Buckling Phenomena: from Computational Aspects to the Design of Aerospace Composite Structures

Chiara Bisagni

Politecnico di Milano 

Buckling phenomena are difficult to be computationally analyzed due to the high geometric nonlinearity, especially in the case of composite panels and shells. New design methodologies will be presented for the development of thin innovative aerospace composite structures, that work in the post-buckling field and that reach multi-stable configurations.

A paradigm shift in design concepts, considering buckling no more as a phenomenon to be avoided, but as a favorable behavior to be actively exploited will be presented, together with the new challenges related to the design and analysis of these structures. The developed design methodologies consist of an integrated mathematical formulation based on finite element analyses, that has also the potential to contribute to an increased role of modelling and simulation for aerospace composite structures from the preliminary design to the certification.

This design methodology represents the main goal of an ERC Advanced Grant funded by the European Commission, called NABUCCO with the duration of 5 years. NABUCCO covers all the aspects aforementioned and will include a series of experimental validations spanning from simple structural components to representative scaled wing models.

Biography

Chiara Bisagni is Professor at the Politecnico di Milano in Italy, Department of Aerospace Science and Technology, and she has a guest Professor position at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, Faculty of Aerospace Engineering. She received her Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, where she started her academic career. Then, she was Professor at the University of California San Diego, before moving to the Delft University of Technology, where she was Professor from 2015 to 2023.

Her research regards aerospace composite structures. Her projects span from buckling, post-buckling, and crashworthiness, to fatigue, damage tolerance and optimization, for aeronautical and space applications.

Professor Bisagni received several awards, including an Amelia Earhart Fellowship, a Marie Curie Grant, a Young Researcher Fellowship from MIT, a Fulbright Grant, and recently was awarded an ERC Advanced Grant. She is Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Knight of the Order of Star of Italy.