The PhD defense of CORE Group member Pietro Mazzuca took place on September 27 at the University of Calabria, Italy, where he presented his thesis titled “Fire behaviour of GFRP sandwich panels for the rehabilitation of building floors”. The thesis was unanimously approved “With Distinction and Honour” by a jury composed of Professor Giuseppina Balassone (University of Naples Federico II, Italy), Professor Melvin Arias Polanco (Technological Institute of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic), Professor Stefano Patruno (University of Nicosia, Cyprus), Prof. Francesco Bencardino (University of Calabria, Italy) and Dr. Mário Garrido (Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal).
Pietro developed experimental and numerical studies about the fire resistance behaviour of sandwich panels composed of GFRP face sheets and longitudinal webs, and two different core materials, namely polyurethane (PUR) foam and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) foam. The investigations developed in his thesis aimed at evaluating three main aspects of the fire behaviour of these composite sandwich panels: (i) the characterisation of the mechanical and thermo-physical properties at elevated temperature of their constituent materials; (ii) the influence of different core materials and GFRP configurations on their fire resistance, and (iii) the effectiveness of different passive fire protection systems in enabling their structural use in buildings. We congratulate Pietro on receiving the Doctoral degree in Civil Engineering under the co-tutelle agreement between Instituto Superior Técnico (University of Lisbon) and University of Calabria and wish him all the best for his future endeavours!
Pietro’s thesis full text can be downloaded here.