Curriculum

Vincenzo Fioravante is a civil engineer (graduating in 1983, Technical University of Torino), a Doctor of Philosophy (1989) and a full professor (2006) in Soil Mechanics at the Engineering Department of the University of Ferrara. He is tutor of more than 50 master and 7 philosophy thesis.

 

Prior to his appointment as associate professor at Ferrara University (2000), he was head of the Geotechnical Unit at ISMES S.p.A., the Italian Research Center of Civil Engineering. He developed and managed the advanced soil and rock mechanics laboratories, the Calibration Chambers, the Large Direct Shear and Pull-out apparatus and the Seismic Geotechnical Centrifuge.

 

He was one of the founders of the “ISMES Geotechnical” company in 2000, now known as ISMGEO (Istituto Sperimentale Modelli GEOtecnici), which took over the Geotechnical branch of  ISMES S.p.A. with all the geotechnical facilities, and which is involved in soil investigations, via laboratory and in situ standard and advanced tests, of large projects (e.g. Lido, Malamocco and Chioggia inlets of the MOSE project on Safeguarding the Venice Lagoon against high tides; the TAV high speed and capacity railway; metro C in Rome; Messina bridge; assessment of the seismic risk of infrastructures in the Tuscany and Emilia Romagna regions.

 

Main Technical and Scientific Activities.

  • Member of the Scientific Committee of the Emilia Romagna (Art. 4, paragraph 1, of the LR 30 October 2008, n. 19, entitled "Provisions for the reduction of seismic risk").

  • Member of the Working Group for the review of projects of post-earthquake reconstruction of the RER.

  • Member "3RD Party Review - Appointment as expert reviews for Task 1: Geotechnical Assessment" from Civil Projects Division (CPD) of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), to review technical aspects related to the compaction of the on-going Project namely "Upper Zakum Artificial Islands - Dredging and Land Reclamation".

  • Member of the Scientific Committee for the evaluation of the causes of the failure of the embankment of the Secchia River (RER).

  • Members of the Italian Commission for the habilitation of candidates to associate professorship and the full professorship within the Italian universities (ASN) for the Scientific Sector ICAR/07- Geotecnica (rounds 2012 and 2013).

 

Invited Lectures

  • General Report, ICPMG 2010 International Conference of Physical Modelling in Geotechnics Zurich, 2010.

  • General Report, ICSMGE XVII International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering International Conference Alessandria, Egypt, 2009

  • Session Report, V International Conference on Pile testing development. Deep Foundation on Bored and Auger Piles. Ghent, Belgium, 2008

  • Session Reporter, II International Conference on Site Characterization ISC’2: Enhanced characterization by combined in-situ testing. Porto 2004.

  • Coordinator of the first professional education course on: Opere in Terra. Engineering Department of University of Ferrara (2002).

 

Professional Qualifications and Awards

  • Italian Geotechnical Society, AGI since 1983;

  • Italian Institution of Civil Engineers (1984);

  • British Geotechnical Society (1989;

  • ISSMGE International Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering (1989);

  • ISSMGE Technical Committees, TC104: "Physical modelling” 1994 and TC101: "Laboratoy stress strain testing” (1994, 2002); the ASTM TC - D18.98 (from 1999 to 2003 and from 2010 to now).

He won the Hogentogler Award in 1997 and in 2009 with the papers:

Fioravante, V. & Capoferri, R. Automatic volume measuring device for testing of dry soils. Martina. ASTM Geotechnical Testing Journal. Vol. 20 No.4. pp.423-432. ISSN: 0149-6115.

Fioravante V. (2008). Physical Modelling of Deep Landslides Stabilisation in OC Clay. ASTM-Geotechnical Testing Journal on GTJ 0309 vol 31 n.2, pp. 1-17 GTJ100001. ISSN: 0149-6115.

 

Author of more than 120 scientific publications on the following main topics:

  1. Mechanical, hydraulic and thermal characterization of natural soils via advanced in situ and laboratory tests.

  2. Soil structure interaction behaviour of shallow and deep foundations under static and dynamic conditions, mainly through centrifuge physical modelling (behaviour of axially loaded piles, piles as settlement reducers, soil improvement by geomaterials).

  3. Interface behaviour between soil and stiff inclusion such as piles, geogrids and soil reinforcing.

  4. Validation of in situ tests through Calibration Chamber tests (CPT, CPTU, DMT, SBMP) and through Geotechnical Centrifuge tests (CPT, CPTU).

  5. Maintenance and qualification of existing road embankments and evaluation of the effectiveness of new techniques for soil consolidation at low environmental impact

  6. Evaluation of efficiency of soil environmental remediation techniques.

  7. Local seismic response assessment.

 

Responsible of major engineering projects

1. Physical modeling through with Seismic Centrifuge tests of:

  • the leaning instability of the Pisa Tower and the stabilization works;

  • settlement reducer pile foundation of mobile barriers of the MOSE project to safeguarding Venice lagoon against high tides;

  • seismic response and dynamic stability of the defense bank of the Po river; stability assessment;

  • landslide stabilization via large diameter shafts under dynamic conditions.

2. Soil investigations via standard and advanced laboratory tests:

  • the Lido, Malamocco and Chioggia inlets (MOSE project);

  • high speed and capacity railway projects;

  • metro C in Rome;

  • static, cyclic and dynamic behavior of frozen large samples retrieved from the gravelly soils interested by the foundations of the bridge over the Strait of Messina.

  • Mechanical characterization of carbonatic sand; cone penetration calibration trough calibration chamber and centrifuge tests

3. Assessment of the seismic risks of infrastructures in the Tuscany and Emilia Romagna  regions.

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