Alessandra Insana

Ph.D. in Ingegneria Civile E Ambientale , 32nd cycle (2016-2019)

Ph.D. obtained in 2020

Dissertation:

Thermal and structural performance of energy tunnels (Abstract)

Tutors:

Marco Barla

Research presentation:

Video presentation

Profile

Research topic

Thermal and structural performance of energy tunnels

Research interests

Geotechnical Engineering
Numerical Modelling and Simulation
Structural Design and Safety

Biography

Alessandra Insana is a Ph.D. candidate in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Politecnico di Torino, as well as at Ecole des Ponts ParisTech thanks to a cotutelle agreement. She obtained her B.Sc. in Civil Engineering in 2013 and her M.Sc. in Geotechnical Engineering in 2016. As of 2017, she is assistant for the course of Numerical Methods in Geotechnical Engineering. Her research interests are the thermo-mechanical behaviour and the energy efficiency of thermo-active geostructures, with a particular focus on energy tunnels, both from the experimental and the numerical point of view, and also DEM numerical simulation of artificially-stimulated deep geothermal reservoirs by means of Voronoi tessellation. From 2018, she has been working for an engineering consulting company. In this context, she was involved in the feasibility design of thermal activation of Turin Metro LIne 2, in the investigation of a tunnelling case study in difficult conditions which saw the implementation of a user defined elastic-viscoplastic constitutive model and in the design of a railway tunnel in Italy with a particular focus on induced ground settlements. Recently, she developed an interest for climate change adaptation themes in the geotechnical field and became part of ELGIP Climate Change Adaptation working group.

Scientific branch

ICAR/07 - GEOTECHNICS
(Area 0008 - Civil engineering and architecture)

Awards and Honors

  • Top 5 per il premio EGIA 2018 (European Geothermal Innovation Award) Enertun nominato tra i 5 top progetti di innovazione geotermica del 2018 da Egec (European Geothermal Energy Council). (2020)
  • Primo premio del concorso “My research in three minutes - III edizione”. La presentazione dal titolo “Thermal and structural performance of energy tunnels” è stata ritenuta meritevole del primo premio da una giuria di esperti di divulgazione scientifica. Il premio, consegnato dal Rettore, è intitolato alla memoria della Dott.ssa Tiziana Vitrano, per molti anni Responsabile dell’Ufficio Relazioni con i media, che ha sempre lavorato attivamente per la divulgazione scientifica, con particolare attenzione ai giovani ricercatori. (2018)
  • Premio Giorgio Dardanelli per tesi di laurea in ingegneria civile anno 2016 migliore votazione nel corso regolare di studi (2017)

Teaching

Collegi of the degree programmes

Teachings

Master of Science

MostraNascondi A.A. passati

Research

Research projects

Projects funded by commercial contracts

Supervised PhD students

  • Francesco Campana. Programme in Ingegneria Civile E Ambientale (cycle 39, 2023-in progress)
    Research subject: Viscoplastic behaviour of geomaterials and constitutive modelling
    Geotechnical Engineering
    Infrastructures
    Numerical Modelling and Simulation
    Soil and Rock Mechanics
    Geotechnical Engineering
    Infrastructures
    Numerical Modelling and Simulation
    Soil and Rock Mechanics
  • Maria Romana Alvi. Programme in Ingegneria Civile E Ambientale (cycle 38, 2022-in progress)
    Research subject: Energy geostructures: integration with other energy sources and heat storage in soil and rocks.
    Geotechnical Engineering
    Soil and Rock Mechanics
    Geotechnical Engineering
    Soil and Rock Mechanics
  • Amirreza Pourfatollah. Programme in Ingegneria Civile E Ambientale (cycle 38, 2023-in progress)
    Research subject: Climate change effects on landslide in Alpine region
    Geotechnical Engineering
    Infrastructures
    Numerical Modelling and Simulation
    Soil and Rock Mechanics
    Geotechnical Engineering
    Infrastructures
    Numerical Modelling and Simulation
    Soil and Rock Mechanics
    Geotechnical Engineering
    Infrastructures
    Numerical Modelling and Simulation
    Soil and Rock Mechanics

Publications

PoliTO co-authors

Last years publications

Publications by type

Works published during the Ph.D. View all publications in Porto@Iris

More publicationsLess publications

Society and Enterprise

Patents and other intellectual properties