Luigi Solazzi

University of Brescia | UNIBS · Department of Industrial Engineering

This research presents numerical findings on the seismic response of a tower crane employing anti-seismic joint dampers at its base. The study demonstrates that these damping elements effectively mitigate dynamic actions induced by seismic forces, reducing stress magnitudes by approximately 10%-15% without increasing overall displacement. Moreover,...

The present research describes a design of an overhead crane using different materials with a prestress method, which corresponds to an external compression force with the aim of reducing the displacement of the beam due to the external load. This study concerns a bridge crane with a span length of 10 m, with a payload equal to 20,000 N and an esti...

This research focuses on cylindrical helical springs with circular cross-sections made from carbon steel (SH 0.82% C) and stainless steel (AISI 302). The transformation from a linear bar to a circular spiral involves numerous factors such as material mechanical behavior, stress–strain relationships and residual stresses. This research investigates...

This research aims to evaluate and compare the mechanical behaviour of a real crane subjected to wind actions. These are schematized in three different ways, i.e. considering wind velocity variable in time (two models) and the second one considering constant in time (as defined in the standards for designing the cranes). The fluctuation was estimat...

Modern planetary rovers are based on aluminum chassis, but thanks to carbon fiber composites, the weight of such mobility platforms can be dramatically lowered. This paper describes the design of a 6-wheeled rover with a rocker-bogie suspension, adopting carbon fiber laminates and short-fiber-reinforced polymers. This last feature is an innovative...

Industrial wheels are heavily loaded components that undergo severe cyclic stress conditions. Thus, the design of the rims must include a wide fatigue study which articulates in laboratory and field tests, analytical and numerical analyses and comparison of the experimental and computational results. This paper presents the study approach applied i...

Railway systems play a pivotal role in modern transportation networks, contributing to both efficiency and environmental sustainability. This study investigated the multifaceted aspects of wear phenomena in railway engineering, focusing on their significant implications for environmental costs and operational efficiency. Experimental trials were co...

The present research concerns the evaluation of the dynamic effect on lattice boom cranes. The dynamic actions involved in this research are: wind, moving load and earthquake, assumed as time-varying actions. The research starts with the design of a large crane by adopting classical standards for these structures (UNI EN 13001 series). The elaborat...

Wheels are structural components designed to sustain dynamic loads and avoid fatigue failures in service. For their validation, when standard fatigue tests are not feasible due to premature tyre wear, alternative methods should be used. In this paper, the rim section test approach is evaluated for the fatigue life assessment of steel rims for off-h...

Experiments with antiprotons often require the tracking of charged particles emerging from the annihilation process. The Atomic Spectroscopy And Collisions Using Slow Antiprotons (ASACUSA) collaboration at the CERN Antiproton Decelerator (AD) used several panels of scintillating bars placed around the interaction region to detect the passage of cha...

Reliability and efficiency of automotive and industrial vehicles are strongly affected by the behaviour of the components involved in the interaction with the ground. For this reason, components like tyres, wheels and suspension systems are physically tested, for performance and durability assessment. Anyway, standard test machines are generally de...

Antiproton annihilations on matter nuclei are usually detected by tracking the charged pions emitted in the process. A detector made of plastic scintillating bars have been built and used in the ASACUSA experiment for the last 10 years. Ageing, movements and transports caused stress on the internal mechanical structure and impacted mostly on the op...

Supercritical CO2 has been proposed as working fluid in various typology power plants, thanks to its potential higher efficiency and cost reduction with respect to well-known technology of steam cycles.However, the high operating temperature and pressure conditions pose significant concerns in terms of compatibility of the supercritical CO2 with th...

Steel wire ropes offer manufacturer-independent safety performance, while the durability performance can be different. To assess the damage status of a wire rope during its service, fail-safe methods are used, so it is necessary to know the progression of the damage to apply them. This paper proposes an analytical method for estimating the fatigue...

This numerical research reports results related to the implementation of innovative materials such as composite materials to a lifting apparatus and in particular a classic jib crane with a capacity of 500 kg. The work involves an initial analytical dimensioning followed by verifications conducted by finite element analysis. The parameters adopted...

This research reports the results related to the evaluation of the fatigue phenomenon of the arms of a medium–large excavator made of composite material (carbon fiber) instead of the classic constructional steel S355 (UNI EN 10025-3). In the numerical sizing phase, it was obtained that the overall weight of the excavator’s arms made of composite ma...

In this research, the design of a new competitive handbike fork, made of a composite material, is presented. The study is based both on an early finite element analysis and on a CFD analysis of the characteristics and performance of a standard fork made of aluminum, allowing to define the loading and the flux conditions and to provide a design opti...

This article presents an application of a method for estimating the inherent statistical variability of the fatigue damage computed in one single nonstationary random time history. The method applies the concept of confidence interval for the damage, which is constructed after the single time history is subdivided into pseudo-stationary segments, w...

Wheels are important components for the general vehicle reliability. Their design validation is usually based on fatigue tests conducted in laboratory under constant amplitude load conditions, according to industrial standards. In the off-highway industry, the variety of applications and machines often makes it difficult to complete standard tests,...

The goal of this research is to evaluate the variability of the buckling load in thin orthotropic cylindrical shells due to the deviation with respect to the nominal values, for both the geometrical and material properties. In this research also the fiber orientation i.e the alignment with respect to the cylinder axis was considered. The research i...

The upgrade of the scintillating bars detector, used in the experiments of the ASACUSA Collaboration at the CERN Antiproton Decelerator is presented. The detector consists of several modules, each one made of ≈1m long scintillating bars, which allow the detection of the charged particles produced in the annihilations of antiprotons and antihydrogen...

The electricity generation from wave energy represents an important step towards meeting renewable energy targets. The challenge of efficiently capturing the wave power is still an open topic for academies, scientific communities and companies’ commercial competitiveness. This paper presents a study on the design and numerical simulation of a two d...

The object of this research is to demonstrate that the composite materials can replace the classic ones (for example steel) used to produce the structural mechanical components. The focus of this study is a double effect hydraulic cylinder installed on the excavator. Its design has been addressed using three different materials: the composite one m...

The focus of this research is to evaluate the reliability of pressure vessels made of composite materials (carbon and glass fiber) with respect to stress and burst pressure. Small thicknesses theory was adopted to sizing the components. The geometry was verified through FEM analyses. To compare the results, also pressure vessel, made of steel and a...

This study shows the application of a system to monitor the state of damage of railway wheel steel specimens during rolling contact fatigue tests. This system can make continuous measurements with an evaluation of damage without stopping the tests and without destructive measurements. Four tests were carried out to train the system by recording tor...

The focus of this research is to evaluate the variability of the stress state in hydraulic cylinder, due to the deviation respect to the nominal values for both the geometrical and the material properties. The element is composed by a multilayer in which the inner layer is made by means of a thin tubular aluminum part, while the coating is made of...

Industrial wheels are components subject to fatigue under a high number of stress cycles, depending on the type of vehicle they are installed to. The reliability of these components is strictly dependent on the accuracy of the fatigue validation method adopted. A common practice in the industry is to test loads under constant amplitude in laborator...

This research was derived from the experimental observation that hydraulic actuators are positioned on machines that are subjected to movements and whose dynamic actions, the accelerations, are very high; it is acceptable to think of an actuator for an anthropomorphic robot. From this point of view, the weight of the actuator plays a fundamental ro...

This paper proposes a thermal method for estimating fatigue life of metallic ropes. Rotating bending fatigue tests are performed on rope specimens and their temperature evolution is monitored till specimen failure. The proposed method is justified through a theoretical framework based on thermally dissipated energy and energy spent for mechanical d...

The aim of this research is to study the dynamic behaviour of a real gantry crane subjected to the actions induced by the trolley and payload movement. A specific numerical procedure was developed and implemented in the finite element method in order to simulate different trolley movement modes on the crane's main beam. From the results, it is clea...

The purpose of this numerical research is to study a derrick crane under repeated loads. The numerical analyses were carried out considering two different geometrical crane configurations, and two different rope lengths. After a preliminary analysis in order to evaluate both static and dynamic (modal) crane performance, many different analyses were...

The goal of this research is to design, implement and then perform experimental analyses on a hydraulic actuator made of innovative materials such as composite material (carbon fibers and epoxy resin) and the aluminium alloy under high pressure. The cylinder tube is made of an aluminium alloy tubular element wrapped in a composite material; the pis...

The aim of this research is to design a telescopic hydraulic cylinder, normally used in industrial filed, made of different materials and in particular composite material instead of classical structural steel. Specifically it will refer to the application of this actuator on a dump truck and designated to the transport of soil material, starting fr...

Weight reduction and material substitution are increasing trends in the automotive industry. High pressure die casting (HPDC) is the conventional casting technology for the high volume production of light alloys; it has recently found wide application in the manufacturing of critical components, such as complex and thin geometry automotive parts. H...

A machine learning technique was used to monitor the state of damage of steel specimens subjected to cyclic contact fatigue tests and to make a continuous measurement without coming into contact with the specimens examined. Six different sets of specimens were considered and the torque and vibration data obtained from their respective tests were an...

The purpose of the present paper is to lightweight design an excavator arms, by using a different materials and in particular composite material. Specifically, the research is based on the study of a commercial excavator, by determining its geometry and analyzing the load conditions to which it is exposed. These are determined in relation to either...

This work presents a novel type of positive-displacement expander, named the balanced rolling piston expander. It proposes also a design procedure and assesses the mechanical behavior of a virtual prototype. The expander is conceptually capable of operating at higher fluid temperatures than other positive-displacement expanders, such as scroll-or s...

This paper describes the research on the mechanical behavior of a container crane subjected to variable wind loading. In the first step the wind action was studied and defined. Stochastic wind loading was simulated by means of power spectrum method. Preliminary analyses were carried out on a chimney (100 m) because its geometry is very simple. Many...

The interaction of very low energy antiprotons (ps) and antineutrons (ns) with nuclei is interesting for its influence on both fundamental cosmology and nuclear physics. Measuring the annihilation cross section of antimatter on matter can help in solving the universe matter-antimatter puzzle and could give relevant hints in the definition of strong...

This paper describes the research performed about the dynamical behavior on the mobile elevating work platform (MEWP). In particular, this research was inspired by that accident happened during a pruning operation. A big branch of three fell down and bumped the basket of MEWP. The consequent dynamical actions have made the operator jump out of the...

Optimisation work has been increasingly directed at commercial vehicles to reduce their weight and thus enhance their performance. This optimisation, which responds to the requirements of various European standards with regard to the reduction of fuel consumption, also involves the elements mounted on these vehicles. This work discusses the develop...

Optimisation work has been increasingly directed at commercial vehicles to reduce their weight and thus enhance their performance. This optimisation, which responds to the requirements of various European standards with regard to the reduction of fuel consumption, also involves the elements mounted on these vehicles. This work discusses the develop...

In past few decades, an increased interest in physical disability studies has developed. However, there is a lack of devices and innovations that allow disabled athletes to participate in Paralympic sports properly. In this work, a new, ergonomic swiveling seat used for Paralympic sailing boats has been developed and is compared to the traditional...

This paper presents an experimental investigation on a middle tension (MT) specimen made of a low carbon structural steel subjected to cyclic loading. The work was aimed to assess the effectiveness of Barkhausen Noise method in detecting the crack closure phenomenon. The Influence of probe orientation and position ahead the crack tip was examined,...

In this work, the design of a new downhill mountain bike frame, made with an innovative natural composite, is presented. The study is based on an early finite element analysis of the characteristics and performance of a standard frame made of aluminum, allowing to define the loading conditions and to provide a design optimization of the frame in di...

This study is a detailed failure analysis of galvanized high carbon steel wires, which developed coating cracks during the torsion test performed as a quality control at the end of the manufacturing process. Careful visual inspections showed that the cracks are already present in the coating before the torsion test. In order to explain the origin o...

The goal of this paper is to investigate the failure of a mandrel pin mounted on a rolling contact test bench. For this purpose, different methods of analysis were conducted, including metallography and stress analysis. The stress values in the failed pin were determined by Finite Elements. The high notch effect and the incorrect mounting of the sp...

The main object of this paper is to design a very big derrick crane (the main boom is 80 m in length and the payload is 60 t) considering the dynamical effects induced by moving a load. The research was developed through analytical calculation models for the preliminary design of the crane; subsequently many different finite element model analyses...

This paper discusses the development of a racing boat with an hull made of a composite material reinforced by natural fibers. In particular, we report here the design and realization of the boat hull, the assessment of its mechanical performance by means of a computer assisted simulation, and the cost analysis to assess the economic sustainability...

The investigated cantilever beam is characterized by a constant rectangular cross-section and is subjected to a concentrated constant vertical load, to a concentrated constant horizontal load and to a concentrated constant bending torque at the free end. The same beam is made by an elastic non-linear asym-metric Ludwick type material with different...

The aim of this paper is to calculate the horizontal and vertical displacements of a cantilever beam in large deflections. The proposed structure is composed with Ludwick material exhibiting a different behavior to tensile and compressive actions. The geometry of the cross-section is constant and rectangular, while the external action is a vertical...

The target of this numerical study is to investigate the problems involved in the design of a low profile container crane exposed both to static and dynamic wind actions, in order to establish if these loads are dangerous when compared with the load induced by standard container load and unload operations. In the first step the work was performed b...

The antinucleon-nuclei annihilation cross section at very low energy has been measured at the LEAR facility (CERN) during the 80’s and 90’s and recently at the Antiproton Decelerator. The results have raised some interesting questions that still need answers. The ASACUSA collaboration performed an experiment to measure the σann of 100 MeV/c antipro...

Rolling contact fatigue (RCF) plays a critical role in railway components, and the characterization of materials used, in terms of RCF life, is still an open task, made complex by the interactions of different phenomena. The contact surface has a direct impact on the pressure exerted and can change during the test, due to wear. The procedure propos...

This paper describes three lumped parameters models for the study of the dynamic behavior of a boom crane. The models here proposed allows to evaluate the fluctuations of the load arising from the rope and structure elasticity and from the type of the motion command imposed by the winch. A calculation software was developed in order to determine th...

The assessment of damage in rail-wheel cyclic contact requires considering the combined action of different damage mechanisms, such as wear, ratcheting, surface or subsurface crack nucleation and propagation. Models, usually requiring experimental calibration, are available for assessing these phenomena. The best way to calibrate them is based on c...

In this paper tribological and corrosion behavior of CrN coatings obtained through magnetron sputtering (MS) and cathodic arc evaporation (CAE) deposition techniques were studied. The effect of interfaces and defects like droplets or porosities detected with scanning electron microscope analysis, both on coating surface and cross sections, was stre...