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Name Victor Melatti |  |
Area of research/Academic Interests
My PhD project focuses on dissipative devices for historical masonry structures subjected to earthquake loading. The common practice in retrofitting these buildings consists in inserting traditional steel cross-ties at the corner of two perpendicular walls to restore the box-like behaviour and distribute the seismic forces through all the resisting elements. This practice is not exempt from drawbacks, as the increased local stiffness might lead to high-stress concentration in case of a new seismic event and consequently to severe damages to the valuable parent material in which the cross-ties are embedded.
My study aims to develop an innovative friction damper connected in series with stainless steel anchors, that reduces the stress concentration in the in-plane wall where it is installed.The device must address specific requirements about reducing intervention intrusiveness and increasing structural ductility capacity, energy dissipation and reliability. The project is in collaboration with CINTEC International, which provides installation of masonry anchoring stabilization systems at global level and it is sponsored by EPSRC with a Impact scholarship.
After gaining my Master's degree in Civil Engineering at the University of L'Aquila in 2016, I was awarded by the University of L'Aquila with a scholarship for the preliminary design and structural analysis of a telecommunication tube tower. I joined the UCL as a PhD student in 2017.
Keywords / Tags
Historic Buildings, Dissipating Devices, Masonry Structures.