student’s professional career.

Starting with a deep understanding of the concepts of strain and stress, the course will explore some of the fundamental theorems that have enabled the development of mechanics as we know it today and the creation of the most fascinating engineering applications.

The applications will cover introductory topics in beam mechanics, a fundamental structural element for understanding the mechanical response of both standard and advanced structures.

Mechanics of Advanced Materials

Meccanica Computazionale di Tessuti e Biomateriali (Ingegneria Medica)
Meccanica dei Materiali e della Frattura (Ingegneria Civile)
Complementi di Scienza delle Costruzioni (Ingegneria Meccanica)

Students will gain familiarity with the mathematical concepts underlying constitutive models, enabling them to critically assess their limitations. They will also be trained in the computational implementation of both standard and advanced constitutive models. Additionally, students will develop the ability to evaluate the accuracy of computational results, verify and validate constitutive models, and extract parameters from mechanical tests. They will also be instructed how to design experimental campaigns for model calibration.

By the end of the course, students will be capable of implementing advanced constitutive models in finite element codes. They will have developed critical skills to assess the accuracy of computational results and acquired professional skills in work organization. Specifically, they will be able to develop simple yet realistic computational models for engineering applications.

For Medical Engineering applications address:

relationship between bone microstructure and its mechanical response
mechanical response of vessels with distributed fibers under pressure
elasto-plastic response of metallic biomedical devices
time-dependent response of poroelastic cartilage

For Civil Engineering applications address:

relationship between concrete microstructure and its mechanical response
mechanical response of plates and tubes made up by laminated composites
kinematic and isotropic hardening in elasto-plastic materials
poroelastic response of materials for geotechnical applications

For Mechanical Engineering applications address:

relationship between short-fiber composites and their mechanical response
mechanical response of plates and tubes made up by laminated composites
brittle cracks and ductile material response
coupling between mechanics and other physical fields in material responses

Nonlinear mechanics for advanced structures

Meccanica nonlineare per strutture avanzate (Ingegneria Meccanica)

Laboratory of Structural Mechanics for Augmented Reality

Project Thesis Proposals

Materials and Structures

Electro-chemo-mechanical response of hydrogels in energy applications
Topology optimization: from practical use to frontier applications
Scientific machine learning for composite materials
Novel computational approaches for interface problems

Biomechanics

Novel tools for diagnosis and treatment of carotid atherosclerosis
The biomechanics of vascular inflammation
Multiscale analyses of biological tissues

Tissue Engineering

Smart design of bioprinted structures
Cell motility and neotissue formation in hydrogels

Our Alumni

2023-2024

Giorgia Dei Giudici
Ingegneria Medica

Fluidodinamica e Rimodellamento Tessutale nell’Aterosclerosi Carotidea: sviluppo di un modello in silico per applicazioni paziente specifiche

Gabriele Boezi
Ingegneria Medica

Studio delle Alterazioni Fisiopatologiche del Circolo di Willis: un Approccio Computazionale Chemomeccanobiologico Multiscala

Luca Blasi
Ingegneria Medica

Diagnosi precoce di patologie del piede e del passo: Sviluppo di un modello personalizzato a supporto del monitoraggio tramite solette sensorizzate

2022-2023

Andrea Cutroni
Ingegneria e Tecnica del Costruire

Ottimizzazione topologica per il progetto di elementi strutturali: un’interfaccia semplificata di modellazione

2021-2022

Alessandro Mastrofini
Ingegneria Medica

The impact of residual strains on the stress analysis of atherosclerotic carotid vessels: predictions based on the homogenous stress hypothesis

Michela Astore
Ingegneria Medica

Analisi modellistica e sperimentale della relazione tra meccanica e microstruttura di tessuti arteriosi sani e patologici

Silvia Di Egidio
Ingegneria Medica

Modellazione computazionale phase field del comportamento cellulare in costrutti biostampati di ingegneria tissutale

2020-2021

Francesco Chirianni
Ingegneria Meccanica

Ottimizzazione di processo per extrusion based bioprinting: dall’analisi reologica di idrogel citocompatibili alla modellazione computazionale