Pietro Lenarda

Pietro Lenarda received his Master's Degree in Mathematics at the University of Florence in 2013 and the PhD in Computational Mechanics at IMT, School for Advanced Studies, Lucca in 1017. After two years of post-doc at the Italian Institute of Technology, Genoa (20187-2019) at the Laboratory for Computational Nanomedicine he became Assistant Professor at IMT, School for Advanced Studies in 2019 in the Multiscale Analysis of Material MUSAM research unit. In 2023 he received the National Habilitation as Associate Professor in Solid and Structural Mechanics. Since december 1 2023 he is Tenure Track Assistant Professor at IMT in Structural Mechanics.

He has been visiting fellow at the Numerical Analysis Dept. at the University of Oxford, UK (2016), at the University of Seville, Spain (2022) and at the University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome (2017 and 2022).

In 2018 he won the award for the best PhD thesis by the group of Mechanics of Materials of the Italian Association of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics.

Pietro Lenarda contributes to the PhD program of the School IMT for the track in Systems Science and Management of Digital Transformation with the courses: Computational Contact and Fracture Mechanics, Advanced Topics of Computational Mechanics, Digital Twins for Health. He supervised four PhD students and has been member of the evaluation committee for the selection of visiting professors, post-doc and PhD students at IMT. 

The research of Dr. Pietro Lenarda regards computational methods for the numerical solution of nonlinear coupled phenomena in continuum mechanics, with special applications to biomechanics. Original contributions regarded the following topics relevant for high-fidelity digital twin models:

○ Phase field models for brittle fracture, development of decomposition methods for the energy density function for materials undergoing damage both in tension and in compression (multi-phase field), their implementation in Finite Element softwares, and experimental validation. The investigation of damage in artificial porous materials mimicking bones and damage assessment inside human vertebra after screws fixation.

○ Structure-based nonlinear hyperelastic models coupled with electrophysiology for human organs (Ogden-Holzapfel models) accounting for fiber orientation in the tissue. Ongoing work regards the realization of twin models of the gastrointestinal system unde the project “Exploring a novel 3-D in vivo bioprinting technology inside the gastrointestinal system: perspectives and new frontiers” founded by the Italian National Recovery Plan (colaboration with San Luca Hospital, Lucca; Sigma Ingegneria srl, Lucca; University Campus Bio-Medico, Rome).

○ Finite element formulation and numerical simulation of thermo-rheologically complex behaviour in materials with memory via fractional calculus. Applications regarded the development of digital twin models for materials for renewable energy, such as to viscoelastic polymers used as encapsulant in photovoltaics. Novel FE software has been developed to simulate thermo-hygrochemo-mechanical degradation phenomena in photovoltaics under environmental and accelerated ageing test conditions to predict their long term durability.

○ Development of coupled Lattice-Boltzmann Immersed boundary methods for fluid-structure interaction for the simulation of transport of deformable circulating tumor cells and deformable nanoparticles in 3D microcapillary flows.

○ Theoretical and computational models for the simulation of coupled problems in the mechanics of cardiac myocytes and cell electrophysiology: computational model for the electro-mechanical interaction between cardio-myocytes.

○ Novel numerical splitting techniques for reaction-advection-diffusion systems involving chemical and biological species in Brinkman stationary flows (generalized Stokes equations for fluids inside porous media).

○ Development of new algorithms for estimating parameters in a social network model. Gibbs and Markov random fields on graphs.

Publications:

A.R. Dusane, P. Lenarda, M. Paggi (2023) Computational modeling of viscoelastic backsheet materials for photovoltaics, Mechanics of Materials, 186, 104810, ISSN 0167-6636, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mechmat.2023.104810.

 Z. Liu, P. Lenarda, J. Reinoso, M. Paggi (2023) A multifield coupled thermo-chemomechanical theory for the reaction-diffusion modeling in photovoltaics International
Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, 124, 12: 2876-2901, ISSN: 1097-0207 https://doi.org/10.1002/nme.7233

 D. Preve, P. Lenarda, I. Maskery, M. Paggi (2022) A comprehensive characterization of fracture in unit cell open foams generated from Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 277, 108949, ISSN: 0013-7944 https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.engfracmech.2022.108949

 R. Cavuoto, P. Lenarda, D. Misseroni, M. Paggi, D. Bigoni (2022) Failure through crack propagation in components with holes and notches: An experimental assessment of the phase field model International Journal of Solids and Structures, 257, 111798,ISSN: 0020-7683 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2022.111798

 P. Lenarda, J. Reinoso, M. Paggi (2022) Multi-phase field approach to tensile fracture and compressive crushing in grained heterogeneous materials Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics, 122, 103632, ISSN: 0167-8442 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tafmec.2022.103632

 P. Lenarda, M. Paggi (2021) A computational framework for rheologically complex thermo-visco-elastic materials International Journal of Solids and Structures, 236-237:111297, ISSN: 0020-7683 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2021.111297

 A. L. Palange, M. Ferreira, D. Di Mascolo, R. Palomba, P. Lenarda, A. Cook, P. Decuzzi (2020) Rational Design of Polymeric Nanoconstructs for Drug Delivery and Biomedical Imaging, Handbook of Harnessing Biomaterials in Nanomedicine, Jenny Stanford Publishing, 381-424 ISBN 978-981-4800-90-7 (Hardcover), 978-1-003-12525-9 (eBook)https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003125259-14

P.K. Asur Vijaya Kumar, A. Dean, J. Reinoso, P. Lenarda, M. Paggi (2020) Phase field modeling of fracture in Functionally Graded Materials: Γ-convergence and mechanical insight on the effect of grading Thin-Walled Structures, ISSN: 0263-8231 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2020.107234

P. Lenarda, G. Gnecco, M. Riccaboni (2020) Parameters estimation in a 3-parameters p-star model Networks, https://doi.org/10.1002/net.21992

M. Paggi, A. Amicarelli, P. Lenarda (2020) SPH modelling of hydrodynamic lubrication: laminar fluid flow-structure interaction with no-slip conditions for slider bearings Computational Particle Mechanics, https://doi.org/10.1007/s40571-020-00362-1

A. Amicarelli, M. Paggi, P. Lenarda (2019) SPH Modelling of Hydrodynamic Lubrication along Rough Surfaces Lubricants, 72(12): 103, ISSN: 2075-4442 https://doi.org/10.3390/lubricants7120103

P. Lenarda, A. Coclite, P. Decuzzi (2019) Unraveling the vascular fate of deformable circulating tumor cells via a hierarchical computational model Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering, 72: 1–16, SN: 1865-5033 https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12195-019-00587-y

P. Lenarda, A. Gizzi, M. Paggi (2018) A modeling framework for electro-mechanical interaction between excitable deformable cells European Journal of Mechanics - A/Solids, 72: 374–392, ISSN: 0997-7538 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euromechsol.2018.06.001

P. Lenarda, M. Paggi, R. Ruiz-Baier (2017) Partitioned coupling of advectiondiffusion-reaction systems and Brinkman flows. Journal of Computational Physics, 164: 93–106, ISSN: 0021-9991 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcp.2017.05.011

M. Gagliardi, P. Lenarda, M. Paggi (2017) A reaction-diffusion formulation to simulate EVA polymer degradation in environmental and accelerated ageing conditions. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 344: 281–302, ISSN: 0927-0248 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2017.02.014

P. Lenarda, M. Paggi (2016) A geometrical multi-scale numerical method for coupled hygro-thermo-mechanical problems in photovoltaic laminates Computational Mechanics,57: 947–963, SN: 1432-0924 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00466-016-1271-5

A. Gandolfi, P. Lenarda (2016) A note on Gibbs and Markov random fields with constraints and their moments. Mathematics and Mechanics of Complex Systems, 4(3–4): 407–422, https://doi.org/10.2140/memocs.2016.4.407

Submitted publications:

R. Cavuoto, P. Lenarda , A. Tampieri, M. Paggi, D. Bigoni (2023) Phase-field modelling of failure in ceramics with multiscale porosity, Submitted to Materials and Design. Preprint on ArXiv: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2305.16844

D. Preve, P. Lenarda, D. Bianchi, A. Gizzi (2023) Phase field modelling and simulation of damage occurring in human vertebra after screws fixation procedure. Preprint on ArXiv