Fernando Fraternali

research

3D view of the primary and secondary folding motions of an origami solar module with tensegrity architecture (link to the OA article).

FERNANDO FRATERNALI

c/o Department of Civil Engineering
University of Salerno
84084 Fisciano (SA), Italy
Phone: (+39) 089 96-4083
Fax: (+39) 089 96-4045
E-mail: f.fraternali@unisa.it
University of Salerno webpage


Biographical sketch

Fernando Fraternali is Professor of Structural Mechanics in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Salerno (Diciv), Italy. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Salerno, and a Ph.D. in Multiscale Mechanics from King's College London. F. Fraternali has participated as a PI or co-PI in various research projects funded by the Italian National Research Council, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Italy-USA scientific cooperation), and US research agencies. He is PI of the PRIN Research Project of National Relevance "Innovative Lattice Structures and Architectured Materials for civil engineering (ILAM)" (PRIN 2022 project 20224LBXMZ, years 2023-2025) granted by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR). He is also PI of the Research Unit at the University of Salerno within the PRIN-PRRR 2022 Project of National Relevance "STABilization of contaminated SOILs (STABSOIL)" (project code P2022CR8AJ, years 2023 –202) granted by MUR. In the University of Salerno, Prof. Fernando Fraternali serves as Rectory Deputy to Graduate Programs for the Scientific Area; as Coordinator of the PhD Course on "Structural Engineering, Architecture and Cultural Heritage" and as Delegate to Research and Doctorate Affairs of Diciv. Most of his research work concerns multiscale modeling and simulation of solids and structures, the nonlinear dynamics of materials and structures, and the design and engineering of sustainable materials at multiple scales. Prof. Fraternali was awarded a Fulbright Research Scholarship for the academic year 2005/06 and has been Visiting Professor at the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories of the California Institute of Technology since September 2005 (several periods), and the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, USA. Starting from 2017, he has been listed in the Elsevier data Repository of the world's 100,000 top-cited scientists across all fields according to the citation metrics presented in the article by John P.A. Ioannidis: "Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators", doi: 10.17632/btchxktzyw.7 ("2% top cited researchers", last update: v.7, August 2024). He is an elected member of the European Academy of Sciences, and has received the "Major Contributions to Tensegrity Systems Research" Award from the Texas A&M Laboratory on Tensegrity Systems (April 2018); the "Bdr2017 Award - Category Green Economy" for the University of Salerno spin-off Newmatt, (founder and CEO) within the Startup Competition on Innovation and Entrepreneurship "Borsa della Ricerca 2017" (Fisciano, May 2017), and the "2015 Hetenyi Award" from the Society for Experimental Mechanics, Inc. (Bethel, CT 06801, USA). Prof. Fraternali is Associate Editor of Mechanics Research Communications (Elsevier, ISSN: 0093-6413), Frontiers in Materials (Frontiers Publishing, ISSN: 2296-8016) and Ingegneria Sismica - International Journal of Earthquake Engineering (Patron Editore, ISSN: 0393-1420). He is also on the Editorial Advisory Board of Curved and Layered Structures (De Gruyter Open, ISSN: 2353-7396) and Science and Engineering of Composite Materials (De Gruyter Open, ISSN: 2191-0359). F. Fraternali is Guest Editor of the following special issues: "Multi-Scale Modeling and Characterization of Innovative Materials and Structures", Mechanics Research Communications (Volume 58, Pages 1-156, June 2014); "Composite Lattices and Multiscale Innovative Materials and Structures", Composites Part B: Engineering (Volume 115, Pages 1-504, April 2017); "Multiscale lattices and composite materials: Optimal design, modeling and characterization", Frontiers in Materials (May 2019); "Advances in Mechanical Metamaterials and Smart Structures", Mechanics Research Communications (Volume 107, 2020, 103531, July 2020); "Recent Advances on Multiscale Engineered Metamaterials and Structures", Mechanics Research Communications, Volume 131, 2023, 104159, doi: 10.1016/j.mechrescom.2023.104159 (August 2023). 

Extended CV


Note biografiche

Fernando Fraternali è Professore Ordinario di Scienza delle Costruzioni nel Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile della Universita' degli Studi di Salerno (Diciv), a partire dal 02.05.2016. Ha ricevuto la laurea in Ingegneria Civile per la Difesa del Suolo e la Pianificazione Territoriale con lode dalla Universita' degli Studi di Salerno (laurea quinquennale) ed il PhD in "Multiscale Mechanics" presso il King's College di Londra. Nell’Universita' di Salerno ha precedentemente ricoperto il ruolo di Professore Associato (2001-2016) e di Ricercatore Universitario (1990-2001) per il settore 08/B2 Scienza delle Costruzioni. Nella stessa Universita' ricopre il ruolo di delegato del Rettore ai Dottorati ed alle Scuole di Specializzazione per l'area scientifica ed è Coordinatore del Corso di Dottorato in "Ingegneria Strutturale, Architettura e Patrimonio Storico, Architettonico e Paesaggistico". Fa anche parte delle Commissioni Ricerca e Formazione Post-Laurea del Diciv del Diciv. Ha partecipato a diversi progetti di ricerca finanziati dal MIUR, dal CNR, dalla Rete dei Laboratori di Ingegneria Sismica (RELUIS), dalla Regione Campania, dal Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale (Cooperazione Scientifico-Tecnologica Italia-USA) e da Agenzia di Ricerca degli Stati Uniti. Attualmente ricopre il ruolo di Coordinatore Nazionale del Progetto di Ricerca di Interesse Nazionale PRIN "Innovative Lattice Structures and Architectured Materials for civil engineering (ILAM)" (PRIN 2022, progetto 20224LBXMZ, anni 2023-2025), finanziato dal Ministero dell’Universita’ e della Ricerca (MUR). E’ anche PI dell’Unità locale presso l’Università degli Studi di Salerno nell’ambito del Progetto di Ricerca di Interesse Nazionale PRIN-PNRR 2022 "STABilization of contaminated SOILs (STABSOIL)" (progetto P2022CR8AJ, anni 2023 –2025 ), finanziato dal MUR. Le sue attività di ricerca presenti e passate hanno riguardato principalmente la modellazione multiscala della risposta meccanica dei materiali e delle strutture; la progettazione, l'analisi e la sperimentazione di materiali e strutture innovative; la dinamica non lineare e la dinamica sismica delle strutture; l'ottimizzazione strutturale e la meccanica delle strutture non resistenti a trazione. F. Fraternali ha goduto di una borsa di studio Fulbright per la categoria "Research Scholar" nell'Anno Accademico 2005/2006 ed è stato "Visiting Associate in Aeronautics" presso il "California Institute of Technology" (Pasadena, USA), dal Settembre 2005 al Febbraio 2009 (in congedo sabbatico dall’Università di Salerno negli anni accademici 2005/2006 e 2006/2007). Dal Febbraio 2009 ad oggi ha ricoperto ripetutamente il ruolo di "Guest" presso il California Institute of Technology. E’ stato anche "Visiting Academic Scholar" presso il "Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering", della "University of California, San Diego". A partire dal 2017 è stato inserito nell' Elsevier data Repository dei 100.000 ricercatori più citati al mondo in tutti i campi secondo le metriche di citazione presentate nell'articolo di John P.A. Ioannidis: "Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators", doi: 10.17632/btchxktzyw.7 ("2% top cited researchers", ultimo aggiornamento: v.7, Agosto 2024). E' un membro eletto della European Academy of Sciences ed ha ricevuto il Premio "Major Contributions to Tensegrity Systems Research" dal Laboratorio "Tensegrity Systems" della Texas A&M University, USA (Aprile 2018); il "Bdr2017 Award - Categoria Green Economy" per lo spin-off dell'Universita' di Salerno Newmatt, (fondatore e CEO) nell'ambito della Startup Competition su Ricerca ed Impresa "Borsa della Ricerca 2017" (Fisciano, Maggio 2017) ed il "2015 Hetenyi Award" dalla Society for Experimental Mechanics, Inc. (Bethel, CT 06801, USA). Riveste il ruolo di Associate Editor delle seguenti riviste scientifiche a diffusione internazionale: Mechanics Research Communications (Elsevier, ISSN: 0093-6413), Frontiers in Materials (Frontiers Publishing, ISSN: 2296-8016) e Ingegneria Sismica - International Journal of Earthquake Engineering (Patron Editore, ISSN: 0393-1420). E' inoltre membro dell'Editorial Advisory Board delle riviste scientifiche internazionali: Curved and Layered Structures (De Gruyter Open, ISSN: 2353-7396) e Science and Engineering of Composite Materials (De Gruyter Open, ISSN: 2191-0359). F. Fraternali e' Guest Editor delle seguenti special issues: "Multi-Scale Modeling and Characterization of Innovative Materials and Structures", Mechanics Research Communications (Volume 58, Pagine 1-156, Giugno2014); "Composite Lattices and Multiscale Innovative Materials and Structures", Composites Part B: Engineering (Volume 115, Pagine 1-504, Aprile 2017); e del research topic "Multiscale lattices and composite materials: Optimal design, modeling and characterization", Frontiers in Materials (Maggio 2019); "Advances in Mechanical Metamaterials and Smart Structures", Mechanics Research Communications (Volume 107, 2020, 103531, Luglio 2020); "Recent Advances on Multiscale Engineered Metamaterials and Structures", (Mechanics Research Communications, Volume 131, Agosto 2023, 104159, doi: 10.1016/j.mechrescom.2023.104159).

Curriculum Esteso




Research Experience

Structural Engineering Test Hall, University of Salerno, Italy
1992 to present
Seismic design of structures. Collapse spectra. Development and assessment of mechanical theories of laminated composite structures. Effects of moderately large rotations and bimodular material behavior. Local-global stability analysis and post buckling response. Mechanical models of FRP-reinforced structures. Modeling of delamination effects. Service life and failure behavior. Experimental validation. Interlaminar stress measurement. Design and experimentation of junctions for FRP reinforcements. Delamination tests on composite beams. Testing of real scale models of FRP-reinforced structures. Failure test of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with FRP plates and wrappings. Construction, instrumentation, testing and modeling of a FRP-reinforced pavilion vault in masonry bricks. Stress measurement through instrumented bricks. From discrete to continuum variational methods in computational mechanics. Unilateral materials and structures (no-tension/no-compression materials and structures). Structural optimization via variational methods and evolutionary strategies. Free discontinuity models in fracture mechanics. Buckling tests of thin-walled cylinders and tubes. Crack tracking in elastic and no-tension structures.

CalTech Division of Engineering and Applied Science, Pasadena, CA, USA
2005 to present
Collaboration with Michael Ortiz's research group (link1), the Solid Dynamics group of the Center for the Simulation of the Dynamic Response of Materials (ASC), and the Caltech's Center for Advanced Computing Research (CACR). Formulation of constitutive models for the dynamics of polymers and soft biological tissue. Variational multiscale models for fracture and fragmentation of brittle and cohesive materials. Dynamics, damage and fragmentation of composite structures under blast and ballistic loadings. Simulation of traumatic head injuries. Prediction of mechanical and physiological damage to brain tissue.
Collaboration with Chiara Daraio's research group (link2) on the mechanical and numerical modeling of strongly nonlinear phononic crystals. Multiscale analysis of wave propagation in granular materials. Study of solitary wave propagation, anomalous wave reflections, shock disintegration, tunability of wave properties. Use of solitary waves for non-destructive evaluation. Multiscale mechanical modeling of nanostructures composed of carbon nanotube foams and polymeric films. Mechanical modeling and experimental characterization of innovative lattice metamaterials. Bandgap analysis of tensegrity metamaterials.

Department of Structural Engineering and Caltrans Seismic Response Modification Device (SRMD) Test Facility University of California, San Diego, USA
2015 to present
Mechanical modeling and experimental analysis of mechanical metamaterials formed by layers of pentamode lattices alternating with stiffening plates. Deevelopment of seismic isolation devices and vibration attenuation tools based on lattice materials.

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, USA
2012 to present
Collaboration with Robert Skelton (link1) and Vitali Nesterenko (link2) research groups. Building and testing of real-scale models of tensegrity structures. Optimal design of minimum mass tensegrity structures with parametric architecture. Innovative structures for energy efficient buildings. Computational design and experimentation of soft tensegrity metamaterials.

Department of Mechanical and Process Enginering, ETH Zurich, CH
2013 to 2016
Collaboration with Chiara Daraio's research group on the design and engineering of acoustic metamaterials based on granular materials and tensegrity lattices. Modeling and testing of carbon nanotube structures and hierarchical materials. Tensegrity actuators and sensors.

Department of Materials Science and Enginering, University of Sheffield, UK
& Mercury Centre for Advanced Manufacturing Technology & Production
2013 to present
Collaborations with Conny Rodenburg and Russel Goodall research groups. Plasma irradiation and particle mask treatments to enhance the surface roughness of polymeric materials. 3D printing of periodic lattices based on tensegrity structures and shape memory metals. Tensegrity modeling of the spider silk. Modeling and characterization of reinforcin elements for engineering materials with fractal architecture.

Bioengineering and Biomechanics Laboratory, University of Salerno, Italy
2003 to present
Collaboration with Maurizio Angelillo and Antonio Fortunato on the characterization of the mechanical behavior of brain tissue. Measurement of regional and directional mechanical properties of brain pig specimens through tensile tests. Development of constitutive models of brain tissue. Construction of a finite element model of the human head from MRI and CT scans. Validation against laboratory data. Simulations of traumatic brain injuries. Head injury criteria. Experimentation of honeycomb materials and foams for use as dissipative fillers in head protection devices. Falling weight impact tests.

King's College, London, UK, Biological Physics and Soft Matter Group
2008 through 2011
Multiscale models of biomembranes and nanostructures, with applications to the red blood cell membrane and carbon nanotube assemblies. Variational multiscale approach. Continuum limits of the interaction potentials acting at the microscopic scale. Modeling of membrane networks as point particles interacting via harmonic and dihedral potentials. Modeling of carbon nanotube structures as chains of nanoparticles interacting via bistable spring potentials. In situ characterization of the mechanical properties of biomembranes and carbon nanotube structures.

Virginia Tech College of Engineering Blacksburg, VA, USA
Aug-Dec 1991
Development of mechanical models of laminated composite shells.

Edited Special Issues

MRC special issue
The special issue of Mechanics Research Communications (MRC) MULTI-SCALE MODELING AND CHARACTERIZATION OF INNOVATIVE MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES, Edited by Fernando Fraternali and Anthony D. Rosato, has been published into Volume 58 of MRC (Pages 1-156, June 2014) (www.multiscale.unisa.it/previous_edition).

JCOMB special issue
Fernando Fraternali, Luciano Feo and Robert E. Skelton announce that the special issue of Composites Part B: Engineering (JCOMB) titled COMPOSITE LATTICES AND MULTISCALE INNOVATIVE MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES, which is linked to the 2016 International Workshop on Multiscale Innovative Materials and Structures (MIMS16) held on October 28-30 in Cetara (Salerno), has been published into Volume 115 of JCOMB (Pages 1-504, April 2017) (www.multiscale.unisa.it).

Frontiers in Materials article collection
Fernando Fraternali, Chiara Daraio and Julian Rimoli announce that the research topic of Frontiers in Materials titled MULTISCALE LATTICES AND COMPOSITE MATERIALS: OPTIMAL DESIGN, MODELING AND CHARACTERIZATION, has been published.

MRC special issue
Fernando Fraternali and Glaucio Paulino announce that the special issue of Mechanics Research Communications titled ADVANCES IN MECHANICAL METAMATERIALS AND SMART STRUCTURES, has been published.

Nanomaterials special issue
Raffaele Barretta, Domenico De Tommasi and Fernando Fraternali announce that the the special issue NANOMATERIALS: MULTISCALE INNOVATIVE MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES, has been launched.