The Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering
The Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering (ISISE) is a research unit funded by the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT), incorporating Universities of Coimbra and Minho as hosting institutions.
In 2025, ISISE was evaluated by FCT – the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and graded EXCELLENT.
🧠📚 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝!
Can 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 support faster and more efficient structural design by reducing the need for time-consuming finite element analyses?
This study presents a 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚-𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐍𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥 for predicting the 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 of built-up cold-formed steel–lightweight concrete composite beams.
The model was trained using 𝟗𝟔𝟎 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 and achieved excellent predictive accuracy, while reducing the need for computationally expensive numerical analyses. The work also includes 𝐡𝐲𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐏 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬, and the development of a 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐫-𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 for practical engineering applications.
This work highlights the growing potential of 𝐀𝐈-𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 for the preliminary design of innovative composite structural systems.
📖 Data-driven modelling of bending resistance in built-up cold-formed steel lightweight concrete (CFS-LWC) composite beams using artificial neural networks
👨🔬 Authors: Rohola Rahnavard, Adriano Silva de Carvalho, Hélder D. Craveiro and Filip Ljubinković
📘 Advances in Engineering Software
🔗 10.1016/j.advengsoft.2026.104273
#ISISE #SMCT #ucoimbra #Dec #fctuc #ArtificialIntelligence #structuralengineering #machinelearning #compositestructures #ColdFormedSteel #LightweightConcrete #finiteelementanalysis #ArtificialNeuralNetworks #engineeringsoftware #research #innovation
📢 New publication by ISISE researchers!
A new study has been published in Construction and Building Materials:
📄 “Determining the coefficient of thermal expansion of FRP–concrete hybrid structural system constituents: Implementation and validation of a strain gauge–based method”
The work presents and validates a practical methodology for determining the coefficient of thermal expansion of materials used in FRP–concrete hybrid structural systems. Based on strain-gauge measurements, a low-expansion reference material and dedicated post-processing, the proposed approach offers a robust and cost-effective alternative for structural engineering laboratories.
The methodology was applied to the constituents of a hybrid sandwich panel composed of pultruded GFRP, polyurethane foam and steel fibre-reinforced self-compacting concrete. Full-scale experimental testing and numerical analyses confirmed that the material-level properties obtained with the proposed method can successfully reproduce the thermal response of the complete structural system.
👥 Authors: Marco Abreu Filho, João M. Pereira, Miguel Azenha and José Sena-Cruz
🔗 Read the open-access paper:
buff.ly/d3SiJCL
#ISISE #SC #FRP #ARISE #UniversityOfMinho #StructuralEngineering #CompositeMaterials #FRP #Concrete #ThermalBehaviour #ExperimentalResearch #OpenAccess
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🎓 Congrats to Cesare Fiorini for completing his PhD!
🧾 Title: Safety and Enhancement of Resilience of the Built Environment in the Wildland-Urban Interface
📅 Defence date: July 24th, 2026
👨🏻🎓 Supervisors: Prof. Aldina Santiago (ISISE, Departamento de Engenharia Civil - Universidade de Coimbra) and Researcher Hélder David Silva Craveiro (ISISE, Departamento de Engenharia Civil - Universidade de Coimbra)
⚖️ Jury:
• Prof. Elsa Pastor Ferrer (Barcelona East School of Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech, Spain)
• Prof. Nuno Filipe Ferreira Soares Borges Lopes (Universidade de Aveiro)
• Prof. Adélia Jesus Nobre Nunes (Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra)
• Prof. António Manuel Gameiro Lopes (Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra)
• Researcher Hélder David Silva Craveiro (Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra)
#ISISE #SMCT #EE #ucoimbra #fctuc #Dec #phddefense #SteelandCompositeConstruction #BuiltEnvironment #resilience #wildlandurbaninterface #firesafety #structuralengineering #research
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🏗️ 𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐒𝐄 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐡𝐥𝐛𝐚𝐮-𝐊𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫-𝐓𝐚𝐠 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔
On 3 July, 𝐅𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐩 𝐋𝐣𝐮𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐨𝐯𝐢ć represented ISISE at the 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐡𝐥𝐛𝐚𝐮-𝐊𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫-𝐓𝐚𝐠 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔, one of Germany's leading events in 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠, held in Fellbach. The event brought together 169 experts from academia and industry to discuss the latest developments in structural steel research, standardisation, and engineering practice.
🎤 Filip presented the lecture:
📖 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐏𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐬: 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬, 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬
German: “𝐆𝐞𝐤𝐫ü𝐦𝐦𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐟ö𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐥𝐞: 𝐁𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐠, 𝐇𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐞”
👨🔬 Authors: Luís Simões da Silva, Filip Ljubinković, João Pedro Martins and Sara Uszball.
The presentation addressed the 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝, 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬, and 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 for curved steel plate elements, contributing to the dissemination of recent research and engineering developments in 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬.
🤝 Special thanks to the University of Stuttgart, and particularly to Prof. Ulrike Kuhlmann and Prof. Markus Knobloch, for the kind invitation and the excellent organisation of this prestigious event.
#ISISE #SMCT #UCoimbra #SteelStructures #StructuralEngineering #Eurocode3 #StahlbauKalender #Research #Engineering
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📢 𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐒𝐄 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐂𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐅𝐀𝐁𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐨𝐧 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬!
Last week, ISISE had the pleasure of welcoming 29 participants to the Campus da Universidade de Coimbra na Figueira da Foz for the Training School "Benchmarking and Fatigue Data Analyses" within COST Action FABER.
🔬 Over four intensive and inspiring days, participants explored fatigue benchmarking and data analysis through lectures and discussions led by Alfonso Fernandez Canteli and Diego Diaz Salamanca from the Universidad de Oviedo, Spain.
🤝 We would like to thank Jan Papuga, Chair of COST Action FABER, for choosing us as hosts, and all lecturers, participants, and organisers for making this event a success!
✨ A great opportunity for knowledge exchange, collaboration, and strengthening the fatigue research community across Europe.
#COSTAction #COSTAssociation #FABER #Fatigue #Engineering #Research #TrainingSchool #ISISE #UniversityOfCoimbra
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NEW PAPER !
" Experimental and Numerical Evaluation of Dual-Layer Sonic Crystal Scatterers with Embedded Helmholtz Resonators"
Nicolas Herrera-Leon, Paulo Amado-Mendes, Luis Godinho
This research proposes a novel design of a sonic crystal unit cell that integrates multiple mechanisms to achieve broadband frequency attenuation. The design was numerically modeled and experimentally validated to evaluate both the absorbing material used for the scatterers and the embedded Helmholtz resonators. Results show a marked improvement in insertion loss compared with an equivalent rigid configuration, with enhanced performance before and after the band gap.
buff.ly/xVaciUH
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