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F. Messali
F. Messali
Profile
I am currently an Assistant Professor in the section Applied Mechanics at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences of TU Delft. I received my B.Sc. (2009) and M.Sc. (2011) degrees in civil engineering at University of Brescia (Italy). During my bachelor, I spent one academic year (2007/2008) at the Heriot-Watt University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom). In 2011 I worked as a researcher to investigate at the development of an analytical model for the cyclic behaviour of foundations of precast concrete columns. The research was carried out at the Department of Civil, Environmental, Architectural Engineering and Mathematics (DICATAM) of the University of Brescia. From the same institution, I received my Ph.D. degree in 2015 in the Structural Rehabilitation of Historical and Modern Buildings, with a thesis on the seismic response of hollow-brick masonry walls in as-built conditions and strengthened through reinforced high-performance mortar coatings. In 2015 I moved to Delft to work as a postdoc in the group structural mechanics to investigate the seismic vulnerability of unreinforced masonry buildings not designed for seismic loading. The outcomes of this research contributed to the development of the Dutch guidelines for the structural assessment of buildings (NPR 9998) and supported the development of a typology-based assessment for buildings in the Dutch province Groningen.
Research interests
My research interest lies in the mechanics of structures made of quasi-brittle materials, especially masonry. I aim to develop reliable and easily applicable methods for the assessment of unreinforced and strengthened buildings and infrastructure. My research lines include:
- Multi-hazard oriented robust constitutive models for quasi-brittle materials.
- Assessment of masonry buildings & infrastructure: from single objects to the regional scale.
- Upscaling of strengthening solutions from material to structural level.
Expertise
Publications
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2024
A contact-based constitutive model for the numerical analysis of masonry structures using the distinct element method
Y. P. Oktiovan / F. Messali / B. Pulatsu / J. V. Lemos / J. G. Rots
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2024
Analysis procedures accounting for load redistribution mechanisms in masonry earth retaining structures under traffic loading
Satyadhrik Sharma / Michele Longo / Francesco Messali
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2024
Characterisation of timber joists-masonry connections in double-leaf cavity walls – Part 1
Experimental results
O. Arslan / F. Messali / E. Smyrou / E. Bal / J. G. Rots -
2024
Characterisation of timber joists-masonry connections in double-leaf cavity walls – Part 2
Mechanical model
O. Arslan / F. Messali / E. Smyrou / E. Bal / J. G. Rots -
2024
Engineering methodology to assess the seismic out-of-plane response of two-way spanning unreinforced masonry walls with multiple openings
S. Toshniwal / J. Sluijs / S. J.H. Meijers / S. Sharma / F. Messali
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Ancillary activities
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2024-02-08 - 2026-02-06