Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile - Tesi di Dottorato
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Questa collezione raccoglie le Tesi di Dottorato Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile dell'Università della Calabria.
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Item New on-line model for shoreline evolution at beaches composed of not cohesive grains of any size(Università della Calabria, 2020-02-12) Francone, Antonio; Furgiuele, Franco; Tomasicchio, Giuseppe Roberto; Frega, FerdinandoOver recent decades, efforts have been made to find robust methods for predicting shoreline evolution near to the coastal structures. This requires a rigorous understanding of the key coastal processes that drive sediment transport, and how they are impacted by the presence of structures. Once this understanding is reached, a method for predicting morphological shoreline evolution is required. In this context, numerical modelling plays an important role. A new one-line model for shoreline evolution at beaches composed of not cohesive grains of any size is proposed: the General Shoreline beach (GSb). GSb model is based on the one-line theory, for which it is assumed that the equilibrium beach profile remains unchanged (Dean, 1990), thereby allowing beach change to be described uniquely in terms of the shoreline position. The longshore sediment transport rate is estimated by means of a general formula/procedure (Tomasicchio et al., 1994; Lamberti and Tomasicchio, 1997; Tomasicchio et al., 2013; Tomasicchio et al., 2015) combining an energy flux approach with an empirical/statistical relationship between the waveinduced forcing and the number of moving units. The uniqueness of the proposed new one-line model consists in the possibility to simulate beach change, including the effects of coastal structures (i.e. groynes, detached breakwaters), at a mound composed of not cohesive grains of any size, from sand to rock units. Despite other existing models, the GSb model presents a calibration factor, KGSb solely and it has been calibrated and verified against field and laboratory data on sandy and mixed beach (sand and gravel) referring to simple groyne and detached breakwater (Ming and Chiew, 2000; Hamilton et al., 2001; Martin-Grandes et al., 2009; Medellin et al., 2018;). Optimal values of KGSb, valid for different types of not cohesive grains and coastal structures, have been reported. It is showed that the GSb model can be considered a reliable engineering tool to conduct morphodynamics studies. A demo version of the GSb model, for Mac and Windows systems, has been released for the scientific community and is available at www.scacr.eu.Item A Comprehensive analysis of hydrological benefits of low impact development techniques: experimental investigation and numerical modeling(Università della Calabria, 2020-03-05) Palermo, Stefania Anna; Furgiuele, Franco; Piro, PatriziaUrban floods, recently increasing due to the combine effect of climate change and urbanization, represent a potential risk to human life, economic assets and environment. In this context, the traditional urban drainage techniques seem to be inadequate for the purpose, therefore a transition towards an innovative sustainable and resilient urban stormwater management is a valid solution. One promising strategy is the implementation of decentralized stormwater controls, also known as Low Impact Development (LID) systems that provide several benefits at multiple scales. Despite several studies demonstrated the LIDs’ capability in terms of surface runoff reduction, the transition towards a sustainable urban drainage system, which includes these techniques, seems to be very slow. One of the key scientific limiting factors can be found in the lack of comprehensive analyses able to highlight the hydrological performance and the physical processes involved in LID systems at multiple spatial scale and by considering long-term experimental data. The complexity of the physical processes, involved in each specific LIDs stratigraphy, requires modeling tools able to accurately interpret their hydraulic behaviour, as well as to correlate their hydrologic efficiency with the management of stormwater in the surrounding urban area. For these reasons, so far different empirical, conceptual and mechanistic models have been proposed, however in many of these studies, the hydrological parameters, as well as the physical ones were not properly investigated, limiting the analysis only to specific factors, or by considering literature values for the numerical modeling. Thus, principal aim of this thesis is to present a comprehensive analysis of the hydrological benefits of LID techniques by experimental investigation and numerical modeling. To achieve this goal, several analyses were carried out by considering different: LID systems, spatial scales, weather conditions, modeling investigation, as well as mathematical optimization approaches. Monitored data at the full scale implementation and laboratory measurements were used to support the numerical modeling. More in detail, first a global sensitivity analysis (GSA), based on the Elementary Effect Test (EET) was applied to a PCSWMM hydrodynamic model of the University Campus Innsbruck, which combines traditional drainage infrastructures and low impact development techniques, as Rain Gardens. In this regard, main findings have showed that soil hydraulic parameters considered in the model, (i.e., principally Soil Hydraulic Conductivity and Seepage Rate) were the most sensitive parameters. Therefore, the identification of these properties for LID systems is crucial in order to correctly evaluate their hydraulic performance. Starting from this finding the analysis of the hydrological efficiency of a full-scale extensive green roof, located at University of Calabria in Mediterranean Climate was assessed, by considering field monitored hydrological data, as well as soil hydraulic properties evaluated in lab, and a modeling analysis. Thus, first a field monitoring campaign for one year was carried out, and then hydrological performance indices on an event scale were evaluated. The findings have revealed the optimal behaviour of the specific green roof in Mediterranean climate, which presents an average value of Subsurface Runoff Coefficient of 50.4% for the rainfall events with a precipitation depth more than 8 mm. Later, to evaluate the influence of increasing values of substrate depths (6 cm, 9 cm, 12 cm, 15 cm) on green roof retention capacity, the hydraulic properties of the soil materials were first investigated in Laboratory, by the simplified evaporation method, and then considered for the implementation of the mechanistic model HYDRUS 1D. The results obtained in this phase have showed how the considered substrate depths were able to achieve a runoff volume reduction of 22% to 24%. Thus, as the outflow volume reduction achieved by increasing the soil depth was not significant, the ideal depth for specific soil substrate would be 6 centimetres. Following this study, and based on the findings obtained at building scale, next phase was focused on the analysis of hydrological effectiveness of Low Impact development solutions at largeurban scale in a south Italian case study. This investigation was carried out by considering different LID conversion scenarios by a predictive conceptual model (PCSWMM). In this regards, a specific permeable pavement and green roof, developed and installed at University of Calabria, were considered for the model implementation. Globally, modeling results have confirmed the suitability of these LID solutions to reduce surface runoff even if just a small percentage (30%) of the impervious surfaces is converted. By considering all of the findings, previous achieved by experimental and modelig investigation, it emerged that many aspects related to LIDs design and operation, as well as the choice of the facility and its location can affect the results in terms of hydraulic efficiency. In this regard, a mathematical optimization approach to consider several aspects together could be a suitable tool for designers of LID systems and experts in the field. Therefore, in the last part of the work, new Mathematical Optimization Approaches for LID techniques were evaluated. More in detail, the optimization of rainwater harvesting systems, by using TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) and Rough Set method as Multi-Objective Optimization approaches, was carried out. The results have demonstrated that these approaches could provide an additional tool to identify the ideal system. In conclusion, main findings of this thesis confirm the suitability of LID systems for urban stormwater management providing useful suggestions for their design and tools for assessing their hydrological effectiveness, analysing physical and hydrological parameters that affect their operation, introducing advanced concepts for the optimization of LID systems, therefore providing a significant and innovative contribution for the improvement of scientific research in the field and the spread of these sustainable techniques.Item Post-failure analysis of landslides using the material point method(Università della Calabria, 2020-03-05) Pugliese, Luigi; Furgiuele, Franco; Troncone, AntonelloSlope stability analysis is undoubtedly one of the most complex problems that civil engineers deal with. The evolution of deformation mechanisms of slopes is commonly schematized in four different stages: pre-failure, failure, post-failure and eventual reactivation. Traditional numerical methods, such as the finite element method and the finite difference method, are commonly employed to analyze the slope response in the pre-failure and failure stages under the hypothesis of small deformations. On the other hand, these methods are unsuitable for simulating the post-failure behavior due to the occurrence of large deformations. However, an adequate analysis of this latter stage and a reliable prediction of the landslide kinematics could be particularly useful for minimizing the associated risk or to establish the most suitable mitigation measures for land protection. Among the numerical techniques which have been recently developed to overcome the above-mentioned limitation, the material point method (MPM) is employed in this dissertation to analyze the post-failure stage of two real landslides: the Senise landslide (Basilicata) and the Maierato landslide (Calabria), both in Southern Italy, occurred in 1986 and 2010, respectively. The numerical analyses allow to faithfully simulate the real phenomena. In particular, with referring to the Senise landslide, the numerical analysis provides results that match satisfactorily well the field observations when both the slip surfaces detected by the installed inclinometers are accounted for. Besides, the lowest values of the shear strength parameters obtained from the laboratory tests have to be used. Moreover, an improvement of results is gained accounting for the presence of the existing structures as well. Concerning the Maierato landslide, symbol of the hydrogeological instability in Calabria (Southern Italy), the analysis performed using the material point method allows to successfully simulate the observed phenomenon, despite the complexity of this landslide regarding its size, catastrophic failure and long run-out distance. The obtained results demonstrate that an adequate analysis of the post-failure stage can lead to a better understanding of the complex mechanical mechanisms that characterize some landslides, and therefore help significantly to establish the most effective stabilization measures.Item Analysis of nonlinear phenomena in heterogeneous materials by means of homogenization and multiscale techniques(Università della Calabria, 2020-06-07) Pranno, Andrea; Critelli, Salvatore; Bruno, Domenico; Greco, FabrizioOver the past decade, scientific and industrial communities have shared their expertise to improve mechanical and structural design favoring the exploration and development of new technologies, materials and ad-vanced modeling methods with the aim to design structures with the highest structural performances. The most promising materials used in many advanced engineering applications are fiber- or particle-rein-forced composite materials. Specifically, materials with periodically or randomly distributed inclusions embedded in a soft matrix offer excel-lent mechanical properties with respect to traditional materials (for in-stance, the capability to undergo large deformations). Recent applica-tions of these innovative materials are advanced reinforced materials in the tire industry, nanostructured materials, high-performance structural components, advanced additive manufactured materials in the form of bio-inspired, functional or metamaterials, artificial muscles, tunable vi-bration dampers, magnetic actuators, energy-harvesting devices when these materials exhibit magneto- or electro-mechanical properties. To-day the scientific community recognizes that, to develop new advanced materials capable of satisfying increasingly restrictive criteria, it is vital fully understanding the relationship between the macroscopic behavior of a material, and its microstructure. Composite materials are charac-terized by complex microstructures and they are commonly subjected also to complex loadings, therefore their macroscopic response can be evaluated by adopting advanced strategies of micro-macro bridging, such as numerical homogenization and multiscale techniques. The aim of this thesis is to provide theoretical and numerical methods able to model the mechanical response of heterogeneous materials (fiber- or particle-reinforced composite materials) in a large deformation context predicting the failure in terms of loss of stability considering also the interaction between microfractures and contact. In the past literature, several theories have been proposed on this topic, but they are preva-lently limited to the analysis of microscopic and macroscopic instabili-ties for not damaged microstructures, whereas the problem of interac-tion between different microscopic failure modes in composite materi-als subjected to large deformations in a multiscale context still has not been investigated in-depth and it represents the main aspect of novelty of the present thesis. The thesis starts with a literature review on the previously announced topic. Then, the basic hypotheses of the numerical homogenization strategy are given together with a review of the most recurring mul-tiscale strategies in the modeling of the behavior of advanced composite materials following a classification based on the type of coupling be-tween the microscopic and the macroscopic levels. In addition, a theo-retical non-linear analysis of the homogenized response of periodic composite solids subjected to macroscopically uniform strains is given by including the effects of instabilities occurring at microscopic levels and the interaction between microfractures and buckling instabilities. Subsequently, the numerical results obtained were reported and dis-cussed. Firstly, the interaction between microfractures and buckling instabili-ties in unidirectional fiber-reinforced composite materials was investi-gated by means of the nonlinear homogenization theory. In such mate-rials, the investigated interaction may lead to a strong decrease in the compressive strength of the composite material because buckling causes a large increase in energy release rate at the tips of preexisting cracks favoring crack propagation or interface debonding. Thus, mi-crocracked composite materials characterized by hyperelastic constitu-ents and subjected to macrostrain-driven loading paths were firstly in-vestigated giving a theoretical formulation of instability and bifurcation phenomena. A quasi-static finite-strain continuum rate approach in a variational setting has been developed including contact and frictionless sliding effects. It worth noting that, the above developments show that non-standard self-contact terms must be included in the analysis for an accurate prediction of microscopic failure; these terms are usually ne-glected when contact is modelled in the framework of cohesive inter-face constitutive laws. The influence of the above-mentioned non-standard contributions on the instability and bifurcation critical loads in defected fiber-reinforced composites can be estimated in light of the results which will be presented in this thesis. Thus, the role of non-standard crack self-contact rate contributions to the stability and non-bifurcation conditions was pointed out by means of comparisons with simplified formulations and it was clearly shown that these contribu-tions have a notable role in an accurate prediction of the real failure behavior of the composite solid. Secondly, two multiscale modeling strategies have been adopted to an-alyze the microstructural instability in locally periodic fiber-reinforced composite materials subjected to general loading conditions in a large deformation context. The first strategy is a semiconcurrent multiscale method consisting in the derivation of the macroscopic constitutive re-sponse of the composite structure together with a microscopic stability analysis through a two-way computational homogenization scheme. The second approach is a novel hybrid hierarchical/concurrent mul-tiscale approach able to combine the advantages inherent in the use of hierarchical and concurrent approaches and based on a two-level do-main decomposition; such a method allows to replace the computation-ally onerous procedure of extracting the homogenized constitutive law for each time step through solving a BVP in each Gauss point by means of a macro-stress/macro-strain database obtained in a pre-processed step. The viability and accuracy of the proposed multiscale approaches in the context of the microscopic stability analysis in defected compo-site materials have been appropriately evaluated through comparisons with reference direct numerical simulations, by which the ability of the second approach in capturing the exact critical load factor and the boundary layer effects has been highlighted. Finally, the novel hybrid multiscale strategy has been implemented also to predict the mechanical behavior of nacre-like composite material in a large deformation context with the purpose to design a human body protective bio-inspired material. Therefore, varying the main micro-structural geometrical parameters (platelets aspect ratio and stiff-phase volume fraction), a comprehensive parametric analysis was performed analyzing the penetration resistance and flexibility by means of an in-dentation test and a three-point bending test, respectively. A material performance metric, incorporating the performance requirements of penetration resistance and flexibility in one parameter and called pro-tecto-flexibility, was defined to investigate the role of microstructural parameters in an integrated measure. The results have been revealed that advantageous microstructured configurations can be used for the design and further optimization of the nacre-like composite material.Item La valutazione della vulnerabilità sismica degli edifici storici in muratura mediante diversi approcci(Università della Calabria, 2020-04-16) Porzio, Saverio; Critelli, Salvatore; Oliverio, Renato SanteLe costruzioni in muratura rappresentano gran parte del tessuto costruito e la loro salvaguardia riveste un ruolo sociale e culturale primario. Basti pensare che molti di questi edifici – quali chiese, palazzi, castelli, torri – si pongono come simboli delle città in cui riconoscersi e riconoscere le città stesse. L’interesse di studiosi e ricercatori è, dunque, rivolto alla definizione di strumenti utili alla valutazione della vulnerabilità sismica delle costruzioni storiche in muratura. Vari metodi sono attualmente in uso per la valutazione sismica dei manufatti murari, così come diversificate sono le strategie per simulare il comportamento meccanico dei materiali costituenti. Ai consolidati metodi grafici per la valutazione della sicurezza statica degli archi, volte e cupole, si sono aggiunti nuovi modelli di analisi favoriti dall’introduzione del calcolo numerico. Questo lavoro di tesi mira a valutare il comportamento delle costruzioni storiche in muratura attraverso alcuni dei diversi approcci attualmente impiegati e convalidati dalla comunità scientifica. Gli studi eseguiti partono dall’analisi di alcuni degli elementi costitutivi maggiormente rappresentativi in un edificio, quali volte e pareti, per proseguire con analisi globali attuate con differenti strategie di modellazione. Relativamente alle analisi locali, le indagini sulle volte composte – vale a dire quelle originate dall’intersezione di due volte a botte – sono state svolte in termini statici applicando le teorie dell’analisi membranale, mentre per le pareti murarie si è valutata la loro risposta nei confronti delle azioni fuori dal piano al fine di evidenziarne il contributo nella risposta sismica d’insieme del fabbricato. Riguardo alle analisi globali, uno dei principali strumenti per la valutazione della risposta sismica è rappresentato dall’analisi statica non lineare, chiamata anche analisi pushover, la quale abbina accuratezza dei risultati ad un non eccessivo tempo di calcolo. Tuttavia, nelle strutture più irregolari, l’utilizzo degli approcci canonici – che richiedono la lettura degli spostamenti solo di alcune parti del fabbricato – può portare a risultati completamente inesatti, sia a causa dell’insorgenza dei meccanismi locali di collasso che alla differente risposta della costruzione in relazione alle sue capacità duttili a livello locale. Quest’ultimo aspetto compete al tracciamento della curva di capacità della struttura che avviene, generalmente, considerando un unico punto di controllo: se questo si sposta poco, relativamente breve sarà il ramo della curva elasto-plastico dell’oscillatore equivalente; e viceversa. È per tale ragione che si è sviluppata una metodologia consistente nel considerare diversi punti di controllo, non scelti a priori, ma suggeriti dallo stato di danneggiamento individuato dalle simulazioni numeriche. All’interno della metodologia proposta, è stata definito un nuovo strumento grafico di rappresentazione degli spostamenti dei punti di controllo: l’evoluzione del danno è mostrata utilizzando delle sfere, i cui raggi sono proporzionali agli spostamenti rilevati ed il cui baricentro ha le stesse coordinate del punto di controllo che rappresenta. Le dimensioni delle sfere possono fornire informazioni sul danno occorso e sulla posizione dei punti deboli della struttura investigata, diventando così uno strumento utile per orientare le decisioni sulla tecnica di rinforzo strutturale più adeguata. La validazione della metodologia proposta è avvenuta confrontando – per un caso studio reale consistente in una costruzione di forma triangolare realizzata esclusivamente in muratura – i valori di accelerazione spettrale ottenuti mediante tutte le tipologie di approcci impiegati: dall’individuazione del moltiplicatore dei carichi mediante il teorema cinematico dell’analisi limite, applicato sul meccanismo di collasso fuori piano ritenuto più significativo, all’analisi dinamica non lineare eseguita prendendo in considerazione un accelerogramma artificiale spettro-compatibile, passando per la già citata analisi statica non lineare. I risultati mostrano una comparabilità di valori per gli approcci numerici evidenziando, invece, una discrepanza con quelli analitici a causa di diversi fattori, fra cui la non-raffinatezza dei metodi semplificati. Tuttavia, si sono dedotte informazioni dettagliate sul comportamento strutturale generale dell’edificio, nonché sulla sua sicurezza sismica. Il sommario della tesi comprende quanto segue: Capitolo 1 – Introduzione (argomenti trattati dalla tesi, revisione della letteratura, obiettivi e campo di applicazione); Capitolo 2 – illustra alcune applicazioni effettuate mediante le trattazioni analitiche discusse nello studio dello stato dell’arte; Capitolo 3 – riporta le investigazioni sismiche di alcuni casi studio basate sulla modellazione a telaio equivalente, con un’ultima parte dedicata all’utilizzo di tale strategia di modellazione per le analisi di vulnerabilità su scala territoriale attraverso l’utilizzo delle schede CARTIS-ReLUIS; Capitolo 4 – riporta le analisi numeriche basate sull’approccio FEM e la metodologia pushover a punti di controllo multipli messa a punto per l’analisi delle costruzioni con geometria irregolare in pianta; Note conclusive – presenta le conclusioni più importanti a cui si è giunti attraverso questa tesi, tra cui alcune tabelle utili ad orientare il professionista verso la scelta della strategia di valutazione più indicata per il particolare caso studio da analizzare. Masonry buildings are the main part of the building heritage and their preservation has a primarily social and cultural role. Many of these buildings – such as churches, palaces, castles, and towers – are recognizable and representative symbols of their cities. Therefore, practitioners and researchers are interested in defining useful tools for the evaluation of the seismic vulnerability of historic masonry buildings. Various methods are currently being used for the seismic assessment of masonry artifacts, as well as several strategies for simulating the mechanical behavior of materials being available. The introduction of numerical calculation has led to new analysis models, which support the graphical methods used for evaluating the static safety of arches, vaults, and domes. This thesis aims to evaluate the behavior of historic masonry structures by using some of the different approaches currently used and validated by the scientific community. The studies start from the analysis of some typical elements of a building, such as vaults and walls. Afterwards, global analyses are implemented with different modeling strategies. Regarding the local analyses: the investigations on compound vaults – namely those originating from the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults – are carried out in a static framework by applying the membrane theory; while the out-of-plane response of masonry walls is evaluated in order to highlight their contribution in the overall seismic response of the building. Among the global analyses, the non-linear static analysis – also called pushover analysis – is one of the main tools for the evaluation of the seismic response of a building because it combines results accuracy with a reduced computational burden. However, the use of canonical approaches - which require the reading of the displacements of only some building points - can lead to inaccurate results in the most irregular structures. This is due both to the onset of local collapse mechanisms and to the different building response concerning its local ductile capabilities. These aspects are related to the capacity curve of the structure, which plots the displacements of a single control point: a short elastoplastic branch of the bilinear curve in the case of small displacements; and vice-versa. For this reason, a coupled numerical-geometrical methodology – to represent the results arising from pushover analysis – is developed by considering an appropriate number of control points, not set a priori but suggested by the state of damage detected through numerical simulations. A new graphic tool is defined to represent the displacements of the control points, and the damage evolution is shown by using spheres in which their radiuses are proportional to displacements detected, whereas each centroid has the same coordinates as the control point which it represents. The spheres’ dimensions can provide information about the damage occurred and the position of weak points of the investigated structure, so becoming a useful tool to orientate decisions about structural strengthening technique. In order to validate the proposed methodology, a comparison between the spectral acceleration values obtained through all approaches used is carried out, taking into account a real case study consisting of a triangular construction entirely made in masonry. These accelerations are based on: the load multiplier obtained from the most significant out-of-plane collapse mechanism is defined by means of the kinematic theorem of the limit analysis; the nonlinear dynamic analysis performed by considering an artificial spectrum-compatible accelerogram; the above nonlinear static analysis. The results showed comparable values for numerical approaches, highlighting a discrepancy instead with the analytical ones due to various factors, including the non-refinement of simplified methods. However, detailed information on the structural behavior of the building, as well as its seismic safety, are drawn clearly. The (summary) thesis comprises the following: Chapter 1 - Introduction (thesis topics, literature review, aims and scope); Chapter 2 - illustrates some analytical applications on compound vaults and out-of-plane mechanisms of masonry façades; Chapter 3 - reports the seismic investigations of some case studies based on equivalent frame modeling, with the last part dedicated to the use of this modeling strategy in the seismic vulnerability assessment at the territorial scale by using of CARTIS-ReLUIS forms; Chapter 4 - reports the numerical analyses based on the FEM approach and the multi-control point pushover methodology developed to assess irregular buildings; Concluding remarks - presents the most important conclusions reached through this thesis, including some useful tables to guide the practitioner towards the choice of the most suitable evaluation strategy for a particular case study.Item Resilienza e rischio nella rilettura urbanistica dell'emergenza. Il ruolo della viabilità strategica(Università della Calabria, 2020-02-18) Gaudio, Sara; Furgiuele, Franco; Francini, MauroUrban systems are increasingly experiencing processes of evolution, change and transition. Therefore, there is an urgent need of identifying new planning approaches aimed at promptly responding to them. Over the years, the themes of risk and security have, more or less sponta-neously, contributed to direct the ways of governing the territories. However, the most recent crises have shown how many critical issues have remained unresolved. In this respect, new challenges have to be faced, especially in terms of emergency planning. Starting from a theoretical reflection on the current planning orientation and on the concept of urban resilience, this research tries to use a novel meth-odological approach with a view to provide a new characterisation to Emer-gency Plans, more spatial and not just operational. Following the need to identify some categories of relevant urban elements on the territory, the proposed performance-based framework offers a formal procedure for the detection of strategic road infrastructures. The obtained results allow to plan already in “peacetime” the best alternative routes to ar-rive safely in the areas established by Civil Protection in case of event and to facilitate rescue operations. Therefore, the analysis of the physical and functional relationships among different elements of the territory shifts the focus of emergency from a piece-meal approach to a more integrated one. This will be capable of addressing more consistently the future decisions concerning the urban structures, typi-cal of ordinary territorial planning.Item Analysis of fracture phenomena in concrete structures by means of cohesive modeling techniques(Università della Calabria, 2021-06-30) De Maio, Umberto; Critelli, Salvatore; Greco, Fabrizio; Nevone Blasi, PaoloStill today, the fracture phenomenon in cementitious materi-als is a research topic widely investigated by numerous research-ers in materials and structural engineering, since it involves many theoretical and practical aspects concerning both strength and durability properties of common concrete structures. In-deed, cracking is one of the main causes of the severe deteriora-tion of concrete structures, usually leading to an unacceptable re-duction of their serviceability time. The fracture processes, in-cluding onset, propagation, and coalescence of multiple cracks, arise in the structural members because of the low tensile strength of concrete, which is ultimately related to the existence of voids or undetected defects in the material microstructure.Such cracking processes significantly affect the global mechani-cal behavior of the concrete structures and may facilitate the in-gress of corrosive media; therefore, in the scientific community there is a strong interest in reducing cracks width to a minimum or in preventing cracking altogether. In the technical literature, several simplified numerical models, based on either linear-elas-tic or elastic-plastic fracture mechanics, are proposed to predict the fracture mechanisms during any stage of the lifetime of con-crete structures. However, the application of these models is somehow limited, due to their incapacity to capture the complex inelastic mechanical behavior of reinforced concrete members, involving multiple concrete cracking and steel yielding and their mutual interaction under the combined action of axial and bend-ing loadings. This thesis aims to develop a sophisticated numerical frac-ture model to predict the cracking processes in quasi-brittle ma-terials like concrete, and the main failure mechanisms of the re-inforced concrete structures in a comprehensive manner. The proposed methodology relies on a diffuse interface model (DIM), based on an inter-element cohesive fracture approach, where co-hesive elements are inserted along all the internal mesh bounda-ries to simulate multiple cracks initiation, propagation and coa-lescence in concrete. Such a model, is used in combination with an embedded truss model (ETM) for steel reinforcing bars in the failure analysis of reinforced concrete structures. In particular, truss elements equipped with an elastoplastic constitutive be-havior are suitably connected to the concrete mesh via a bond-slip interface, in order to capture the interaction with the sur-rounding concrete layers as well as with the neighboring propa-gating cracks. The proposed fracture model takes advantage of a novel mi-cromechanics-based calibration technique, developed and pro-posed in this thesis, to control and/or reduce the well-known mesh dependency issues of the diffuse cohesive approach, re-lated to the artificial compliance in the elastic regime. In this way, the initial stiffness parameters of the cohesive element employed in the diffuse interface model are suitably calibrated by means of a rigorous micromechanical approach, based on the concept of representative volume element. In particular, by performing sev-eral micromechanical analyses two charts have been constructed which provide the dimensionless normal and tangential stiffness parameters as functions of both the Poisson’s ratio of the bulk and the admitted reduction in the overall Young’s modulus after the insertion of the cohesive interfaces. The proposed fracture model has been firstly validated by performing numerical analysis in plain concrete elements, and secondly, employed to analyze the failure mechanisms in exter-nally strengthened reinforced concrete beams. In particular, several numerical simulations, involving pre-notched concrete beams subjected to mode-I loading conditions, have been performed to investigate the capability of the diffuse interface model to predict self-similar crack propagation and to assess the mesh-induced artificial toughening effects, also intro-ducing two new fracture models for comparison purpose. More-over, sensitivity analyses with respect to the mesh size and the mesh orientation have been performed to investigate the mesh dependency properties of the proposed fracture model. Further validation of the proposed diffuse interface model has been pro-vided for plain concrete structures subjected to general mixed-mode loading conditions. The role of the mode-II inelastic parameters (i.e. critical tangential stress and mode-II fracture en-ergy) on the nonlinear behavior of the embedded cohesive inter-faces is investigated in a deeper manner. In particular, two sen-sitivity analyses have been performed by independently varying the mode-II inelastic parameters required by the traction-separa-tion law adopted in the proposed concrete fracture model, in or-der to quantify the above-mentioned artificial toughening effects associated with mode-II crack propagation. Moreover, compari-sons with numerical and experimental results, with reference to mode-I and mixed-mode fracture tests, have been reported, highlighting the effectiveness of the adopted diffuse interface model (DIM) in predicting the failure response in a reliable man-ner. Subsequently, the integrated fracture approach is success-fully employed to predict the nonlinear response of (eventually strengthened) reinforced concrete beams subjected to general loading conditions. Firstly, the failure analysis of reinforced con-crete (RC) beams has been performed to assess the capability of the integrated fracture model to capture multiple crack initiation and propagation. Detailed stress analysis of the tensile reinforce-ment bars has been also reported to verify the capability of the embedded truss model (ETM) of capturing the tension stiffening effect. Secondly, the well-known concrete cover separation phe-nomenon has been predicted by performing complete failure simulations of FRP-strengthened RC elements. To this end, a sin-gle interface model (SIM) has been incorporated in the proposed fracture model to capture the mechanical interaction between the concrete element and the externally bonded reinforced system and to predict eventually debonding phenomena in con-crete/FRP plate interface. Suitable comparisons with available experimental results have clearly shown the reliability and the effectiveness (in terms of numerical accuracy) of the adopted fracture approach, especially in the crack pattern prediction. Fi-nally, the proposed integrated numerical model is used to pre-dict the structural response of ultra high-performance fiber-rein-forced concrete (UHPFRC) structures enhanced with embedded nanomaterials. In this case, the cohesive elements are equipped with a mixed-mode traction-separation law suitably calibrated to account for the toughening effect of the nano-reinforcement. The main numerical outcomes, presented in terms of both global structural response and final crack pattern, show the ability of the proposed approach to predict the load-carrying capacity of such structures, as well as to highlight the role of the embedded nano-reinforcement in the crack width control.Item Probabilistic assessment of the seismic performance of two earth dams in Southern Italy using simplified and advanced constitutive models(Università della Calabria, 2021-06-16) Regina, Gianluca; Conte, Enrico; Cairo, Roberto; Zimmaro, Paolo; Ziotopoulou, KaterinaThe large majority of existing earth dams were designed with old standards, which often accounted for the effects of earthquakes in a simplified manner. Nowadays, safety assessment of these structures is becoming of great importance, particularly for dams suffering the effects of ageing. This study presents a fully probabilistic approach to evaluate the seismic performance of two critical earth dams in the Calabria region, a seismically active area in Southern Italy. One of them (the Farneto del Principe dam) is not susceptible to liquefaction, whereas the other dam (the Angitola dam) is founded on potentially liquefiable soils. Seismic input motions are derived from site-specific probabilistic approaches. Non-ergodic ground response is implemented within a probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) framework for one of the two dam sites. This non-ergodic PSHA is derived from numerical amplification functions based on one-dimensional simulations. Such well-documented early application of non-ergodic PSHA for earth dams in Italy may encourage a transformational shift from years of past practices based on deterministic amplification functions merged with PSHA results by means of hybrid approaches. Simplified (i.e., using the Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion coupled with a simplified hysteretic procedure) and advanced (i.e., PM4Sand and PM4Silt) constitutive models are used to perform a comprehensive numerical simulation program for both dams. Field and laboratory geotechnical characterization data are used to calibrate these models. This calibration process is fully documented and potential issues discussed. Such fully-documented calibration process will enable future studies on similar infrastructure systems when advanced constitutive models are necessary. Shear strain and deformation patterns are analyzed and discussed, showing that for the Farneto del Principe dam (comprising non-liquefiable materials) both constitutive models provide similar results. However, when potentially liquefiable soils are involved, advanced constitutive models are necessary to capture the complexity and nuances of such materials. This effect is evident for the Angitola dam. For both dams, seismic vulnerability is analyzed by means of analytical fragility functions for various damage mechanisms and intensity measures. Such fragility functions are based on nonlinear deformation analyses within the multiple stripe analysis framework. All fragility functions derived in this study are shown and main outcomes are illustrated by summary tables reporting mean and standard deviation values of these curves. Finally, the efficiency and predictability of various ground motion intensity measures to predict different damage levels and mechanisms are calculated for both dams. Predictability of recent semi-empirical ground motion models is also calculated for all analyzed intensity measures. Overall, results from this analysis indicate that velocity-based ground motion properties, such as Peak Ground Velocity, Arias Intensity, Cumulative Absolute Velocity, and Cumulative Absolute Velocity after application of a 0.05 𝑚𝑠2 threshold acceleration provide good efficiencies in predicting damage. These intensity measures are the best in predicting damage states for both dams and all damage mechanisms. However, some of them are more predictable than others. After merging efficiency and predictability information, the best intensity measure to predict damage is the Cumulative Absolute Velocity, followed by the Arias intensity.Item Analisi teorica/sperimentale di travi in calcestruzzo armato rinforzate con sistemi Steel-FRCM: caratterizzazione dei materiali/comportamento strutturale sotto carico monotono e ciclico/valutazione della deformazione di distacco intermedia(Università della Calabria, 2021-06-25) Nisticò, Mattia; Conte, Enrico; Bencardino, FrancescoIl presente lavoro di tesi si propone di studiare il comportamento strutturale di travi di calcestruzzo armato (c.a.) in scala reale sottoposte a caricamento monotono e ciclico, rinforzate esternamente con sistema Steel-Fabric Reiforced Cementitious Matrix (S-FRCM). Le travi testate a flessione sono rinforzate con una tecnica tradizionale Externally Bonded (EB) e con una tecnica innovativa chiamata Inhibiting-Repairing-Strengthening (IRS) che prevede l’applicazione del sistema di rinforzo all’interno del ricoprimento di calcestruzzo con una opportuna matrice inorganica a base di polimeri di natura minerale, avente proprietà di inibizione dalla corrosione delle armature interne. I risultati sperimentali hanno evidenziato l’efficacia della tecnica IRS che, rispetto alla tecnica tradizionale EB, ha fatto registrare maggiori incrementi di carico ultimo e di fattore di duttilità. Inoltre, l’uso di una fibra di acciaio con scarsa capacità di impregnazione favorisce la modalità di collasso per debonding che ne riduce la capacità di rinforzo. Sono state, inoltre, condotte prove di adesione su provini di calcestruzzo e muratura allo scopo di indagare e comprendere il comportamento di interfaccia dei sistemi S-FRCM al variare della tipologia di fibra di acciaio e matrice di applicazione. Il distacco all'interfaccia fibra-matrice e fibra-supporto (senza asportazione della superficie di applicazione) sono le principali modalità di rottura osservate, oltre alla rottura per trazione della fibra. Dai risultati ottenuti sono state calibrate leggi coesive di interfaccia per le applicazioni dei sistemi di rinforzo su elementi di calcestruzzo da utilizzare nelle analisi teoriche. I risultati sperimentali delle travi sono stati confrontati con i risultati ottenuti da un modello numerico agli elementi finiti utile per validare le leggi di interfaccia e prevedere il comportamento strutturale delle travi rinforzate con sistema EB-IRS/S-FRCM. Infine, sono state effettuate considerazioni sulla valutazione della deformazione di distacco intermedia (intermediate debonding) di strisce di acciaio applicate su elementi di c.a. secondo le indicazioni riportate nel documento CNR-DT/215. I confronti sono stati eseguiti utilizzando i dati sperimentali ottenuti nello sviluppo della tesi ed un database di risultati collezionati dalla letteratura scientifica. Il confronto è effettuato anche con semplici formule predittive proposte da diversi autori. Da questi confronti si evince come le indicazioni del documento CNR-DT/215 forniscano risultati affidabili per le fibre con bassa densità ed al contrario errori non trascurabili XII nel caso di fibre di acciaio ad alta densità. Le formule predittive, caratterizzate dalla facilità d’uso, indicano valori accurati in combinazione con opportuni coefficienti parziali di sicurezza.Item Analisi sismica non lineare di edifici con struttura in C.A. base fissa ed isolata in presenza di fenomeni di martellamento interno ed esterno(Università della Calabria, 2021-06-09) Labernarda, Rodolfo; Conte, Enrico; Mazza, Fabio