Author: João Firmo

CORE Group member Eloísa Castilho was distinguished by the “EuraSEM – ICEM20 Conference Attendance Award 2023" during the 20th International Conference on Experimental Mechanics (ICEM20), which took place in Porto, on 2-7 July, with the work entitled "Creep in tension and compression at elevated temperature of GFRP laminates produced by vacuum infusion". This award, granted by the European Society for Experimental Mechanics (EuraSEM), recognizes research works that address scientific challenges related to experimental mechanics. We congratulate Eloísa for this achievement.

CORE Group members Inês Rosa, Lourenço Fernandes and João Ramôa Correia were awarded by International Institute for FRP in Construction (IIFC) during the 11th International Conference on FRP Composites in Civil Engineering (CICE2023), which took place in Rio de Janeiro on 23-26 July 2023. Inês Rosa received the award for the IIFC Best PhD Thesis with the work entitled "Fire behaviour of concrete structures reinforced with GFRP bars" (supervised by the Dr. João Firmo, Prof. João Ramôa Correia and Dr. Mário Arruda). Lourenço Almeida Fernandes, received an honourable mention in the award for the IIFC Best PhD Thesis with the work "Fracture behaviour of pultruded GFRP profiles: application to web-crippling phenomena" (supervised by Prof. Nuno Silvestre and Prof. João Ramôa Correia). João Ramôa Correia received the "IIFC President's Award" in…

CORE Group members Inês Rosa and João Firmo attended the fib Symposium 2023 “Building for the future: Durable, Sustainable, Resilient", which took place in Istanbul, on 5-7 June, and presented recent works on the elevated temperature and fire behaviour of GFRP-reinforced concrete structures and on the development of bio-based resins for the pultrusion of CFRP reinforcement strips. Fib international symposium series is among the official symposium of "The International Federation for Structural Concrete (fib)" and covers topics related to concrete and innovative materials, structural performance and design, construction methods and management, and outstanding structures. Inês Rosa (left) and João Firmo (right) presenting at fib Symposium 2023.

The former CORE Group member Wallace Maia de Souza, now Assistant Professor at the Universidade Federal do Maranhão (Brazil), was distinguished with “Best Paper Award” (2nd place at the national level, 1st place at the Northeast region) on the occasion of the 63rd National Conference of Concrete, organized by the Brazilian National Institute of Concrete (IBRACON) held Brasilia on October 11-14, 2022, for the following study developed within the CORE Group in the framework of his PhD project: “Experimental analysis of concrete columns reinforced with GFRP bars under monotonic and cyclic lateral loadings”. We congratulate Wallace for this outstanding achievement! More information can be found here: https://portalpadrao.ufma.br/site/noticias/professor-de-engenharia-civil-conquista-premio-de-melhor-artigo-do-nordeste-e-segundo-melhor-do-brasil-no-63deg-cbc (image credit: link above)

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…

On 13 September 2021, the CORE Group member Wallace Maia de Souza successfully defended his PhD Thesis and awarded the Doctoral degree in Civil Engineering by Instituto Superior Técnico (University of Lisbon) under the supervision of Prof. João Ramôa Correia and co-supervision of Dr. João Pedro Firmo and Prof. João Almeida. During the last 4 years, Wallace focused his research on the behaviour of concrete columns reinforced with GFRP rebars subjected to different loading conditions, including monotonic and cyclic lateral loads. This research included a comprehensive experimental campaign, comprising tests on 16 real-scale concrete columns (with footings), complemented with analytical and numerical studies. Wallace will now proceed his academic career at the Universidade Federal do Maranhão, Brazil. Congratulations and best wishes for the new challenge. Wallace after his PhD public…