Author: João Firmo

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…