Biography
Gennaro Senatore is Director of Research (Smart Structural Systems) at the Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design (ILEK) of the University of Stuttgart. He also works as Lead Expert for a preparatory action for the New European Bauhaus with the Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission. He has worked as Research Lead at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), University College London, and London-based practice Expedition Engineering. Gennaro Senatore holds a PhD from University College London. Previously, he was awarded an MSc in Computing and Design from the University of East London with honors and an MSc in Emergent Technologies from The Architectural Association (London) with honors. He graduated in mechanical engineering MEng (Hons) at Federico II University (Naples, Italy).  

Gennaro Senatore has pioneered new research directions by uniquely combining structural optimization and control with computational design and sustainability to create high-performance and adaptive structural systems enabling new designs for civil and mechanical engineering.

Expertise
Gennaro Senatore specializes in developing custom optimization workflows to enable time-efficient generation and testing of multiple what-if scenarios for the conceptual design of complex structural configurations.

Collaboration inquiries for project-based consultancy can be sent to gennarosenatore@gmail.com.  

Skills
Structural Mechanics, Structural Optimization, Computational Geometry, Computational Design
Integrated Structure-Control Design, Structural Control, Cyber-Physical Systems, Machine Learning
Data-driven Strategies, Data Acquisition, Data Analysis, Data Modelling, Data Visualization
Programming (Matlab, Java, C#, Python)  

Work Accomplished
Gennaro Senatore’s work uniquely combines computational design, structural optimization and control with sustainability for civil and mechanical applications:

  • He developed new integrated structure-control optimization methods to design load-bearing adaptive civil structures that have significantly improved performance as well as reduced material and energy requirements compared with conventional passive structural systems. Solutions produced by these methods are strategically equipped with sensors and actuators to counteract the effect of loading and other environmental actions through control of internal forces and structural shape. Gennaro Senatore’s experimental work on adaptive structures has been exhibited internationally.

  • He led the development of a new variable stiffness and damping control device that also functions as a load-transfer component, i.e. adaptive joint. Thermal actuation of adaptive joints enables to change the structure’s natural frequencies and to increase the damping ratio, which can effectively reduce the dynamic response under a wide range of conditions including harmonic loading, earthquakes and pedestrian/vehicular traffic.

  • He co-directed the development of new optimization methods to design structures through component reuse, which enables a significant reduction of adverse environmental impacts (EI) by avoiding the use of new material resources. Solutions produced by these methods make the best use of a stock of reclaimed elements (e.g. from demolished structures). The objective is EI minimization through optimization of stock element assignment, structural topology and geometry.

  • He led the development of an interactive physics engine software to aid teaching in structural mechanics and design. The software, called PushMePullMe, enables interactive manipulation of structural forms to help build an understanding of how structures respond under loading. PushMePullMe has been adopted by many educators worldwide.