We are pleased to announce that Serena Gambarelli, head of the unit “material behavior and modeling”at the Material Testing Institute of the University of Stuttgart, will give the SFB 1313 "Pretty Porous Science Lecture" #67. Her talk will be on "3D FE analysis of coupled mechanical and transport processes in porous building materials".
Date: Tuesday, 21 October 2025
Time: 4:00 pm CET
Speaker: Dr.-Ing. Serena Gamberelli, Material Testing Institute, University of Stuttgart
Lecture title: "3D FE analysis of coupled mechanical and transport processes in porous building materials"
Place: Multi Media Lab (MML), U1.003, Pfaffenwaldring 61, 70569 Stuttgart, Campus Vaihingen.
If you are interested in participating in the lecture, please contact samaneh.vahiddastjerdi@mechbau.uni-stuttgart.de
Abstract
A phenomenological understanding of the complex coupled hygro-thermo-mechanical behavior of porous building materials, such as concrete and wood, is fundamental to prevent damage and increase their durability. Due to the highly heterogeneous structure of porous materials, degradation phenomena take place at the micro-/meso-scale due to complex coupling of non-mechanical (transport) processes with the mechanical behavior of the material in focus. An accurate understanding of these coupled phenomena requires integration of experimental and numerical research. The development of a reliable numerical tool, validated against experiments, can support the design of structural components made of traditional as well as novel building materials, through realistic simulation of complex interactions and systematic evaluation of key influencing factors.
With this purpose, the in-house software MASA, implemented at University of Stuttgart, is continuously developed to investigate the main degradation phenomena in building materials exposed to different mechanical and/or environmental loads. The well-established numerical framework includes coupling between mechanical and non-mechanical processes by means of 3D finite element (FE) analysis. The mechanical part of the code is based on the (non-linear) microplane material model, extensively validated in the past for different materials (concrete, wood, FRP, steel, etc..). The non-mechanical part of the code can realistically simulate complex transport processes (water, oxygen, chlorides, heat) in porous materials. The 3D coupled model, initially developed to investigate corrosion of steel rebars in reinforced concrete and the eventual consequent damage, was recently further extended to analyze: (i) The influence of time-dependent phenomena, such as creep and shrinkage, on the long-term performance of concrete structures; (ii) The freeze-thaw damage behavior of cementitious materials fully or partially saturated with different chloride concentrations; (iii) The effect of moisture gradients in cultural heritages objects exposed to changing environmental conditions; (iv) The long-term performance of innovative hybrid timber composite systems made of softwood and hardwood. In all case studies, the proposed numerical approach was successfully validated against experimental tests.
About Serena Gambarelli
Serena Gambarelli received her Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from Sapienza, University of Rome, in 2016. From May 2016 to February 2019, she worked as post-doctoral researcher at the University of Stuttgart, Institute of construction materials (IWB). Since March 2019, she is employed at the Materials Testing Institute (MPA) – department of mineral building materials. Since July 2021 Dr. Gambarelli is head of the unit “material behavior and modeling” and independent junior research group leader in the Cluster of Excellence intCDC. In 2020, she was granted research funds by the Baden Württemberg Foundation for the research proposal “3D hygro-thermo-mechanical meso-model for wood” in the framework of the ELITE program for Postdocs 2020. Since 2020 Dr. Gambarelli is lecturer for the module "Numerical Modelling of Soils and Concrete Structures" in the framework of the Master´s COMMAS program at the University of Stuttgart. As independent junior research group leader in IntCDC, Gambarelli obtained approval from Faculty 2 - Civil and Environmental Engineering – to officially and independently supervise doctoral researchers. Research fields: computational mechanics of building materials, fracture mechanics (static and dynamic), FE modelling at different scales, durability analysis (e.g. transport processes, corrosion, fire, freezing, moisture-induced cracking), strengthening and fastening methods, software development.