Alper Kanyilmaz

ICAR/09 - Structural engineering

Alper Kanyilmaz is an assistant professor in the Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering of Politecnico di Milano in Italy. His research goal is to contribute to the construction sector’s transition toward a digitalised and sustainable production of safe and elegant structures requiring less material and energy consumption. He has been the principal investigator of 4 EU-projects with a €10 million total budget and 40+ international partners. In 2023, he has been appointed as the Expert advisor for Steel Applications for New Markets technical group (Mandate 2023-2028) by the European Research Executive Agency, and also serves as the project monitoring expert for the European Commission’s B.1 – Future Low Emission Industries section.

His research is about the following topics:

Structural applications using metal additive manufacturing (e.g. metal 3D printing) and bio-inspired topology optimisation methods in combination with traditional construction systems to design hybrid structures with high structural performance focusing on the structural integrity (e.g. fatigue in connections), architectural concerns and, environmental and economic impacts.

Automated off-site fabrication of steel structures using laser cutting technology, to optimize the mechanical behaviour of joints, speed up construction, reduce costs, waste, and manual work considering the whole life cycle of a building.

Rapid decision-making tools and methods to conceptually design cost-efficient building structures using artificial intelligence and data-driven approaches.

Mitigation of dynamic actions (fatigue, seismic) on steel building, storage (e.g., warehouse, industrial) and renewable energy (e.g., wind) structures, with increased lifetime, repairability, and reuse.

His research lines are constructed using both numerical and experimental methods, up to high TRL levels (e.g., pilot-scale). He organizes his research in cooperation with top scientists within an extensive international network he matured since 2010. He has been a team leader and principal coordinator in several EU research projects, cooperating with the steel construction industry, different disciplines, and worldwide research institutes.

He transfers his research experience to the civil engineering and architecture students in terms of teaching, MSc and PhD thesis supervision.

Recent publications (full list here):

Menghini A., Chierici M., Kanyilmaz A., Demir A.G., Castiglioni C.A., Berto F., Previtali B., Fatigue analysis of hybrid steel construction parts using LPBF on hot-rolled steel, Journal of Constructional Steel Research, Volume 215, 2024, 108513, ISSN 0143-974X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2024.108513

Kanyilmaz A., Dang V., Kondratenko A., How does conceptual design impact the cost and carbon footprint of structures?, Structures, Volume 58, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.istruc.2023.105102.

Kanyilmaz, A., Birhane, M., Fishwick, R., Castillo C.. Reuse of Steel in the Construction Industry: Challenges and Opportunities. Int J Steel Struct (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13296-023-00778-4

Menghini A., Kanyilmaz A., Calado L., Castiglioni C.A., Experimental Assessment of the Behavior of Tubular Truss Girder Joints Fabricated with Laser Cutting Technology (2023) Journal of Structural Engineering (United States), 149 (6), https://doi.org/10.1061/JSENDH.STENG-12019

Kanyilmaz A., Tichell P.R.N., Loiacono D., A genetic algorithm tool for conceptual structural design with cost and embodied carbon optimization (2022) Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, 112, art. no. 104711, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engappai.2022.104711

Chierici, M., Demir, A.G., Kanyilmaz, A., Berto F., Castiglioni, C.A, Previtali B., Hybrid manufacturing of steel construction parts via arc welding of LPBF-produced and hot-rolled stainless steels. Prog Addit Manuf (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40964-023-00466-z

Chierici, M, Berto, F, Kanyilmaz, A. Resource‐efficient joint fabrication by welding metal 3D‐printed parts to conventional steel: A structural integrity study. Fatigue Fract Eng Mater Struct. 2021; 1– 21. https://doi.org/10.1111/ffe.13428

Kanyilmaz, A, Berto, F. Robustness-oriented topology optimization for steel tubular joints mimicking bamboo structures. Mat Design Process Comm. 2019; 1:e43. https://doi.org/10.1002/mdp2.43.

Couchaux M., Vyhlas V., Kanyilmaz A., Hjiaj M., Passing-through I-beam-to-CHS column joints made by laser cutting technology: Experimental tests and design model, Journal of Constructional Steel Research, Volume 176, 2021, 106298, ISSN 0143-974X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2020.106298.

Das R., Kanyilmaz A., Couchaux M., Hoffmeister B., Degee H., Characterization of moment resisting I-beam to circular hollow section column connections resorting to passing-through plates, Engineering Structures, Volume 210, 2020, 110356, ISSN 0141-0296, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2020.110356.

Kanyilmaz, A., Castiglioni C.A., Fabrication of laser cut I-beam-to-CHS-column steel joints with minimized welding, Journal of Constructional Steel Research, Volume 146, 2018, Pages 16-32, ISSN 0143-974X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2018.02.039

Kanyilmaz, A., The problematic nature of steel hollow section joint fabrication, and a remedy using laser cutting technology: A review of research, applications, opportunities, Engineering Structures, Volume 183, 2019, Pages 1027-1048, ISSN 0141-0296, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2018.12.080.

Kanyilmaz A., Milot Muhaxheri, Carlo Andrea Castiglioni, Influence of repairable bolted dissipative beam splices (structural fuses) on reducing the seismic vulnerability of steel-concrete composite frames, Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Volume 119, 2019, Pages 281-298, ISSN 0267-7261, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2019.01.007