Modern Experimental and Numerical Methods in Seismic Engineering: Passive Damping Systems in Structures

Speaker

Magdalini Titirla, Assistant Professor, Laboratoire de Mécanique des Structures et des Systèmes Couplés (LMSSC), CNAM Paris, https://www.lmssc.cnam.fr/fr/equipe/magdalini-titirla

Information

The lecture will take place on Monday, September 22, 2025 at 11:00, in Room G3.0.13.1 at the Technical University of Crete

Abstract

This seminar introduces an integrated research approach that combines numerical simulations with experimental studies in the fields of Seismic Engineering and Structural Dynamics. It focuses on the investigation—both experimental and computational—of a damper used in passive seismic energy dissipation systems. The damper's performance is evaluated in three reinforced concrete buildings of varying heights (four, nine, and sixteen stories), each subjected to seismic excitation from both natural and synthetic accelerograms. The study compares this damper with other passive damping systems by analyzing the seismic response of structures with and without dampers, including friction, viscous, and tuned mass pendulum types. The findings demonstrate the potential for enhancing structural seismic performance through reinforcement and the strategic use of passive damping technologies.

Speaker Bio

Magdalini Titirla is an Assistant Professor at the Structural Mechanics and Coupled Systems Laboratory (LMSSC) at CNAM in Paris, France, where she has served since 2019. She oversees the FISA BTP Reims civil engineering diploma and the engineering diploma in Public Works (diplôme d'ingénieur Travaux Publics). She earned her PhD in Civil Engineering from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) in 2016 with distinction. Her expertise in earthquake-resistant structures and seismic energy dissipation systems has been shaped through her academic training—at undergraduate, master's, and doctoral levels—as well as through postdoctoral research. She holds a Civil Engineering degree and a Master's in Earthquake-Resistant Design from AUTH. Her postdoctoral work includes research on seismic metamaterials at the University of Salerno in Italy (March–August 2017), under Professor F. Fraternali, and participation in the HYBRIDAL project at the LMC2 laboratory of the University of Lyon 1 (France) from October 2017 to July 2019, under Professor E. Ferrier.

Smart structures exploit the synergy of multiple coupled physical phenomena to develop advanced materials and systems with enhanced functionality. These structures integrate sensors, actuators, mechanical and electronic components, and control systems. Designing such systems poses a multidisciplinary challenge with high relevance for industrial sustainability and resilience. The use of piezoelectric composite materials with integrated nonlinear shunt circuits significantly enhances the effectiveness and accuracy of vibration suppression in critical high-value structures, while paving the way for the development of novel metamaterials. The SCPVSA project focuses on the design and optimal tuning of smart structures equipped with piezoelectric patches and shunted electronic circuits. Applications in civil, mechanical, and acoustic engineering will be investigated.

The project is implemented under the 3rd Call for HFRI Research Projects to Support Faculty Members and Researchers, within Category II – Engineering Sciences and Technology (EP.2) (Project Number: 26236). Key collaborators include PhD candidate Maria-Styliani Daraki, postdoctoral researchers Nikos Papadakis and Kostas Marakakis (both PhD graduates of TUC), Professor Georgia Foutsitzi, Professor Nikolaos Antoniadis from the University of Ioannina, and Assistant Professor Georgios Drosopoulos from the International Hellenic University, a former postdoctoral researcher at TUC. This is the eighth project funded by HFRI with a Professor from the School of Production and Management Engineering as Principal Investigator.

The purpose of the Conference is to disseminate recent scientific advances from the collaboration and interaction of the scientific fields of Operational Research / Management Science (OR/MS), Artificial Intelligence, and Innovation for Energy Transition, as well as to promote international co-operation among researchers and practitioners working in these fields. Within the framework of the conference, a workshop with special speeches and sessions in memoriam of Vangelis Grigoroudis will be held.

Soundscape acoustics extends the more traditional approach of Environmental Acoustics (as well as Architectural Acoustics) by incorporating also how the acoustic environment is experienced by individuals. This approach is being integrated into legislation and national environmental strategies, as recently in Wales and is expected to expand in many countries in the coming years.

The Academia Europaea was established in 1988 and is the Pan-European Academy of Sciences, Humanities and Letters. The object of Academia Europaea is the advancement and propagation of excellence in scholarship in the humanities, law, the economic, social, and political sciences, mathematics, medicine, and all branches of natural and technological sciences anywhere in the world for the public benefit and for the advancement of the education of the public of all ages in the aforesaid subjects in Europe.

More information on the election as well as Academia Europaea can be found at https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Papageorgiou_Markos

Recent Advances in Physics-Informed Machine Learning

Presente

George Em Karniadakis (GS h-index 150), The Charles Pitts Robinson and John Palmer Barstow Professor of Applied Mathematics, Brown University, also @MIT & PNNL, https://sites.brown.edu/crunch-group

Information

Technical University of Crete, 27/04/2025, 11:00, room: Γ2.1 amfitheater Manousos Manousakis

Abstract

We will review physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) and summarize available extensions for applications in computational science and engineering. We will also review new representations of interpretable deep neural operators that take as inputs functions and distributions for system identification and real time inference. We will then present how we can interface PINNs and neural operators, such as DeepOnet. with finite elements for data assimilation, inverse problems and multiscale problems. Finally, we will present new bio-inspired architectures, including spiking neural networks that are the best candidates for breaking the current trend of extremely steep demand for GPU computing using artificial neural networks.

Bio

George Karniadakis is from Crete. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellow. He received his S.M. and Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1984/87). He was appointed Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT and subsequently he joined the Center for Turbulence Research at Stanford / Nasa Ames. He joined Princeton University as Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and as Associate Faculty in the Program of Applied and Computational Mathematics. He was a Visiting Professor at Caltech in 1993 in the Aeronautics Department and joined Brown University as Associate Professor of Applied Mathematics in the Center for Fluid Mechanics in 1994. After becoming a full professor in 1996, he continued to be a Visiting Professor and Senior Lecturer of Ocean/Mechanical Engineering at MIT. He is an AAAS Fellow (2018-), Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM, 2010-), Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS, 2004-), Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME, 2003-) and Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA, 2006-). He received the SES GI Taylor Medal (2024), the SIAM/ACM Prize on Computational Science & Engineering (2021), the Alexander von Humboldt award in 2017, the SIAM Ralf E Kleinman award (2015), the J. Tinsley Oden Medal (2013), and the CFD award (2007) by the US Association in Computational Mechanics. His h-index is 150 and he has been cited over 130,000 times.