the long days of, IF CRASC '15

IF CRASC ’15, the Second Congress on Forensic Engineering and the Sixth Congress on Collapses, Reliability and Retrofit of Structures, concluded today at the Faculty of Civil and Industrial Engineering of the Sapienza University of Rome. Together with my colleagues at StroNGER srl (principal sponsor of the event) we have prepared a Facebook page with news from the conference: https://www.facebook.com/IFCRASC15 The conference was a great success, with more than 80 presentations, and 150 delegates.
On top of being a member of the organizing committee, I contributed with four papers:

• Milana, G., Olmati, P., Gkoumas, K. Scenario Based Structural Robustness Assessment of Tall Diagrid Structures.
• Olmati, P., Gkoumas, K. Simplified FEM Modelling for the Collapse Assessment of a Masonry Vault.
• Di Santo, C., Gkoumas, K., Bontempi. F. Risk analysis for severe traffic accidents in road tunnels (Part I).
• Di Santo, C., Gkoumas, K. Risk analysis for severe traffic accidents in road tunnels (Part II).

I have already uploaded all papers on my research gate account. My former students Carmine di Santo and Giulia Milana gave two talks on Friday from two of the above papers.



badge 


group photo at lunch break

Roberta Fornari performing during the first day cocktail




chairmen

 

children (and smaller children)

we had firefighters too...

... here with Ms D'Angelo, Head of the Civil Protection of the Rome Municipality

Carmine giving his talk 

Ms D'Angelo, Head of the Civil Protection of the Rome Municipality, session chairman

Giulia giving her talk

my colleague Francesco acting as chairman

the conference poster



365 days (and pages) later...

Today together with Francesco we had a panel review at the ESA BIC Lazio office for the StroNGER project piezoTsensor.
The review was based on a presentation of the major outcomes we had in the first 12 months of the 24-month project, and a 365 page report containing 9 deliverables and 18 annexes, covering a total of 8 work packages.
PiezoTsensor is an advanced sensor for the optimum energy management in building HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Condition) systems, under development by StroNGER, with the financial and technical aid of the European Space Agency (ESA).
We are looking forward to successfully finishing the project!



365 pages... (that reflect)



(365 pages...) that reflect

 

Holy Saturday (at least for some…)

On the eve of Orthodox Easter, I am on my way back to Athens from the Ciampino Airport in Rome. I spend a few busy days in Rome, full of meetings and getting together with my colleagues.
Earlier today, I took part in a workshop on parametric design, I helped organize in our Faculty. It was great fun with the participation of about 30 students from the Technical University of Denmark and 15 students from the Sapienza University of Rome, who formed mixed groups. The Danish students from DTU Civil are on a 5-day visit to Rome.

Kristjan from Ramboll UK, and Salma, Kareem and Mariam from our University acted as tutors.

Hopefully I will land in Athens at around 00.30 on Holy Sunday to spend the Orthodox Easter and Easter Monday!



Workshop poster

@ the workshop



@ the workshop

@ the workshop

 

transportation/relapse - advisors/again

Today, I had the pleasure to be part of the examination committee for the Laurea Magistrale Degree in Transportation Engineering, reuniting with many of my former Professors at the Transportation Engineering Department.
Carmine Di Santo, a Transportation Engineering student I was advising together with Franco Bontempi for the last 9 months,  graduated with full marks ("110 e lode" in the Italian University System), something that translates as "summa cum laude".
Carmine's Thesis was on the risk analysis of tunnel structures for severe traffic accidents, focusing on modelling parameters, and with an application on a recent very long tunnel in southern Italy.

Laurea

 

The Cloister of the Engineering Faculty

 

The San Demetrio Tunnel (courtesy of ANAS S.p.A.)

 

 

 

 

ESA APPATHON - while in Rome (election day... NOT)

 

On the weekend of January 24-25, and while the Greek general elections are taking place, I took part in the ESA Appathon Rome, held in the I-tech Incubator in Rome.

http://www.app-camp.eu/Italy

This Appathon was one of six simultaneous app events on 24-25 Jan 2015 across Europe that offered access to the latest space data and the power of the SAP HANA Cloud Platform.

http://www.esa.int/ESA

http://hana.sap.com/abouthana.html

I was a team member with Francesco Bartoli and Cristiano Carducci, on the sub-topic: Adopt your pixel-Crowdsourcing Solutions.

I contributed on an original idea of Francesco, for the integration of crowdsourcing solutions and earth observation data for the improved assessment of avalanche risk.

At the end of the two days, I represented my group giving a 5 min. pitch in front of a Jury composed of ESA officials.

Let's say we didn't win the camp (but from some feedback we received, we did well...).

A nice overall experience (and in any case, much better way to spend the weekend than returning to Athens to vote)

 

A youtube video from the event:

Some photos from the event:

Team work with Francesco and Ricardo



Team work with Francesco and Ricardo



Games during the 2 day camp

Coding in space?

A selfie attempt...



...better

 

piezoTsensor/PZT components delivery

At StroNGER srl, we will soon start wind tunnel testing for piezoTsensor, the new product currently under development in collaboration with the ESA (European Space Agency) Business Incubator Center.

My colleague Francesco is heavily involved in numerical modelling of different configurations.

Can't wait! 

A single PZT plate

PZT plates

classroom ("aula 8")

 

classroom 8

It was here that back in February 2003, I took my written examination in Structural Analysis and Design. At the end (just before the 5-hour deadline), a certain Franco Bontempi, Professor, teared all 22 pages of my hand-written calculations because I had undersized a column… I had to take the exam again three months later. Let’s say that nowadays, the ratio I tear pages he handles to me is ever increasing…
It was here that in the A.Y.'s 2005-2006 and 2006-2007, while I was a Teaching Assistant for two structural design courses, I gave lessons and overviewed projects once a week for four semesters...

Today I gave a lecture on structural robustness, focusing on steel structures (in particular, applications on the collapsed I35 Mississippi River Bridge) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-35W_Mississippi_River_bridge to students of Steel Structures, a course held by Franco Bontempi for students of the Master Degree in Structural Engineering.
http://www.slideshare.net/Kongkoumas/robustness-20-11-2014 

Collapse of the I35 Mississippi River Bridge (source: CNBC)

I hope I get the chance to give a couple more lectures for this and other courses until the end of the semester.