Smart cities: azioni di sostenibilita nelle nostre città

Il concetto di Smart City ha iniziato a svilupparsi negli ultimi anni, acquisendo un'importanza sempre maggiore anche in seguito ai cambiamenti sociali e tecnologici dell'ultimo periodo. La tesi si concentra sull'analisi della situazione italiana per quanto riguarda questo tema, cercando di capire quali sfide dovranno affrontare le città italiane per fronteggiare i cambiamenti in atto; si è quindi cercato di rispondere a questa domanda sviluppando tre delle principali aree tematiche che contribuiscono a definire il concetto di Smart City: Smart Mobility, Smart Waste Management e Smart Water Management; ne vengono quindi analizzate le maggiori criticità e i vantaggi, sia economici che ambientali, che si potrebbero ottenere attraverso una gestione più efficiente di questi settori.

Smart guide: un'applicazione basata sulla ludicizzazione per la valorizzazione turistica delle risorse monumentali

La ludicizzazione (deriv. Gamification) è l’utilizzo delle dinamiche proprie dei giochi, quali livelli, punti o premi, in contesti che, senza di essa, non avrebbero alcuna caratteristica di tipo ludico. Il suo principale scopo è quello di ridurre la percezione di compiere azioni noiose, routinarie e ripetitive focalizzando l'attenzione sul maggiore coinvolgimento e divertimento degli utenti. Il campo di applicazione della ludicizzazione è potenzialmente sconfinato. Sono numerose le aziende che investono su processi di produzione mirati all'attribuzione di una caratteristica ludica ai propri prodotti, allo scopo di aumentare la soddisfazione e la fedeltà dei clienti finali. In questo senso, anche il settore del turismo ha iniziato ad introdurre strumenti e tecnologie "ludicizzate", in grado di valorizzare maggiormente le risorse monumentali e fornire al turista un'esperienza completamente nuova e rinnovata. Il presente studio analizza in primis gli aspetti fondamentali del processo di ludicizzazione di un generico sistema o prodotto. Nella seconda parte dell'elaborato, invece, viene illustrata l'applicazione di tali principi per la progettazione di un'applicazione Android il cui scopo è fornire una guida interattiva della città di Bologna basata sulla ludicizzazione.

Shape memory and elastoplastic materials: from constitutive and numerical to fatigue modeling

Shape memory materials (SMMs) represent an important class of smart materials that have the ability to return from a deformed state to their original shape. Thanks to such a property, SMMs are utilized in a wide range of innovative applications. The increasing number of applications and the consequent involvement of industrial players in the field have motivated researchers to formulate constitutive models able to catch the complex behavior of these materials and to develop robust computational tools for design purposes. Such a research field is still under progress, especially in the prediction of shape memory polymer (SMP) behavior and of important effects characterizing shape memory alloy (SMA) applications. Moreover, the frequent use of shape memory and metallic materials in biomedical devices, particularly in cardiovascular stents, implanted in the human body and experiencing millions of in-vivo cycles by the blood pressure, clearly indicates the need for a deeper understanding of fatigue/fracture failure in microsize components. The development of reliable stent designs against fatigue is still an open subject in scientific literature. Motivated by the described framework, the thesis focuses on several research issues involving the advanced constitutive, numerical and fatigue modeling of elastoplastic and shape memory materials. Starting from the constitutive modeling, the thesis proposes to develop refined phenomenological models for reliable SMA and SMP behavior descriptions. Then, concerning the numerical modeling, the thesis proposes to implement the models into numerical software by developing implicit/explicit time-integration algorithms, to guarantee robust computational tools for practical purposes. The described modeling activities are completed by experimental investigations on SMA actuator springs and polyethylene polymers. Finally, regarding the fatigue modeling, the thesis proposes the introduction of a general computational approach for the fatigue-life assessment of a classical stent design, in order to exploit computer-based simulations to prevent failures and modify design, without testing numerous devices.

Wave driven devices for the oxygenation of bottom layers

This thesis discusses the design of a system to use wave energy to pump oxygen-rich surface water towards the bottom of the sea. A simple device, called OXYFLUX, is proposed in a scale model and tested in a wave flume in order to validate its supposed theoretical functioning. Once its effectiveness has been demonstrated, a overset mesh, CFD model has been developed and validated by means of the physical model results. Both numerical and physical results show how wave height affects the behavior of the device. Wave heights lower than about 0.5 m overtop the floater and fall into it. As the wave height increases, phase shift between water surface and vertical displacement of the device also increases its influence on the functioning mechanism. In these situations, with wave heights between 0.5 and 0.9 m, the downward flux is due to the higher head established in the water column inside the device respect to the outside wave field. Furthermore, as the wave height grows over 0.9 m, water flux inverts the direction thanks to depression caused by the wave crest pass over the floater. In this situation the wave crest goes over the float but does not go into it and it draws water from the bottom to the surface through the device pipe. By virtue of these results a new shape of the floater has been designed and tested in CFD model. Such new geometry is based on the already known Lazzari’s profile and it aims to grab as much water as possible from the wave crest during the emergence of the floater from the wave field. Results coming from the new device are compared with the first ones in order to identify differences between the two shapes and their possible areas of application.

Smart hospitality. Intervento di recupero sostenibile a bertinoro

Intervento di recupero sostenibile a Bertinoro su edificio del centro storico. Il progetto prevede la rifunzionalizzazione e la riqualificazione energetica del complesso edilizio.

Power Converters and Electric Drives for Smart Grid Applications

The present dissertation aims to explore, theoretically and experimentally, the problems and the potential advantages of different types of power converters for “Smart Grid” applications, with particular emphasis on multi-level architectures, which are attracting a rising interest even for industrial requests. The models of the main multilevel architectures (Diode-Clamped and Cascaded) are shown. The best suited modulation strategies to function as a network interface are identified. In particular, the close correlation between PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) approach and SVM (Space Vector Modulation) approach is highlighted. An innovative multilevel topology called MMC (Modular Multilevel Converter) is investigated, and the single-phase, three-phase and "back to back" configurations are analyzed. Specific control techniques that can manage, in an appropriate way, the charge level of the numerous capacitors and handle the power flow in a flexible way are defined and experimentally validated. Another converter that is attracting interest in “Power Conditioning Systems” field is the “Matrix Converter”. Even in this architecture, the output voltage is multilevel. It offers an high quality input current, a bidirectional power flow and has the possibility to control the input power factor (i.e. possibility to participate to active and reactive power regulations). The implemented control system, that allows fast data acquisition for diagnostic purposes, is described and experimentally verified.