On Thursday 8^th June, a seminar entitled “TIM approach: a thermodynamic standpoint for nonlinear soil-structure interaction” held by Dr. Davide Noè Gorini, post-doc at Sapienza University of Rome, will take place in room 7.1.1 (Building 7 – Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32).

Abstract:

The frequency- and amplitude-dependant effects of soil-structure interaction under seismic conditions tend to be oversimplified in design and are commonly roughly modelled in large-scale assessment of structures, with occurrence of unrealistic predictions of the ductility and displacement demands for the structural members. This seminar explores an analysis approach to account for salient features controlling the dynamic response of soil-structure systems, overcoming limitations of existing practice-oriented methodologies and providing an essential description of reality. It consists of a class of Thermodynamic Inertial Macroelements (TIMs) simulating the macroscopic response of geotechnical systems in the nonlinear analysis of structures. TIMs reproduce a combined nonlinear and inertial response under multiaxial conditions of different foundation types, including abutments, shallow and deep foundations. The hardening response is derived within a consistent thermodynamic approach, using hyper-plasticity, and is bounded by the ultimate capacity of the geotechnical system. Inertial effects developing in a geotechnical system under dynamic loading are simulated through appropriate participating masses. TIMs are implemented as a new class of multiaxial materials in OpenSees. Applications of the proposed approach are discussed, from the seismic analysis of peculiar soil-structure layouts to the large-scale assessment of infrastructural systems.

Speaker’s bio:

Davide Noè Gorini is a post-doc at Sapienza University of Rome. He graduated in Civil Engineering in 2015 at Sapienza University of Rome, where also obtained a PhD in Structural and Geotechnical Engineering in 2019, working on a soil-abutment microelement representation for seismic assessment of bridges. He privileges open-source numerical environments for sharing knowledge without barriers, such as OpenSees and open supercomputing resources. His current reseach fields concern: development of a thermodynamic inertial macroelement approach for soil-structure interaction; seismic performance of bridges, buildings and tunnels; computational tools for soil-structure interaction applications in OpenSees; analysis and design of dissipative foundations and seismic-protection solutions; constitutive modelling for geomaterials and seismic assessment of natural slopes.