Category: Events

The second SMaRT PhD Thesis will be discussed soon. The defence of Roberto Nuca (ESR2) will take place on Tuesday, July 13th, 2021. The Evaluation board reflects the multidisciplinary and multisectoral features of the Thesis. It is composed by:

• A. Farina – Università di Firenze, IT
• M. Icardi – University of Nottingham, UK
• D. Fransos – Sauber Motorsport, CH
• L. Preziosi – Politecnico di Torino, tutor, non-voting member
• N. Coste – Optiflow Company, co-tutor, non-voting member

More details can be found on the following link.

The first SMaRT PhD Thesis will be discussed soon. The defence of Marko Horvat (ESR1) will take place on Thursday, January 28th, 2021. The Evaluation board reflects the multidisciplinary and multisectoral features of the Thesis. It is composed by:

• G. Bartoli – Wind Engineering, Università di Firenze, IT                                                  (personal page)
• C. V. Camporeale – Fluid Mechanics and Hydraulics, Politecnico di Torino, IT    (personal page)
• H. Jasak – Scientific Computing, University of Cambridge, UK                                   (personal page)
• M. V. Salvetti – Fluid Dynamics, Università di Pisa, IT                                                        (personal page)
• T. Smyth – Aeolian Geomorphology, University of Huddersfield, UK                       (personal page)
• L. Bruno – Wind Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, tutor, non-voting member 
• S. Khris, Computational Wind Engineering, Optiflow Company, co-tutor, non-voting member

More details about the thesis with the abstract, and the information about the ESR1 can be found on the following link.

On September 16th 2020,  the SMaRT team presented to the industrial partners the Research & Development activities and the most relevant results for the industrial applications. Due to the pandemic, the meeting was held remotely.

We would like to thank Hitachi Rail STS, Reco – Salcef Group and Astaldi S.p.A for their availability. The workshop was an essential training in industrial dissemination for the ESRs. We also hope that the workshop was fruitful for the partner organizations and that there is additional potential for the future collaboration.

For the agenda of the workshop, click on the following link.

The SMaRT ESRs attended the Signalling Workshop on

Wednesday 5^th  February 2020
at Hitachi Rail STS Offices
Via Volvera 50

Piossasco (TO) – Italy

The workshop was participated by all the ESRs of the SMaRT consortium and their tutors,  SMaRT scientific Staff and six members of Hitachi Rail STS technical staff. The workshop included the technical short course: Fundamentals of Signalling and Transportation Systems along railway, given by Hitachi Rail STS Engineers. Download the programme of the workshop.

SMaRT project participated the European Researcher Night (Notte Europea dei Ricercatori) on 27 September 2019, in the beautiful setting of the courtyard of Università di Torino open for tours.

SMaRT key people disseminated to a broad audience, and to young people in particular, how captivating the research is, how fieldwork, mathematics and simulations contribute all together to develop intuitions in order to resolve complex problems, to allow trains to move people and freights across deserts.

SMaRT research project: don’t stick your head in the sand, look far ahead!

SMaRT will participate in the European Researchers Night in Turin, Italy on 27th September 2019.

We will be discussing the innovative training programme and the main results of our Early Stage Researchers.

The event is organised by Università degli Studi di Torino, Politecnico di Torino, Città metropolitana and Città di Torino, in partnership with Compagnia di San Paolo and Sistema Scienza Piemonte.

For more information about the event visit the following web-page.

SMaRT exhibited at the Middle East Rail expo held at the World Trade Centre, Dubai, 26-27^th February 2019. MER is the largest Rail Conference & Exhibition across the Middle East, North Africa, Indian Subcontinent & Central Asia that brings together professionals from railway design, engineering, construction, and maintenance. The SMaRT stand attracted plenty of fellow railway industry professionals to discuss sand mitigation and resilience   Sand mitigation is a significant issue affecting desert railways and the SMaRT Team identified the expo as an excellent opportunity to engage with railway industry professionals. Thank you to our industrial partners Salcef, Ansaldo and Astaldi for their support! And thank you to everyone who visited the SMaRT stand.

SMaRT ESRs at Castello del Valentino. From left to right: Marko Horvat (ESR1, Politecnico di Torino), Ciaran Nash (ESR3, University of Oxford), and Roberto Nuca (ESR2, Optiflow Company)

The SMaRT ESRs have spent 3 months together at Politecnico di Torino. Support and availability by professors Luca Bruno and Luigi Preziosi have enabled ESRs to follow specially prepared courses on mathematical and numerical aspects of sand transport:

1. Computational wind engineering;
2. Mechanics of porous media.

During the period, ESRs have also followed a summer school “Understanding the Middle East”at Università di Torino in order to learn more about the culture of potential future clients.

The second SMaRT network meeting took place on

Tuesday 12th June 2018 (09h00 – 17h00)
at Politecnico di Torino,
Viale Mattioli, 39, 10125 Turin, Italy

The event was participated by all the beneficiaries  of the SMaRT consortium. Download the programme of the meeting.

Members of the SMaRT project at Brasenose College. From left to right: Ciaran Nash (ESR3, University of Oxford), Giles Wiggs (University of Oxford), Marko Horvat (ESR1, Politecnico di Torino) and Roberto Nuca (ESR2, Optiflow Company)

The SMaRT ESRs have spent 3 months at the University of Oxford. Thanks to the valuable support provided by Giles Wiggs and University staff, ESRs were able to deepen the knowledge about aeolian and geomorphological processes involved in the flow interactions of wind and sand. Besides the lectures on aeolian and fluvial processes (given from 16th January to 6th March), ESRs were able to follow “Sandscape” Seminars given by world’s finest experts in the area.

List of the Sandscape Seminars:
1. 1st February, “The Holocene sandscapes of the United Arab Emirates” by prof Adrian Parker from Oxford Brookes University;
2. 8th February, “New approaches to understanding dust sources processes: recent results from the Chihuahuan Desert” by Dr Rob Bryant from University of Sheffield;
3. 22nd February, “Lunette dunes of the Australian desert margins: new perspectives on hydrology and climate” by Dr Kathryn Fitzsimmons from Max Planck Institute, Germany;
4. 8th March, “It’s turbulent: new directions on sand transport by the wind” by Prof Andreas Baas from King’s College London.