Bio

Before joining Lehigh University in 2006, he was a professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. In 1976, he obtained his PhD in Applied Sciences with the highest distinction from the University of Liège, Belgium, and in 1969 he graduated from the Bucharest Construction Institute.His main research interests are in the development and application of probabilistic and optimization concepts and methods to civil and marine engineering. Mr. Frangopol is a preeminent authority in bridge safety and maintenance management, structural systems reliability, and life-cycle civil engineering.

He received numerous awards and honors throughout his career. The most prestigious is the creation by the American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) of the “Dan M. Frangopol Medal for Life-Cycle Engineering of Civil Structures.” in recognition of his contributions as a researcher, educator and world authority in the fields of life cycle civil engineering and optimization. Dr. Frangopol is a member of the Academies of the United States, Belgium, Canada, Europe, Japan, Mexico and an honorary member of the Romanian Academy and the Romanian Academy of Technical Sciences. He has published more than 480 articles in specialized journals and supervised the dissertations of 50 PhD students. Dr. Frangopol is also the founder and editor-in-chief of the journal Structure and Infrastructure Engineering. More information: https://www.lehigh.edu/~dmf206

Title:

Life-cycle, risk, resilience and sustainability of civil infrastructure under multiple hazards

Summary:

The purpose of this presentation is to show an integrated decision-making framework for the design, assessment and maintenance of infrastructure structures and systems, with an emphasis on multi-objective life cycle optimization. This framework focuses on reliability, risk, resilience and sustainability, assessing the performance and lifetime costs of structures in the context of the challenges of corrosion, earthquakes and climate change. Key indicators such as reliability and sustainability, essential in all life stages of structures, from design to maintenance, will be presented. Examples, including bridges and transportation networks, will illustrate the practical application of these principles to improve structural engineering decisions. The lecture will also include a discussion on addressing multiple challenges, emphasizing the importance of comprehensive assessment in the context of varied risks.

Bio

Peter Nawrotzki graduated at the University in Bochum, Germany, in 1988 and received his Dr.-Ing. degree in 1993. Main topics were ‘Numerical Stability Investigations’ and ‘Shell Structures’ in which he also gave lectures as University Assistant. In 1992 he additionally received a degree in economics (Dipl.-Wirt.-Ing.).

After 4 years in the construction company HOCHTIEF he joined GERB Vibration Control Systems in Essen & Berlin in 1998. He was nominated as Managing Director for the Technical Office in 1999 and served as Managing Director for GERB from 2009 – 2021 where he was responsible for technology and sales worldwide. Since 2021 he is Senior Director & Adviser at GERB.

Peter Nawrotzki is author and co-author of several Technical Publications & Presentations on Numerical Dynamic Stability Investigations, Vibration Isolation and Damping Systems, Seismic Control Strategies for Conventional & Non-Conventional Structures.

Title:

“Seismic Response Modification Devices – Some Strategies & Applications”

Summary:

When expected structural responses are not acceptable, there is a chance to integrate dedicated devices to modify the behavior. From the mechanical point of view, relevant mode shapes and main structural frequencies of the structure are changed and also damping characteristics could be modified. Most of the chosen devices like rubber or spring supports or specific dampers (e.g., viscose or viscoelastic, gas or oil based) are designed to withstand the anticipated demands without damage even after severe events. In this way, the common structural members are protected and also serviceability questions could be addressed. The main goal of protecting human life is supported even better and also economic savings are possible, especially when life-cycle costs are considered.

Bio

Daniel Aelenei holds the position of Associate Professor in the civil engineering department of the NOVA University in Lisbon, Portugal, where he has been working since 2005. After graduating from the Faculty of Construction and Installations at the “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University in Iași in 1997, where he worked as an assistant professor for a short period, he obtained a research fellowship in Portugal, which endede up resulting with his PhD in Construction Physics at the Lisbon University in 2004.

Daniel Aelenei participated in several research projects to develop the thermal behavior of buildings and as well as sustainable projects for the thermal rehabilitation of the building”s envelope, among which the project he developed with MIT in 2019 – “Mapping flexibility of urban energy systems” stands out. Daniel Aelenei is the coordinator of the Master’s degree in Building Facade Technology, a “lifelong learning” program developed within the industry, and the technical coordinator of the grant program for energy efficiency and resilience in public buildings within the PRR in Portugal.

Title

Building facades: trends and consequences

Summary

In the last two decades, in the Southern-European countries, but also in Romania, there has been an increase in the use of glass in fully or partially embedded facades, often without support coming from specialists in the field of acoustics, thermotechnics, lighting, fire protection and resistant glass, or others. Thus, most built solutions present a poor overall performance, either due to excessive energy consumption for cooling in the summer season and even in the cold season, especially in buildings with commercial and service functions, or due to overheating coming from solar heat inputs and internal.
That is why it is urgent to address these challenges in a coordinated way, creating educational projects supported by research and acquired experience. This is how the specialized training program in the field of facades was born, in the form of a Master’s Degree in Facade Technology (MTF). This Master’s program comes at a time when, in Portugal, there are approximately one million buildings in need of energy rehabilitation and where the concern for energy consumption, comfort and sustainability is gaining more and more importance in society. This concern, along with the on-going search for innovative facades, requires us to stop looking at the facade as a simple element of separation between the outside and the inside, but also integrate advanced technologies, with possible renewable energy exploitation, control and monitoring systems.

The presentation will therefore reflect a range of engineering challenges related to building facades, exemplifying with case studies, and will argue for the need for closer cooperation between stakeholders, not only to successfully respond to the EU’s commitments regarding climate change, but also to meet the comfort and well-being needs of user.

Bio

Prof. João Pacheco de Almeida teaches at the Louvain School of Engineering of the Université catholique de Louvain, in Belgium, since 2018. He is also attached to the Institute of Mechanics, Materials, and Civil Engineering. He obtained his advanced BSc degree (2002) and MSc degree (2005) in Structural Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), in Portugal, and his PhD degree (2009) from the University of Pavia, in Italy. He has over 15 years of experience in the field of earthquake engineering, accumulated through different projects as a research assistant at IST, as a postdoctoral researcher at the European Centre for Training and Research in Earthquake Enginering (Eucentre), in Italy, and as a postdoctoral researcher and research associate at the Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics Laboratory of École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, in Switzerland. His interests focus on large-scale experimental tests and advanced numerical modelling of reinforced concrete structures under seismic loading.

Title:

“ Seismic design of reinforced concrete wall buildings with the next-generation Eurocode 8: new displacement-based approach, the role of effective stiffness, and modelling advances”

Summary:

This talk is a contribution to persuade Romanian practicing engineers to keep deploying efforts to understand and critically employ the available host of methods included in the next-generation Eurocode 8, for the seismic design and assessment of reinforced concrete (RC) wall buildings. A promising opportunity arises with the inclusion, in the future European standards, of a complete displacement-based (DB) design approach using nonlinear static or dynamic analyses – coupled with a set of verifications at the global or local levels. What new features does it contain? Does it indirectly bring implications for the familiar force-based (FB) seismic design approach? And how compatible are FB and DB methods? The above questions are discussed from the practical engineering viewpoint, highlighting the need for an accurate determination of the effective stiffness of planar and non-planar walls, and providing practical advice for ever-more accurate modelling of these crucial lateral-load-resisting members.

Bio

Will is an award-winning structural engineer and sustainability champion. He is both a chartered engineer and chartered environmentalist, who leads the Institution’s response to the climate emergency, bringing sustainability action into all aspects of its work. He is responsible for driving change within the profession, setting the minimum sustainability standards for institution members, producing sustainability publications and training to support upskilling, and collaborating across the wider industry to help the transition towards zero emissions.
Will is a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Bath, and lectures regularly at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, and the University of Strathclyde. He is an active member of the Edge thinktank, the UK Built Environment Advisory Group, and the Engineering Advisory Group for The Structural Engineer magazine. He also sits on the judging panel for The Structural Awards.
Before his work with the institution, Will was a practising structural engineer at Arup for over a decade where he was responsible for key aspects of ambitious architectural projects across the world.

Title:

“EU Energy and Performance in Buildings Directive”

Summary:

The use of construction materials are responsible for around 15% of the world’s carbon emissions, 30% of the world’s waste, and 50% of all material extraction. The use of these materials affect the natural habitat that supports life on earth, and so structural engineers have a vital role in changing the way we use them, to minimise such impacts, and put the industry on a path to Net Zero. In this presentation, Will Arnold will speak about approaches to design to minimise such impacts, and highlight key guidance available from the Institution of Structural Engineers that can be used to help.