Professor Fabrizio Scarpa

Research summary

I model and produce auxetics - solids exhibiting unusual deformation mechanisms - they expand in all directions when pulled in only one, opposite to "classical" materials. Typical examples are special foams and honeycombs which exhibit, apart from this unusual deformation, enhanced structural integrity, sound absorption and dielectric loss compared to analogous material with more classical mechanical behaviour. Some of the auxetic solids I developed and modelled have embedded smart materials (piezoelectrics, magnetorheological fluids and particles), to enhance multifunctional characteristics and actuation authority.

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Biography

Dr Fabrizio Scarpa obtained a MEng in Aeronautical Engineering and a PhD in Machine Design at the Politecnico of Torino, Italy. In 1997 he joined the Dynamics Research Group at the University of Sheffield to work in the field of negative Poisson's ratio materials for vibroacoustic applications. He then became Lecturer and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Sheffield working as Aerospace Departmental Coordinator and International Student Exchange Officer. He joined the Department of Aerospace Engineering in Bristol in 2005.
His research activities span the field of auxetics (foams and honeycombs), shape memory alloy honeycombs, smart ...

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Recent publications

• Zhang, D, Scarpa, F, Ma, Y, Boba, K, Hong, J & Lu, H 2013, ‘Compression mechanics of Nickel-based superalloy metal rubber’. Materials Science and Engineering A.
• Allegri, G, Scarpa, F, Chowdhury, R & Adhikari, S 2013, ‘Wave Propagation in Periodically Supported Nanoribbons: A Nonlocal Elasticity Approach’. ASME Journal of Vibration and Acoustics, vol 135.

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View complete publications list in the University of Bristol publications system