When – 5.30pm - Wednesday 6th March 2019 //
Where – Room: LgeChem / 301-G050 (Chemistry Building In Science Centre), University of Auckland. Opposite Engineering School. Access from Symonds or Princess Streets (Refer attached City Campus Map)
Agenda –
17:30 pre-presentation refreshments
18:00 presentation
Please register for this presentation below:
Description: Alessandro Palermo Registration opens at 28-02-2019 08:18 Registration closes at 06-03-2019 16:00
Max Participants: 300 Registered Users:
Registration is currently closed.The Collapse of the Morandi Bridge
Abstract
On 14 August 2018, the Ponte Morandi, part of the Polcevera Viaduct in Genoa, Italy, partially collapsed without warning killing 43 people. Despite starting to show signs of deterioration in the 1990s and a number of proposals to replace the bridge in the intervening years, few initiatives were undertaken in a meaningful manner.
The presentation explores the background and design philosophy of the designer Morandi, overviews the construction and design of the Genoa bridge and highlights the possible causes of the collapse. The presentation concludes with some lessons learnt that could be relevant to New Zealand bridge infrastructure.
Biography
Alessandro Palermo. Alessandro’s research areas of interest are mainly focused on structural bridge engineering, where he is currently course coordinator of a post-graduate course. His expertise is particularly focused on implementation of seismic low-damage technologies for precast concrete bridges and buildings; His research varies from monitoring and seismic assessment of existing bridges to the use of novel materials such glass reinforcing and ultra-high performance concrete.
He has always been passionate about history and aesthetics: he runs a very popular bridge building competition within the University of Canterbury undergraduate programme and supervises research projects on innovative pedestrian bridge design using novel materials, technologies and 3D visualization.
Within the last National earthquakes he has been heavily involved in reconnaissance of Canterbury and Kaikoura bridges and he is currently coordinating the Canterbury Bridge Group. Alessandro is author of more than 310 international conference/journal papers and 3 patents. He has been awarded the 2013 Ivan Skinner award for his recent advancements in earthquake engineering, University of Canterbury Innovation Medal (2013) and 2016 Best Lecturer of the Year at the University of Canterbury.