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.

Read more >

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 ...

Read more >

Recent publications

• Chen, Y, Scarpa, F, Liu, Y & Leng, J 2013, ‘Elasticity of anti-tetrachiral anisotropic lattices’. International Journal of Solids and Structures, vol 50., pp. 996-1004
• Chen, Y, Scarpa, F, Farrow, IR, Liu, YJ & Leng, J 2013, ‘Composite flexible skin with large negative Poisson's ratio range: numerical and experimental analysis’. Smart Materials and Structures, vol 22., pp. 045005

Read more >

View complete publications list in the University of Bristol publications system