Civil engineering structures are increasingly subjected to extreme hazards, which are not usually considered in structural design and assessment. On one hand, such hazards have a very low probability of occurrence, and on the other, they are expected to produce huge consequences on people and property. Extreme events include but are not limited to natural events (e.g. landslides, floods, hurricanes), technological events (e.g. impact, fires, explosions), man-made events (e.g. malicious actions, human errors in design, construction or maintenance), deterioration phenomena (e.g. steel corrosion, concrete carbonation), and cascade events (e.g. natural-technological events). Climate change and strong urbanization in some areas have further exacerbated the occurrence of extreme hazards and their impact. This has significantly increased the awareness of governments and standardization bodies to develop guidelines for collapse prevention and provisions in national and international structural codes.

SARAH School aims at providing fundamentals of structural robustness, large-displacement inelastic response of structures, disaster risk and resilience of structures and infrastructures, as well as methods for structural design, assessment and retrofitting against extreme hazards.

• Registration by 10 September 2025 through the on-line form
• Payment deadline: 10 September 2025
• Registration confirmation: 15 September 2025
• Course: 30 September - 3 October 2025

• Full fee (Professors and Professionals): 450 €
• Reduced fee (Students and PostDocs Researchers): 350 €

The registration is free of VAT according to art. 10c. 20 DPR n. 633/1972 of Italian Law.

Lecturers

• Fulvio Parisi (University of Naples Federico II, Italy) Director of the School
• José M. Adam (Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain)
• André T. Beck (University of São Paulo, Brasil)
• Robby Caspeele (Ghent University, Belgium)
• Bassam Izzuddin (Imperial College London, UK)

Thematic lecturers

• Emanuele Brunesi (EUCENTRE, Italy)
• Alex Cao (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)
• Tom Molkens (KU Leuven, Belgium)
• Francesco Petrini (Sapienza University of Rome, Italy)

Audience

• PhD Students
• Postdoctoral Researchers
• Professionals
• Facility Managers

Starting from forensic analysis of catastrophic failures in buildings and bridges, the course will move across several issues as follows: progressive and disproportionate collapses of structures; structural and non-structural measures for collapse risk mitigation; definitions of structural robustness; design criteria and detailing rules for structural robustness; guidelines and code provisions at both national and international levels; robustness quantification; modelling of abnormal loads due to extreme events; extreme structural behaviour during experimental tests; nonlinear structural modelling; performance limit states under extreme structural response; simplified and advanced methods for progressive collapse analysis; performance-based robustness design and assessment; scenario-based and probabilistic simulations; component-level and system-level fragility for progressive collapse risk assessment; multi-hazard design and assessment; and relationship between structural robustness and disaster resilience. Besides theoretical lectures, several case studies of structures subjected to notional local damage, specified abnormal loads or retrofitting operations will be discussed. Design classes will allow participants to deeply understand and implement methodologies and tools.

Day 1 | September 30th, 2025

9:00 – 9:30 Registration of participants

9:30 – 10:00 Fulvio Parisi: Opening of the SARAH Advanced School - Welcome to the University of Naples Federico II - Presentation of lecturers - Advanced School organization and lectures - Extreme Hazards, Structural Robustness and Disaster Resilience.

10:00 – 10:30 Coffee break

10:30 – 12:00 Robby Caspeele: Structural robustness and reliability in codes and guidelines

12:00 – 13:30 Fulvio Parisi: Progressive collapse and extreme resisting mechanisms under abnormal loads: disasters and experimental evidence

13:30 – 15:00 Lunch break

15:00 – 16:30 Robby Caspeele: Experimental assessment of membrane action in concrete elements through large-scale testing

16:30 – 17:00 Coffee break

17:00 – 18:30 Fulvio Parisi: Computational strategies and alternate load path analysis for robustness assessment

Day 2 | October 1st, 2025

9:30 – 11:00 Fulvio Parisi: Scenario-based robustness assessment of buildings and bridges

11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break

11:30 – 13:00 André Beck: Methodologies for reliability-based and risk-based design optimization

13:00 – 14:30 Lunch break

14:30 – 16:00 André Beck: Optimal redundancy allocation in structural systems: some fundamental results

16:00 – 16:30 Coffee break

16:30 – 18:00 André Beck: Risk-based cost-benefit analysis of structural strengthening systems to mitigate disproportionate collapse

19:30 – Social dinner

Day 3 | October 2nd, 2025

9:30 – 11:00 Visit to the experimental facilities of the Department of Structures for Engineering and Architecture

11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break

11:30 – 13:00  Bassam Izzuddin: Simplified robustness assessment framework for multi-storey buildings with application to steel-composite buildings

13:00 – 14:30 Lunch break

14:30 – 16:00 Bassam Izzuddin: Tying force method: shortcomings of existing approach and recent developments

16:00 – 16:30 Coffee break

16:30 – 18:00 Bassam Izzuddin: Exercises on simplified robustness framework and tying force method for multi-storey buildings

Day 4 | October 3rd, 2025

9:30 – 11:00 José Adam: Fuse-based segmentation method for robustness design of concrete buildings

11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break

11:30 – 13:00 José Adam: Robustness of steel truss bridges to local failure: recent developments and exercises

13:00 – 14:30 Lunch break

14:30 – 16:00 Hybrid-mode session and debate on specific topics:

• Emanuele Brunesi: Floor slabs and infill walls in RC framed buildings: Test-informed modelling for progressive collapse response assessment
• Alex Cao: Modelling progressive collapse of timber buildings
• Tom Molkens: Robustness performance of hybrid CLT-concrete floors based on experimental tests
• Francesco Petrini: Structural robustness of steel buildings to fire

16:00 – 16:30 Coffee break

16:30 – 18:00 José Adam: Exercises and debate on monitoring systems for local failure detection of steel truss bridge, sub-assembly and concrete building to prevent progressive collapse

18:00 – 18:30 Final exam (only for PhD students who need a certificate by the coordinator of the PhD programme)

18:30 – Closure of SARAH School

• Wednesday, October 1st, 19h30: social dinner at Al 53 Restaurant.

Department of Structures for Engineering and Architecture |
University of Naples Federico II |
Via Claudio 21, 80125 Naples (Italy) |
Building 6, 1st floor, Manfredi Romano room

Check availability in the Fuorigrotta area or in town center, preferably close to Metro lines 2 and 6 stations.

Since the end of September is still high season in Naples, participants are encouraged to explore accommodation options as soon as possible.

• sarah.distschool2025@gmail.com