Personal Information
- Full Name : Chiara Smerzini
- Date of birth : 2 July 1982
- Role : Associate Professor
- Email : chiara.smerzini@polimi.it
- Office : Via G. Colombo, 40
- Telephone : +39-02-23996283
Associate Professor in Structural Design at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of Politecnico di Milano since 2020. Main research activity deals with the characterization of earthquake ground motion for engineering aims, 3D physics-based numerical simulations of seismic wave propagation, seismic hazard and risk assessment in large urban areas and for strategic structures/infrastructures (more than 50 papers, SCOPUS h-index=14). Significant contributions in national and international projects funded by both public institutions (EU H2020, ReLUIS-DPC, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy of Netherlands) and industrial sector (Munich RE, swissnuclear).
Education and Professional Career
Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Italy.
2020 - PresentSenior Researcher (RTD-B), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Italy.
2016 - 2020Post-doctoral fellow, Department of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
2014 - 2015Senior Engineer, D’Appolonia S.p.A., Genova, Italy.
2013 - 2014Research fellow, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Italy.
2010 - 2013PhD Degree in Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology, University School for Advanced Studies – IUSS, Pavia, Italy.
2010 - 2013post-graduate MSc degree in Engineering Seismology within the program MEEES, University School for Advanced Studies – IUSS (Pavia, Italy) and University of Grenoble J. Fourier (Grenoble, France).
2007MSc Degree in Environmental and Land Planning Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy.
2006Research
The research activity focuses on the earthquake engineering topics related to the characterization of earthquake ground motion and of its spatial variability, with implications for both the definition of seismic action in building codes and for the evaluation of seismic hazard and risk of large urban areas as well as of strategic structures/infrastructures. The research has contributed to the development of innovative tools for the prediction of strong ground motion, relying both on empirical approaches based on earthquake recordings and on analytical-numerical approaches based on the rigorous solution of seismic wave propagation problems in three-dimensional heterogeneous media. Applied research involves the 3D numerical simulation of significant earthquakes in complex near-field geomorphological conditions, the generation of seismic risk scenarios for large urban areas, the impact of spatial variability of ground motion on seismic risk analysis at urban scale and on the seismic response of civil engineering structures.
15
27
35 (source: Scopus, Sept. 2021)
Teaching
Teaching activity includes tenured master courses in:
- - Risk-Based Design, MSc degree in Building Architecture, School of Architecture Urban Planning Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano (since A.Y. 2017/2018).
- - Earthquake Engineering Analysis, MSc degree in Civil Engineering, School of Civil Environmental and Land Management Engineering, Politecnico di Milano (since A.Y. 2018/2019).
- - Buildings in Seismic Areas, MSc degree in Building and Architectural Engineering - Degree in Building Engineering/Architecture, School of Architecture Urban Planning Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano (since A.Y. 2020/2021).
- - Structural Design, MSc degree in Architecture and Urban Design, School of Architecture Urban Planning Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano (A.Y. 2017/2018 - 2019/2020).
Research Projects
POLIMI-swissnuclear Project
May 2017– May 2022Title: "Development of advanced physics-based numerical approaches for earthquake ground motion prediction” within the SIGMA 2 “Seismic Ground Motion Assessment" Funded by swissnuclear, Switzerland. Role: investigator. Grant: 250.000 Euro.
EU Project URBASIS
Nov. 2018 – Nov. 2022Title: "EU Project URBASIS “New Challenges for Urban Engineering Seismology". Funded by the European Commission within the Marie Slodowska-Curie Actions, Innovative Training Networks (ITN), Call: H2020-MSCA-ITN-2018. Role: supervision of one doctoral thesis, co-supervision of one doctoral thesis. Grant: 4’066’114 Euro.
DPC-RELUIS Project WP4
2019 - 2021Title: "MAppe di Rischio e Scenari di danno sismico". Funded by the Department of Civil Protection (DPC) under the 2019–2021 DPC-RELUIS agreement. Role: investigator.
DPC-RELUIS Project WP18
2019 - 2021Title: "Contributi normativi relativi ad Azione Sismica". Funded by the Department of Civil Protection (DPC) under the 2019–2021 DPC-RELUIS agreement. Role: investigator.
EU Project SITE3D
Oct. 2018 – April 2020Title: "Seismic site effects in sedimentary basins from 3D physics-based numerical modeling". Funded by the European Commission within the Project SERA - Seismology and Earthquake Engineering Research Infrastructure Alliance for Europe, Call H2020-INFRAIA-2016-1. Role: Principal Investigator. Grant: access to EUROSEISTEST facility.
Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy of Netherlands
Sept. 2018 – Dec. 2019Title: "Data Driven Study on Seismic Structural Features of Groningen Ground Motions". Role: task leader. Period: Grant: 106’800 Euro.
MRPM II
Apr. 2015 – Mar. 2017Title: "Integrating Physics-Based Scenarios into PSHA in Large Urban Areas – Probabilistic Seismic Hazard enhanced".Funded by the re-insurance industry Munich Re, Germany, under the agreement with Politecnico di Milano – Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DICA) and Laboratory for Modeling and Scientific Computing (MOX). Role: task leader. Grant: 150.000 Euro.
MRPM I
Jan. 2012 – Dec. 2013Title: "Numerical Approaches for Earthquake Ground Shaking Scenarios in Large Urban Areas". Funded by the re-insurance industry Munich Re, Germany, under the agreement with Politecnico di Milano – Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DICA) and Laboratory for Modeling and Scientific Computing (MOX). Role: Task Leader. Grant: 150.000 Euro.
DPC-RELUIS Special Project RS2
Jan. 2012 – Dec. 2013Title: "Simulations of earthquakes: near-source effects". Funded by the Department of Civil Protection (DPC) under the 2014–2018 DPC-RELUIS agreement. Role: investigator.
STREST
Oct. 2013 – Sept. 2016Title: "Harmonised approach to stress tests for critical infrastructures against natural hazards". Funded by the European Union under the Seventh Framework Programme EU FP7/2007-2013, grant agreement no. 603389. Role: investigator.
HPC Projects
ISCRA B Project INDQUAKE
Apr. 2020 – Apr 2021Title: "3D numerical simulation of INDuceed earthQUAKEs in the Groningen gas field". Funded by CINECA, Italy. Role: Principal Investigator. Grant: 500.000 core-hours on Marconi M100 cluster
ISCRA C Project SEIGRON
Oct. 2018 – July 2019Title: "3D numerical simulation of SEIsmic wave propagation in the GRONingen gas field for hazard assessment of induced seismicity". Funded by CINECA, Italy. Role: Principal Investigator. Grant: 37.500 core-hours on Marconi cluster.
ISCRA C Project EQK-NOR
Nov. 2017 – Aug. 2018Title: "3D physics-based numerical simulations of earthquake ground motion in Norcia basin during the October 2016 seismic sequence in Central Italy". Funded by CINECA, Italy. Role: Principal Investigator. Grant: 89.600 core-hours on Marconi cluster.
CRA B Project URBSHAKE
July 2016 – July 2017Title: "Enhanced seismic hazard assessment at URBan scale based on physics-based high-performance broadband ground SHAKing scEnarios". Funded by CINECA, Italy. Role: Principal Investigator. Grant: 75.467 cores-hours on Marconi cluster.