Lorenzo Morini
Lecturer in Advanced Solid Mechanics
- morinil@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2087 5818
- W/2.32, Queen's Buildings - West Building Extension, 5 The Parade, Newport Road, Cardiff, CF24 3AA
- Available for postgraduate supervision
Overview
I graduated in Physics at the University of Bologna (Italy) and received my PhD from University of Pavia (Italy). I have more than 10 years of experience working on research topics concerning modelling of the mechanical properties of advanced materials. In 2016 I was awarded with a Marie Curie SIRCIW Cofund fellowship funded by European Union (Horizon 2020) and Welsh Government.
Since 2019, I am Lecturer in Advanced Solid Mechanics at the School of Engineering and member of the Applied and Computational Mechanics Group. My research activity is strongly interdisciplinary and is placed at the intersection between Solid Mechanics, Structural Dynamics and Applied Mathematics. My broad research interests include:
- Quasiperiodic and quasicrystalline structures and materials;
- Wave dynamics in mechanical metamaterials;
- Application of physics-informed machine learning methods to structural dynamics problems;
- Multiphysics mechanics in renewable energy devices;
- Fracture mechanics in continuum and structured media.
The main vision of my research is the design of artificial materials and structures able to achieve exceptional mechanical properties that are not commonly found in nature, the so-called mechanical metamaterials. If you are interested in more details concerning my research activity, you can visit the research section of my profile.
Biography
- PhD in Physics, University of Pavia, Italy, 2011.
- MSc in Applied Physics, University of Bologna, Italy, 2007.
- BSc in Physics, University of Bologna, Italy, 2004.
Academic positions
- 2019-present: Lecturer in Advanced Solid Mechanics, School of Engineering, Cardiff University, UK;
- 2016-2019 Marie Curie SIRCIW Cofund Fellow, School of Engineering, Cardiff University, UK;
- 2016 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca, Italy;
- 2013-2016 Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Italy;
- 2011-2013 Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Science and Methods for Engineering, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy.
Committees and reviewing
Reviewer for the following international journals:
- Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids
- Journal of Elasticity
- Mechanics Research Communications
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A
- Applied Mathematical Modelling
- Mathematics and Mechanics of Solids
- Mathematical Methods in the Applied Sciences
- Scientific Reports
- Quarterly Journal of Mechanics and Applied Mathematics
- Acta Mechanica et Automatica
Publications
2022
- Farhat, A. K. M., Morini, L. and Gei, M. 2022. Silver-mean canonical quasicrystalline-generated phononic waveguides. Journal of Sound and Vibration 523, article number: 116679. (10.1016/j.jsv.2021.116679)
- Chen, Z., Morini, L. and Gei, M. 2022. Negative refraction for anti-plane elastic waves in canonical quasicrystalline laminates. European Journal of Mechanics - A/Solids (10.1016/j.euromechsol.2022.104577)
2021
- Safarzadeh, O., Noori-kalkhoran, O., Gei, M., Morini, L. and Ahangari, R. 2021. Full scope simulation of VVER-1000 blowdown source and containment pressurization in a LBLOCA by parallel coupling of TRACE and CONTAIN. Progress in Nuclear Energy 140, article number: 103897. (10.1016/j.pnucene.2021.103897)
- Fantoni, F., Morini, L., Bacigalupo, A. and Paggi, M. 2021. The generalized Floquet-Bloch spectrum for periodic thermodiffusive layered materials. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 194, article number: 106178. (10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2020.106178)
2020
- Morini, L., Tetik, Z. G., Shmuel, G. and Gei, M. 2020. On the universality of the frequency spectrum and band-gap optimisation of quasicrystalline-generated structured rods. Philosophical Transactions A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 378(2162), article number: 20190240. (10.1098/rsta.2019.0240)
- Gei, M., Chen, Z., Bosi, F. and Morini, L. 2020. Phononic canonical quasicrystalline waveguides. Applied Physics Letters 116(24), article number: 241903. (10.1063/5.0013528)
2019
- Morini, L., Eyzat, Y. and Gei, M. 2019. Negative refraction in quasicrystalline multilayered metamaterials. Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids 124, pp. 282-298. (10.1016/j.jmps.2018.10.016)
2018
- Morini, L. and Gei, M. 2018. Waves in one-dimensional quasicrystalline structures: dynamical trace mapping, scaling and self-similarity of the spectrum. Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids 119, pp. 83-103. (10.1016/j.jmps.2018.06.007)
- Pryce, L., Morini, L., Andreeva, D. and Zagnetko, A. 2018. Interfacial cracks in piezoelectric bimaterials: an approach based on weight functions and boundary integral equations. Meccanica 53(1-2), pp. 251-277. (10.1007/s11012-017-0707-0)
2016
- Bacigalupo, A., Morini, L. and Piccolroaz, A. 2016. Overall thermomechanical properties of layered materials for energy devices applications. Composite Structures 157, pp. 366-385. (10.1016/j.compstruct.2016.07.048)
- Radi, E., Morini, L. and Sevostianov, I. 2016. Conservation integrals for two circular holes kept at different temperatures in a thermoelastic solid. International Journal of Solids and Structures 85-86, pp. 1-14. (10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2016.01.013)
- Bacigalupo, A., Morini, L. and Piccolroaz, A. 2016. Multiscale asymptotic homogenization analysis of thermo-diffusive composite materials. International Journal of Solids and Structures 85-86, pp. 15-33. (10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2016.01.016)
2015
- Morini, L. and Piccolroaz, A. 2015. Boundary integral formulation for interfacial cracks in thermodiffusive bimaterials. Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 471(2181), article number: 20150284. (10.1098/rspa.2015.0284)
2014
- Morini, L., Piccolroaz, A. and Mishuris, G. 2014. Remarks on the energy release rate for an antiplane moving crack in couple stress elasticity. International Journal of Solids and Structures 51(18), pp. 3087-3100. (10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2014.05.005)
- Bacigalupo, A., Morini, L. and Piccolroaz, A. 2014. Effective elastic properties of planar SOFCs: a non-local dynamic homogenization approach. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 39(27), pp. 15017-15030. (10.1016/j.ijhydene.2014.06.104)
2013
- Pryce, L., Morini, L. and Mishuris, G. 2013. Weight function approach to a crack propagating along a bimaterial interface under arbitrary loading in an anisotropic solid. Journal of Mechanics of Materials and Structures 8(8-10), pp. 479-500. (10.2140/jomms.2013.8.479)
- Morini, L., Piccolroaz, A., Mishuris, G. and Radi, E. 2013. On fracture criteria for dynamic crack propagation in elastic materials with couple stresses. International Journal of Engineering Science 71, pp. 45-61. (10.1016/j.ijengsci.2013.05.005)
- Morini, L., Piccolroaz, A., Mishuris, G. and Radi, E. 2013. Integral identities for a semi-infinite interfacial crack in anisotropic elastic bimaterials. International Journal of Solids and Structures 50(9), pp. 1437-1448. (10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2013.01.021)
- Morini, L., Radi, E., Movchan, A. and Movchan, N. 2013. Stroh formalism in analysis of skew-symmetric and symmetric weight functions for interfacial cracks. Mathematics and Mechanics of Solids 18(2), pp. 135-152. (10.1177/1081286512462299)
- Morini, L., Piccolroaz, A. and Mishuris, G. 2013. Dynamic energy release rate in couple-stress elasticity. Journal of Physics: Conference Series 451, article number: 12014. (10.1088/1742-6596/451/1/012014)
- Pryce, L., Morini, L. and Mishuris, G. 2013. Analysis of interfacial crack propagation under asymmetric loading in anisotropic materials. Journal of Physics: Conference Series 451, article number: 12011. (10.1088/1742-6596/451/1/012011)
2012
- Peysson, Y., Decker, J. and Morini, L. 2012. A versatile ray-tracing code for studying rf wave propagation in toroidal magnetized plasmas. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 54(4), article number: 45003. (10.1088/0741-3335/54/4/045003)
2011
- Peysson, Y., Decker, J., Morini, L. and Coda, S. 2011. RF current drive and plasma fluctuations. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 53(12), article number: 124028. (10.1088/0741-3335/53/12/124028)
- Saoutic, B. et al. 2011. Contribution of Tore Supra in preparation of ITER. Nuclear Fusion 51(9), article number: 94014. (10.1088/0029-5515/51/9/094014)
2007
- Cardinali, A., Morini, L., Castaldo, C., Cesario, R. and Zonca, F. 2007. Analysis of the validity of the asymptotic techniques in the lower hybrid wave equation solution for reactor applications. Physics of Plasmas 14(11), pp. 112506. (10.1063/1.2805435)
Teaching
Modules thought in BEng, MEng and MSc in Civil and Structural Engineering:
2018 - Now: EN4570/ENT570. Dynamics. 4th year MEng and MSc. Module leader.
2019 - Now: EN4574/ENT700. Advanced Structural Dynamics. 4th year MEng and MSc. Module leader.
2018 - 2020: ENT725. Engineering Case Study. MSc module. Assistant lecturer.
2019 - 2020: EN1916. Structures. 1st year BEng and MEng. Assistant lecturer.
Quasicrystalline-generated mechanical metamaterials
Quasicrystalline-generated metamaterials are a class of periodic multi-phase materials and structures whose elementary cells are designed according to quasicrystalline substitution rules. These substitution rules generate sequences of phases which are one-dimensional projection of quasicrystalline tilings such as the Penrose tiling. Two examples of quasicrystalline substitution rules are the Fibonacci Golden Mean and Silver Mean rules. We investigated the extraordinary properties of structured rods and laminates generated according to these substitution rules in terms of filtering and control of elastic waves.
Quasicrystalline phononic rods
We studied the dynamical properties of two-phases periodic rods whose elementary cells are designed according to Fibonacci Golden Mean and Silver mean rules. The spectrum of harmonic axial vibrations in this type of structures is characterized by self-similar stop/pass band layout. We derived analytical scaling factors governing the self-similarity, and we defined a particular sub-class of structures, the so-called canonical structures, associated with a periodic stop/pass band diagram. The explicit periodicity conditions of the spectrum together with the exact scaling factors provide novel extremely efficient analytical tools to control and optimise the wave filtering properties of periodic metamaterials.
watch a short presentation about quasicrystalline phononic rods:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUdSEzV3EtU
Negative refraction in quasicrystalline laminates
We have shown that periodic two-phases laminates with fundamental cells designed adopting the Fibonacci substitution rules can provide negative refraction of an anti-plane elastic wave obliquely incident at an interface with an elastic substrate. The number of modes transmitted at the interface depends on the solution of the Floquet-Bloch dispersion relation for the laminate, and can be controlled and predicted by means of self-similar properties similar to those detected in quasicrystalline rods. We found that, with respect to a periodic classical bilayer, high order Fibonacci laminates can provide negative refraction at lower frequencies and for a wider range of angles of incidence. The attained results represent an important advancement towards the realisation of multilayered quasicrystalline metamaterials with the aim to control negatively refracted elastic waves.
watch a short presentation about negative refraction using Fibonacci laminates:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVhfbxei9Zw
Mechanics of multi-layered renewable energy devices
Several renewable energy devices such as solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), lithium ions batteries and photovoltaic cells are characterized by multi-layered composite structures. In operative scenarios, these structures are subject to severe thermomechanical and thermodiffusive stresses which can cause danage and crack formation compromising their perfomances. In order to predict these phenomena and to optimize the thermodiffusive and mechanical properties of the energy devices, we developed an asymptotic homogenization approach providing exact expressions for the effective constitutive tensors of the homogeneous thermodiffusive continuum equivalent to any arbitrary multi-layered heterogeneous structure. We also studied the dispersive properties of Floquet-Bloch waves in periodic thermodiffusive laminates which can be used to represent stocks of battery devices.
watch a short presentation about effective properties of multi-layered energy devices:
Supervision
I am currently available to supervise MSc and PhD students in the areas of:
- Mechanics of quasicrystalline materials and structures;
- Dynamical phenomena in mechanical metamaterials;
- Wave and fracture propagation in lattice materials;
- Multiphysics mechanics in renewable energy devices;
- Advanced analyical and computational methods in structural dynamics.
If you are interested, email to MoriniL@cardiff.ac.uk .
Current PhD supervisions
- Zhijiang Chen - Elastodynamic of Quasicrystalline Metamaterials (main supervisor);
- Abdelbaset K Mostafa Farhat - Quasiperiodic-based Mechanical Metamaterials (main supervisor);
- Mazen Alqathami - Monitoring of Barely Visible Damages in Composite Structures (main supervisor);
- Pietro Liguori - Advanced Smart Materials and Metamaterials (co-supervisor);
- Anirudh Sharma Venkata Gullapalli - Structural Damage Detection in Composite Structures (co-supervisor).
Past projects
PDRA:
Omid Noorikhalkoran - Effects of Neutron Irradiation on Mechanical Properties of Materials for Nuclear Applications, Marie Curie SIRCIW Cofund Fellow, 2018-2021.