Giulia/times 3

With Giulia Milana, a former student of Prof. Bontempi, we just published a journal paper on the topic of her Master Thesis (the ultimate capacity of diagrid systems) in the Scopus indexed journal Periodica Polytechnica Civil Engineering. I co-advised Giulia during her Master Thesis. 
http://periodicapolytechnica.org/ci/article/view/7795

G. Milana, P. Olmati, K. Gkoumas, F. Bontempi, Ultimate Capacity of Diagrid Systems for Tall Buildings in Nominal Configuration and Damaged State. Period. Polytech. Civil Eng., Online First (2015) paper 7795. DOI: 10.3311/PPci.7795

Giulia was recently awarded with a best Thesis award for ‘13-‘14 from the Milan Engineering Chamber, and a paper from her Thesis will be published shortly in the Italian Journal "Costruzioni Metalliche". 



 

Since and before her Thesis defense, we published together four conference papers, in National and International conferences and workshops. The most recent was at the IF CRASC ’15, the Second Congress on Forensic Engineering and the Sixth Congress on Collapses, Reliability and Retrofit of Structures, in Rome, which she also presented. 

Milana, G., Olmati, P., Gkoumas, K. “Scenario Based Structural Robustness Assessment of Tall Diagrid Structures”, accepted at the IF CRASC ’15, Third Congress on, Forensic Engineering - Sixth Congress on Collapses, Reliability and Retrofit of Structures, Rome (Italy), 14-16 May 2015.

Giulia is nowadays seeking new opportunities in the UK, willing to pursue a PhD in structural Engineering or work in the private sector.

antifragility (the next thing?)

What if cities, urban developments and structures could not only recover, but also grow stronger after adverse events (floods, earthquakes, terrorist attacks?).

What if they gained instead of suffering from everyday disorder?

Is over optimization, otherwise efficient for normal design purposes, a pitfall in our ever-changing society?

Is seeking the utmost efficiency an utopia?

Are we lacking redundancies?

How technology and modern design and construction methods can facilitate the above?

Can "antifragile design" by architects, engineers and urban planners, enhance a design for urban/disaster resilience?

Starting from Nicolas Taleb’s interesting book “Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder” I recently read (again), these are only some of the questions that came into my mind when I prepared two lessons for a safety-engineering course on risk analysis and robustness.

Is antifragility the next thing? Judging from web references and conference announcements this year, this certainly seems to be the case...

word cloud



Fragile VS Resilient VS Antifragile

 



Risk analysis for fire: the case of civil structures from Konstantinos Gkoumas

Structural robustness: issues, numerical modelling and future trends from Konstantinos Gkoumas

See also:

Taleb, Nassim Nicholas (November 2012). Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder(1st ed.). London: Penguin. p. 519. ISBN 1-400-06782-0. 

http://www.scoop.it/t/generative-systems-design 

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/12/03/beyond-sissy-resilience-on-becoming-antifragile/ 

Instructors*

Earlier today, my colleagues at StroNGER srl (www.stronger2012.com) and good friends Francesco Petrini and Chiara Crosti, gave a 4 hour seminar, part of a professional course for Registered Professional Engineers organized by the Engineering Chamber of Rome.
The course, develops for 12 hours in total, and is part of a continuing education for engineers.
Today's course focused on Earthquake Engineering and Fire Safety Engineering, two of the areas of excellence of Francesco and Chiara, and follows the first seminar given last week by Franco Bontempi and Stefania Arangio.

 

All four of them are excellent instructors and mentors, and, in my opinion, provided excellent insight on their topics of choice, on the more than 80 people that follow the seminar.
The seminar concludes with the final four hours next week (Thursday June 19)