Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile

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Assessing and managing the relationship between urban growth and greening goals for sustainable urban development. An innovative methodological approach.
(Università della Calabria, 2024-02-02) Salvo, Carolina; Francini, Mauro; Tondelli, Simona; Mundo, Domenico
As part of the transformation and qualifying processes of cities and territories, considering the challenges posed by climate change and the ecological transition in progress, the need to define new methods for sustainable urban planning capable of analyzing, evaluating, and managing the complex relationship between urban growth and greening processes to guarantee adequate levels of urban liveability and sustainability has emerged in an increasingly evident way. The thesis deals with the complex relationship between urban growth and urban greening processes. Precisely, after the analysis of the state-of-the-art on the topics of urban growth, compact and dispersed, and greening processes, such as urban green areas, ecosystem services, and nature-based solutions, and the innovative methods and tools employed in urban planning to pursue this purpose, an innovative methodological approach based on innovative information technologies, such as artificial intelligence models and remote sensing techniques, and advanced geospatial analysis techniques, also shared via the web, for assessing and managing urban growth and greening processes is defined. The proposed methodological approach is applied to specific case studies, demonstrating that planners can employ this approach to make informed decisions regarding evaluating and managing urban growth and greening processes to make these processes truly sustainable. The analyses and experiments led within the thesis bring out the need for flexible, innovative, and integrated urban planning approaches that appropriately direct the urban and territorial planning decision-making processes for achieving sustainable and liveable development.
Materials, Processing and Assessment for Bioengineering Applications
(Università della Calabria, 2024-02-02) Sanguedolce, Michela; Mundo, Domenico; Filice, Luigino
Titanium alloys, in particular Ti6Al4V, are the current standard of care for orthopedic implants due to their good biological response. But issues such as infection susceptibility and implant failure due to poor osteointegration and stress shielding persist. Furthermore, orthopedic implant infections are challenging to detect and not always completely solved by systemic antibiotic delivery. Thus, it is essential to develop implants with antibacterial properties to prevent infections and antibiotic resistance due to frequent antibiotic delivery, while promoting integration with surrounding tissues and reducing the revision surgeries rate. Biomaterial-tissue interactions at the implant interface play a crucial role in its operation, influencing tissue attachment. The surface of an implant also affects how bacterial pathogens interact and create biofilms. The complexity of the relationship between biomaterial composition, device design, and biological response in living organisms presents challenges in predicting the outcome of the implant. In vitro methods are valuable but have limitations, necessitating the improvement of predictive models. The focus of this work is modifying the surface of the Ti6Al4V titanium alloy, commonly used in skeletal fixation devices. The goal is to address issues related to poor integration, infection, and metal sensitivity. Surface modification techniques, involving mechanical and thermal mechanisms, are herein explored to provide some guidelines for the prediction and modulation of performance. The studied techniques include grit blasting, milling, electrical discharge machining, laser texturing, and coating deposition. The aim is to deepen the influence of implant surface properties on its performance and biological response, with a multi-level approach: (i) modulate the integration of the implants with surrounding bone tissues by acting on surface properties (i.e. surface roughness, microstructure, chemistry, contact angle), employing material deformation and removal techniques, and studying the effects on in vitro bone cells response; (ii) improve the to date insufficient adhesion of biopolymer coatings made of chitosan by: tuning film properties through different deposition techniques, coating composition, and substrate properties; (iii) preliminary analyze the effect of surface modification techniques on in vitro bacterial response.
Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) connectors for ultra-high vacuum applications: modeling and testing
(Università della Calabria, 2024-06-02) Giovinco, Valentina; Maletta, Carmine; Garion, Cedric; Mundo, Domenico
Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) connectors have been developed at CERN in recent years for Ultra-High-Vacuum (UHV) applications in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) as an alternative to the traditional coupling provided by metallic flanges tightly connected by several screws or heavy collars. SMA couplers offer many advantages, including low cost, compact size, ease of assembly and maintenance, ability to make bi-material connections, and ability to be remotely controlled by temperature variation, limiting the need for human presence in highly radioactive areas of the accelerator. The working principle of a SMA connector is based on thermoelastic martensitic transformations between two crystallographic structures, austenite and martensite. The object of this project is the testing and modelling of SMAs in order to investigate and describe the macroscopic behaviour of the material. Methods and measurements of an extensive experimental campaign on Nickel-Titanium (NiTi) alloy specimens are herein presented and discussed. Different stress and temperature conditions are investigated, as well as the thermomechanical training of different shaped connectors (rings, ovals, C-shaped) and the constrained recovery capability of ring couplers. Two analytical models based on the elastic-plastic theory of axial-symmetric bodies have been developed to describe the pre-expansion and constrained recovery of SMA rings. Systematic comparisons between the analytical predictions with Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and experimental measurements show very good agreement. Finally, SMA constitutive modelling and FE simulations by a user-defined material model have been performed. Models and results are herein presented. This thesis provides robust tools to be used for the design of SMA couplers with shape recovery capabilities. Keywords: Shape memory alloys, NiTi alloys, vacuum connections, constrained recovery.

Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile - Tesi di Dottorato

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