Mercator Fellow at the AMC
With Prof. Simos Gerasimidis, we have attracted a highly qualified and internationally recognized AMC guest researcher. Prof. Gerasimidis, a faculty member at UMass Amherst and MIT, leads pioneering research at the intersection of architected materials and civil infrastructure. His work focuses on applying the principles of architected lattice materials—engineered structures with tailored geometries at the meso-scale—to enhance the performance of civil infrastructure systems. By designing materials with unique mechanical properties, such as auxetic behavior, his research addresses challenges like improving structural resilience, reducing material usage, and optimizing energy absorption in load-bearing applications. The significance of this research lies in its potential to revolutionize infrastructure design, enabling safer, more durable, and sustainable systems that can better withstand dynamic loading and environmental stresses.
The collaboration between Prof. Gerasimidis and TRR 277 Additive Manufacturing in Construction (AMC), particularly with project A06, presents a great opportunity to achieve outstanding results. This partnership aims to push forward cutting-edge research that redefines how additively manufactured steel is used in large-scale construction. Topics such as architected steel lattices and novel structural designs are explored, with the potential to transform modern civil engineering practices through improved strength, durability, and design flexibility.
For example, there is significant overlap between the work of UMass & MIT and A06/TUM regarding material and fatigue characterization of PBF-LB/M-manufactured steel parts. Furthermore, the second funding phase of A06 will focus on the application of lattice structures in steel nodes. This enables the bundling of knowledge and research activities from UMass, MIT, and TUM to develop high-grade steel connection nodes and members, as well as a visionary AMC demonstrator.
