Simona Bianchi, Ph.D. P.E., is a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at Delft University of Technology. She received her Master’s degree in Civil Engineering (2015) and her Ph.D. in Structural and Geotechnical Engineering (2020) at Sapienza University of Rome. Her research interests mainly concern the multi-performance risk assessment and resilience analysis of building systems and the development of high-performance integrated earthquake-proof and low-carbon technologies. Her expertise is in the field of Structural and Earthquake Engineering, particularly about the seismic assessment and retrofit of buildings, the seismic design of innovative low-damage (timber and concrete) structural systems and non-structural components (facades, partitions), loss modelling assessment and probabilistic fragility/damage analysis. Moreover, she has experience in large-scale experimental dynamic testing. Simona Bianchi worked as Civil Engineer after her studies, then she became Research Assistant at Sapienza University. During her PhD and 1.5-year Post-doctoral position at the same university, she has been involved in many national and international research projects. In particular, she has been a key player in a H2020-SERA project about the tri-axial shake table tests of a 1:2 timber-concrete low damage building system with glass and precast concrete facades, masonry and gypsum partitions. Managing different scale level projects and spending periods abroad in public and private institutions (LNEC in Lisbon, ARUP Netherlands) has increased her experience in the research field of structural/seismic/facade design. In 2021 Simona Bianchi has been awarded the prestigious, stipendiary Marie Skłodowska Curie Research Fellowship, funded by the European Commission. She is currently working on her research project that involves industry partners (Permasteelisa, Dow) and that focuses on integrated technologies and resilience-based design methods for upgrading the seismic safety and environmental sustainability of building facades.

Selected Publications ​

• Ciurlanti J., Bianchi S., Pampanin S. (2023) Raising the bar in seismic design: cost–benefit analysis of alternative design methodologies and earthquake-resistant technologies. Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering (2023). doi.org/10.1007/s10518-023-01625-x

• D’Amore S., Bianchi S., Ciurlanti J., Pampanin S. (2023) Seismic assessment and finite element modeling of traditional vs innovative point fixed glass facade systems (PFGFS). Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering (2023). doi.org/10.1007/s10518-023-01622-0

• Bianchi S., Ciurlanti J., Overend M., Pampanin S. (2022) A probabilistic-based framework for the integrated assessment of seismic and energy economic losses of buildings. Engineering Structures, 269(4): 114852. doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2022.114852

• Pedone L., Bianchi S., Giovinazzi S., Pampanin S. (2022) A framework and tool for knowledge-based seismic risk assessment of school buildings: SlaMA-school. Sustainability, 14(16). doi.org/10.3390/su14169982

• Ciurlanti J., Bianchi S., Overend M., Pampanin S. (2022). Low-damage technology for sustainable design of high-rise buildings. fib International Congress, Oslo, Norway.

• Bianchi S., Pampanin S. (2022) State-of-the-art of fragility functions for non-structural components: a decision-making tool towards a damage-control design approach. ASCE, Journal of Structural Engineering, 148(10). doi.org/ 10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0003352

• Ciurlanti J., Bianchi S., Quintana-Gallo P., Pürgstaller A., Bergmeister K., Pampanin S. (2022) Shake-table tests of innovative and traditional concrete anchors. Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering (2022). doi.org/10.1007/s10518-022-01359-2

• Bianchi S., Ciurlanti J., Perrone D., Filiatrault A., Pampanin S., Campos Costa A., Candeias P.X., Correia A.A. (2021). Shake-table tests of innovative drift-sensitive non-structural elements in a low-damage structural system. Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, 50(9): 2398-2420. doi.org/10.1002/eqe.3452

• Bianchi S., Ciurlanti J., Pampanin S. (2020). Comparison of traditional vs. low-damage structural & non-structural building systems through a cost/performance-based evaluation. Earthquake Spectra, 1-20. doi.org/10.1177/8755293020952445

• Bianchi S., Ciurlanti J., Pampanin S. (2019). A SLaMA-based analytical procedure for the cost/performance-based evaluation of buildings. 7th International Conference on Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Crete, Greece

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TU Delft Research Profile

Selected Research Projects ​

- 2021-2023. SAFE-FACE Project, “Seismic SAFety and Energy efficiency: Integrated technologies and multi-criteria performance based design for building FACadEs”, funded by the European H2020 MSCA-IF-2020 (PI)

-2020-2021. PELL Project, “WP: Building seismic response”, funded within the Public Energy Living Lab (PELL) Project between ENEA and AgID (P)

-2019-2020. UEFA ELENA Project, “Seismic and energy efficiency analysis and integrated retrofitting solutions of school buildings in the province of Foggia”, funded within the “European Local Energy Assistance. UEFA Project (European Union ELENA Foggia Facility Assistance) (P)

-2017-2019. SERA Project, “(Towards the) Ultimate Earthquake proof Building System: development and testing of integrated low-damage technologies for structural and non- structural elements”, funded by the European H2020 SERA (P)

-2016-2017. Industry-funded Project (Fischer) on “EQ-Rod 2.0: The next generation of Earthquake-Resistant Fastener” (P)

Workshops​ ​

2021, PhD Symposium on Concrete and Concrete Structures at CTE, aicap, fib - Organizing committee

2021, C.A. Concrete Affairs Webinar Series at fib YMG Italy - Organizer, Instructor  ​

Professional Memberships & Affiliations​ ​

- Italian Association of Civil and Environmental Engineers

- SPONSE, International Association for the seismic performance of non-structural elements 

- fib Italia Young Members Group YMG (Board Member 2021-2022) 

- aicap, Italian Association for Structural Concrete 

- CTE, College of Building Industrialization Technicians