Marzio Grasso

He graduated from the University Federico II (Naples) in Mechanical Engineering and he completed his PhD in Engineering Materials and Structures at the same University disserting a thesis on “Modelling of Lightweight Crashworthy Rail Components”. During his PhD he spent 10 months at NewRail (Newcastle University) as a guest member of staff and he was involved in the De-Light project funded by European Commision. After few years as post-doc he was appointed as Lecturer (Ricercatore Tempo Determinato lettera a) in Mechanical Design and Machine Construction at the Department of Industrial Engineering - University of Naples. Currently, he is a Lecturer in Automotive Engineering at the University of Hertfordshire.

Over the past 7 years he has been involved in several research projects and consultancies with companies like Ansaldo, Italcertifer, Italian Railway Infrastructure, Firema, Caremar, Proma, OM Pontillo.

He has been involved as main investigator in the following research projects:

• Research Project funded by the Italian Ministry of Education and Research under grant agreement MIUR n. 12720 Titled “Studio di una nuova struttura di sedile per autoveicoli ad elevata integrazione di funzioni e di componenti”.

• SPECTRUM: “Solutions and Processes to Enhance the Competitiveness of Transport by Rail in Unexploited Markets”. Spectrum is being funded by the European Commission, Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement No. 266192.

• Research Project funded by the Italian Ministry of Education and Research under grant agreement n. B01/0352/P 43301-13 Titled: “Ottimizzazione delle Caratteristiche Prestazionali di Acciai Speciali per Utensili e Stampi”.

• Research Project funded by the Italian Ministry of Education and Research under grant agreement MIUR n. 12811 Titled: STOPFIRE: “Sistema robotizzato di spegnimento incendi e monitoraggio ambientale permanente per gallerie stradali e ferroviarie”.

He is an experienced user of the following software’s:

• FE Codes: ANSYS, LS-DYNA, PATRAN – NASTRAN, HyperMesh, FRANC3D/NG, Matlab.

• CAD Programs: AutoCAD, CATIA, Solid Works, Solid Edge, Cadfix.

He has been involved in the development of the setup for full-scale tests as well as for material characterization, developing skills in the design of interface and procedure for experimental activities as well as the use of servo-hydraulic testing machine and complex systems.

Following a list of the research interests:

• Structural optimization of prosthesis using non metallic materials. 
• Analytical, numerical and experimental study of the fatigue crack growth behavior in metallic and non metallic materials;
• Structural impact of metallic and composite materials;
• Damage produced under low velocity repeated impacts on hybrid composites;
• Numerical and experimental modeling of crashworthiness behavior of automotive and railway structures.
• Additive Manufacturing;