Phd in THEORETICAL AND APPLIED MECHANICS

email: francesco.massi@uniroma1.it
phone: 0644585890
building: RM031
room: 14

Actual position

Francesco Massi covers the position of Full Professor at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering of the Sapienza University of Rome. The teaching activity covers the field of the applied mechanics; the research activities are focused on tribology, dynamics and biomechanics.

Previous experience

2012 - 2021 position of Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering of the Sapienza University of Rome.
2007 – 2012 position of Maître de Conférences at the INSA of Lyon. The teaching service was shared between the mechanical department GMD (Génie Mécanique Développement) and the department “Premier Cycle” (1st and 2nd years) of the INSA of Lyon. The research position at the laboratory LaMCoS – UMR 5259 (Laboratoire de Mécanique des Contacts et des Structures) of the INSA of Lyon and of the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique). Member of the research group TMI (Tribologie et Mécanique des Interfaces).
2006 – 2007 Research contract at the LaMCoS in the framework of the European project BEARINGS (New generation of aeronautical bearings for extreme environmental constraints).
2003 – 2006 Ph.D. thesis « Dynamic and tribological analysis of brake squeal » in ‘cotutelle’ between the LaMCoS (INSA - Lyon) and the DMA (Department of Mechanics and Aeronautics) of the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, under the supervision of Pr. L. BAILLET and Pr. A. SESTIERI, defended the 5th of December 2006.
2003 (5 month) Master thesis at the Vibrations and Acoustics Laboratory of the Carnegie Mellon University - CMU of Pittsburgh (PN) , USA, under the supervision of Pr. A. AKAY and Pr. A. SESTIERI. Title: « Studio del fenomeno dello “squeal” dei freni a disco tramite sperimentazione su un freno da laboratorio ».

Diplômes
2006 Ph.D. in ‘Génie Mécanique’, INSA of Lyon / Ecole Doctorale MEGA (co-tutelle)
2006 Ph.D. in ‘Meccanica Teorica ed Applicata’, University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ (co-tutelle)
2003 Bachelor degree in Mechanical Engeneering, University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, 110/110 with lode


Research activities

My research activities lie in applied mechanics with emphasis on tribology, vibrations and acoustics. The main research projects focus on the coupling between the tribological and dynamic behaviour of contact phenomena.
A general approach to the generation and propagation of waves at the sliding interface is developed for the understanding of several fundamental phenomena: friction-induced vibrations, friction noise, induced wear of contact surfaces under vibration, earthquakes, tactile sense, etc.
In parallel with the theoretical analysis, different applied issues (object of respective projects) are investigated: brake squeal, contact instabilities, false Brinelling wear, fretting, touch, transfer of energy between acoustic field through the friction nonlinearity. The approach used for investigating such issues includes both numerical and experimental analyses. While the experimental results allow for reproducing the phenomena, measuring the macroscopic behaviour and updating the numerical models, the numerical simulations allow for recovering local information that can not be obtained by experimental measurements. Numerical models and experimental setups have been developed in the framework the projects, for the understanding of the underneath physics and the role of the key parameters.
The interaction between the system dynamics and the local behaviour at the contact interfaces is the main object of current research.


Scientific visibility (awards, scientific distinctions, committees,…)

- Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale alle funzioni di Professore universitario di Full professor nel settore concorsuale "09/A2 Meccanica Applicata Alle Macchine" di cui all’articolo 1, del Decreto Direttoriale n. 161 del 28 gennaio 2013.
- Junior Research Fellow of the SSAS “Scuola Superiore di Studi Avanzati Sapienza” (2014-2017).
- HIFRATH 2014 Award, obtained for the publication: "COSTaM: vers la Conception d’Outils pour une Stimulation Tactile Maîtrisée", at the Conference HANDICAP 2014, Paris, France (2014).
- PES (Prime d’Excellence Scientifique), Education and Research Ministry, 2009-2013, France.
- Guest Editor for Tribology International (Ed. Elsevier).
- Associate Editor of Mechanics & Industry - Cambridge Journals (EDP Sciences).
- Member of the Editorial Board of Advances in Mechanical Engineering (SAGE).
- Member of the scientific committee of the Labex (Laboratoire d'exellence) SISE (Science & Ingénierie des Surfaces et Interfaces), 2011-..., France.
- Track leader of the track " Thermal effects in tribology " at the Tribo-Lyon2013 conference, Lyon, France, (4-6 September 2013).
- Track leader of tha track "Tribological issues in the sensitive parts of the human body" at the 38th Leeds-Lyon Symposium on Tribology, Energy and Health, Lyon, France, (6-9 September 2011).
- Session chair at several international conferences on dynamics and tribology (ISMA, EUROBRAKE, INTERNOISE, JEF, ACT,...).
- Co-organization of the « GAMM Young Researchers’ Minisymposium » “Dynamics of mechanical systems with tribological contacts”, at the “GAAM (Society of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics) Annual Meeting 2010”, Karlsruhe, Germany.
- Member of the scientific committee of the international congress USD2009 – 2nd International Conference on Uncertainty in Structural dynamics, Sheffield, UK (2009).
- Panellist at the ‘final panel discussion’ of the session “Friction-Induced Vibrations” at the 26th Brake Colloquium (SAE international), San Antonio, Texas USA, (2008).
- D. J. DeMichele Scholarship Award, obtained for the publication: Experimental analysis on squeal modal instability, at the IMAC XXV, St Louis, USA (2006).
- Reviewer for the international journals: Journal of Sound and Vibrations, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, Tribology International (Ed. Elsevier) ; Noise Control Engineering Journal (Ed. INCE/USA); International Journal of Vehicle Design (Ed. Inderscience Publishers); Tribology Letters, (Ed. Springer).Wear of Materials, Journal of Bionic Engineering (Ed. Elsevier), International Journal of Mechanical Sciences (Ed. Elsevier), Meccanica (Ed. Springer), International Journal of Solids and Structures (Ed. Elsevier), Reviewer for several International congress.
- Member of the ATM (Association de TriboMecanique) society.
- Member of the AIT (Associazione Italiana di Tribolgia) society.
- Board member of the AIT (Associazione Italiana di Tribolgia) society.