1. 42 Via Lembasi, 98022
Fiumedinisi (Messina), Italy
gidefrancesco@eng.ucsd.edu
Date of birth: 15/01/1978
Nationality: Italian
Giovanni De Francesco
Ph.D., P.E., Civil Structural Engineer, | R&D, Performance based Seismic Design, PREcast
Seismic Structural Systems (PRESSS), Passive Supplemental Dampers and Base Isolation
Systems.
Summary
Giovanni De Francesco is an Italian civil structural engineer with a PhD in Earthquake and
Structural Engineering focused on Advanced Seismic Design of Innovative Precast Systems with
Seismic Response Control, under the supervision of Prof. J. Restrepo (UCSD) and Prof. G. Oliveto
(UniCt). At UC San Diego, He was involved in experimental projects on Bridge Rocking Columns
and Base Isolated Structures. Thanks to a research fellowship, in Catania, He deepen is knowledge
on Seismic Design of Buildings with Passive Supplemental Dampers and Base Isolation Systems.
Starting from September 2009, He is licensed professional civil structural engineer and consulting
engineer in Italy. From November 2013 to July 2016 He was Chief Structural Engineer responsible
for research and development of innovative structural systems at PreCon, Guatemala.
Expertise,
• Performance-based Seismic Design of Resilient Precast Concrete Structures with Post-Tensioned
Self-Centering Rocking Walls and Hybrid Frame Systems (PRESSS Technology).
• Innovative Seismic Design and Retrofit of Structures with Passive Supplemental Dampers
(Metallic, Friction, Viscoelastic and Viscous Dampers) and Seismic Isolation (Elastomeric and
Lead Rubber Bearings, Sliding Friction Pendulum).
• Seismic Design Procedures | Force and Displacement based Design Procedures. Motion-based
Design. Performance-based Seismic Design. Direct-Displacement-Based Design and Displacement
based Design via Inelastic Displacement Ratios.
• Seismic Analysis Procedures | Pseudo-Static Analysis, Response Spectrum Modal and Modal
Analysis. Nonlinear Static Procedures, Adaptive and Modal Pushover Analysis. Nonlinear
Response History Analysis. Nonlinear FEM modeling via OpenSees and Ruaumoko. Design
Ground Motions. Performances assessment: Seismic Energy Balance, Inelastic Demand
Distribution, Peak and Residual Inter-story Drift, Peak Absolute Floor Accelerations.
• Cost-Analysis and Cost-Optimization for Cost-effective Resilient Precast Concrete Structures.
Matlab programming

2. Certifications
Professional Civil Structural Engineer
Registered to the Board of Professional Engineers of Catania. License A 6073. Italy.
September 2009
Experience
Chief structural engineer, Research and Development for Innovative Structural Systems at
PreCon.
November 2013 - Present (2 year 9 months)
The implementation of Performance-based Seismic Design Procedures, as current design activities,
and the development of Cost-effective Resilient Structural Systems for Precast Concrete Structures
are the main duties.
Precast concrete systems with hysteretic metallic dissipators and rocking capacities have been
analyzed and developed, from design to construction levels, for the self-centering capacity and the
external energy dissipation properties.
An experimental program was run to validate the mechanical behavior of materials and the
effectiveness of construction technologies present on site and implemented in the innovative
structural system. A main test was realized to evaluate the reliability of the response at global level
and to replicate the results got in the more meaningful research activities at the base of the design
procedure considered.
Guidelines for design of innovative structural systems were developed. PRESSS, Modified
PRESSS, ACI T1.2-03 and Modified Beam Analogy (MBA) Analysis and Design Procedures were
considered and implemented. Optimal design procedure of hybrid connections have been developed
in Matlab environment.
The design of a two story concrete structures ("Hercules" building) and of a three level precast
concrete parking structures ("Naranjo" parking) have been completely developed. In both cases, the
structural system was composed of Unbonded Post-Tensioned Precast Concrete Special Moment
Frames and the design was carry on according to Performance-based Seismic Design Procedures.
Main Referenced Standards,
ACI 550.3-13, Design Specification for Unbonded Post-Tensioned Precast Concrete Special
Moment Frames Satisfying ACI 374.1 (ACI 550.3-13) and Commentary.
ACI 374.1-05 (Reapproved 2014), Acceptance Criteria for Moment Frames Based on Structural
Testing and Commentary.

3. Visiting Ph.D. Student at University of California, San Diego. Jacobs School of Engineering,
Structural Engineering Department
July 2011 - December 2012 (1 year 6 months)
Research and Experimental Activities to develop Advanced Seismic Design Procedures and
Resilient Precast Concrete Structures. Supervisor Prof. J. Restrepo.
Specific research fields,
• Design of a Resilient "Hybrid" Structural System for Precast Concrete Industrial Buildings (PhD
main theme). Details in the thesis abstract.
• Cyclic axial response of A706 and stainless steel reinforcing bars including effects due to
inelastic buckling. Additional details can be found in the elated experimental project.
• Constant Ductility Inelastic Displacement Ratios for Displacement-based Design Procedures,
Statistical Analysis and Analytical Estimate.
Experimental and educational activities,
Involved in experimental projects related to the "Cyclic axial response of short A706 and Stainless
steel reinforcing bars", "Precast Concrete Dual-Shell Steel Bridge Rocking Columns" and "Base
Isolated Structures" and in educational activities to deepen the knowledge in the research field of
"Advanced seismic Design of Concrete Structures" and "Non-linear structural analysis".
Graduate Research Student at University of Catania, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department
January 2009 - December 2009 (1 year)
Research on seismic retrofit of building structures via passive supplemental dampers and base
isolation systems. Involved in didactical activities for the courses of Structural Dynamics, Solid
Mechanics and Structural Analysis. Supervisor Prof. G. Oliveto.
The main research results have been reported in a final report titled "Seismic Vulnerability and
Retrofit of Buildings by hysteretic metallic dampers of buildings".
Report summary
A six-story building structure rectangular in shape and braced in the analyzed direction by two
exterior moment resisting frames was considered. All the structural analyses have been performed
using the nonlinear dynamic analysis computer program RUAUMOKO (Carr 1998). The model
included only one exterior frame, together with one gravity column that represents all interior frame
columns. Performances assessment has been evaluated via pushover analysis and nonlinear time
history analysis, under a system of natural ground motion records. Seismic Energy Balance, Plastic
Hinge Distribution, Envelopes of Peak and Residual Inter-Storey Drifts and Envelopes of Peak
Absolute Floor Accelerations have been considered, in the dynamic analyses, as engineering
performance indices. After the performances assessment of the original structure, the design of the
retrofit by hysteretic metallic dampers was conducted. A final performance comparison shows the
benefit of introduce passive supplemental dampers.

4. Experimental Projects
Experimental tests to characterize the cyclic axial response of A706 and Stainless steel
reinforcing bars including inelastic buckling effects
Experimental project conducted at the University of California in San Diego, Charles Lee Powell
Laboratory.
Tensile and cyclic axial load tests of mild and stainless reinforcing bars in presence of inelastic
buckling.
After preliminary tensile tests, with the purpose of verify the principal mechanic characteristics of
the tested materials, cyclic axial load tests were conducted on test samples with different test
lengths and two different steels one of them very common for reinforced concrete structures in
seismic area, in California. All the reinforcing bars considered were 0.5 inches diameter and ASTM
A706 Low-Alloy Steel and Stainless Steel Type 316LN were tested. The response related to three,
six and nine diameter-test length ratios subjected to three different strain histories, simulating the
cyclic axial strain developed during strong earthquakes, were considered. This study, with reference
to the ASTM A706 Low-Alloy Steel, was particular useful because during earthquakes longitudinal
reinforcing steel in reinforced concrete structural columns may be subjected to large cyclic tension
and compression strains. When ties spacing is insufficient, the repeated loading into the inelastic
range may lead to the element collapse due to the buckling of steel reinforcing bars.
With reference to the Stainless Steel, Type 316LN, this work is important, due to the possible
applications of this material to improve performances of hysteretic metallic energy dissipation
devices and to characterize the mechanical behavior of stainless steel for all the applications where
the material can be reasonable utilized. In the Innovative Seismic Design, these devices are add to
the structural systems to provide external supplemental energy dissipation capacity, and
contextually to reduce the energy dissipation demand related to damage at structural and non-
structural elements. I was responsible for all the activities - Construction, instrumentation and tests -
under the supervision of Prof. J. Restrepo.
NEES - Advanced precast concrete dual-shell steel columns
Experimental project conducted at the University of California in San Diego, Charles Lee Powell
Laboratory.
Cyclic pseudo-static tests were conducted on two precast concrete dual-shell steel columns to
propose a ‘hybrid’ system for bridge columns. Rocking columns with unbounded post-tensioned
cables and hysteretic metallic, internal and external, energy dissipators were tested.
Involved in construction, instrumentation and test phases under the supervision of Prof. J. Restrepo.

5. NEES - BNCS, Full-Scale Structural and Nonstructural Building System Performance during
Earthquakes & Post-Earthquake Fire
Experimental project conducted at the University of California in San Diego, Englekirk Structural
Engineering Center.
Project description: To date, only a handful of full-scale building experiments have been
conducted. Of these, none have evaluated the post-earthquake fire performance of the complete
building system and only select (in Japan) have they emphasized evaluating nonstructural
component and system (NCS) response during earthquake shaking. This belies the fact that NCSs
encompass more than 80% of the total investment in building construction and over the past three
decades, the majority of earthquake-induced direct losses in buildings are directly attributed to NCS
damage. This landmark project involves earthquake and post-earthquake fire testing of a five-story
building built at full-scale and completely furnished with NCSs, including a functioning passenger
elevator, partition walls, cladding and glazing systems, piping, HVAC, ceiling, sprinklers, building
contents, as well as passive and active fire systems. The NEES-UCSD and NEES-UCLA equipment
sites combine to realize this unique opportunity and hence advance our understanding of the full-
scale dynamic response and kinematic interaction of complex structural and nonstructural
components and systems. Post-earthquake fire and life safety performance of both the structure and
NCSs will be evaluated by conducting non-thermal and live fire testing. In addition, this project will
investigate the potential for protecting critical NCS systems using, for example, damping and/or
isolation methods. Finally, data from this unique experiment will be used to compare with
earthquake performance predictions using available commercial and research computational
modeling platforms. Findings from these efforts will be immediately translated to practice.
Involved in activities of instrumentation and test under the supervision of Prof. T. Hutchinson, Prof.
J. Restrepo and Prof. J. Conte.
Honors and Awards
PhD scholarship
December 2011
Research Fellowship
October 2011
Languages
Italian (Native or bilingual proficiency)
English (Full professional proficiency)
Spanish (Full professional proficiency)

6. Publications
Low-Viscous-Damping Constant-Ductility Inelastic Displacement Ratios for Performance-
based Seismic Design of Structures
In progress.
Authors: Giovanni De Francesco, Jose Restrepo.
Dynamic identification of experimental nonlinear response suggests introduction of low level of
viscous damping, particularly when other sources of energy dissipation are considered. The paper
focuses on low-viscous-damping constant-ductility inelastic displacement ratios. A statistical
analysis is conducted for systems with bilinear plastic, Clough, Takeda and two self-centering
hysteresis rules, different for the level of energy dissipation capacity. An earthquake database
composed of 228 ground motions recorded in California with magnitude greater than six and
organized for NEHRP soil class, ground motion duration and peak ground acceleration is assumed.
The effects of soil class, peak ground acceleration, ground motion duration, initial period, post-yield
stiffness ratio, ductility level and hysteretic behavior are highlighted. It is concluded that the effects
of soil class can be neglected independently of the hysteretic behavior. Self-centering systems with
high dissipation capacity (n=0.5) present displacement demands of the same order of displacement
demands of the other hysteretic systems assumed to model the behavior of monolithic structures.
Finally, analytical estimates of low-viscous-damping constant-ductility inelastic displacement
ratios-in terms of initial period, ductility capacity and post-yield stiffness ratio which allow a direct
determination of inelastic displacement demands for 2% viscous damping ratio when is known the
elastic demand for 5% viscous damping ratio, are presented for the different hysteretic behaviors.
Statistical and Analytical Inelastic Displacement Demands for Displacement-based Seismic
Design of Self-Centering Structures
In progress.
Authors: Giovanni De Francesco, Jose Restrepo.
The importance of self-centering structures is increasing rapidly and specific codes have been
introduced to allow a large diffusion of hybrid structures in different countries, as United States and
New Zealand. The paper focus constant-ductility inelastic displacement ratios for self-centering
single-degree-of-freedom systems with high and low energy dissipation capacity. A statistical
analysis is conducted for systems with two self-centering hysteresis rules, different for the level of
energy dissipation capacity. An earthquake database composed of 228 ground motions recorded in
California with magnitude greater than six and organized for NEHRP soil class, ground motion
duration and peak ground acceleration is assumed. The effects of soil class, peak ground
acceleration, ground motion duration, initial period, postyield stiffness ratio, ductility level and
hysteretic behavior are highlighted. It is concluded that the effects of soil class can be neglected
independently of the hysteretic behavior. The dissipation capacity of selfcentering systems cannot
be neglected, self-centering systems with low dissipation capacity (n=0.2) present an increased
displacement demand. Analytical estimates of constant-ductility inelastic displacement ratios-in
terms of initial period, ductility capacity and postyield stiffness ratio- to be considered in the
displacement-based seismic design of structures are presented.

7. Education
University of Catania
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Structural and Earthquake Engineering, 2009 - 2013
University of Catania
Master's Degree in Civil Engineering, Structural and Geotechnical Engineering, 2009
Courses
Visiting Ph.D. Student
University of California, San Diego. Jacobs School of Engineering, Structural Engineering
Department.
Advanced Seismic Design of Structures, J. Restrepo. Auditor SE 223
Nonlinear Structural Analysis, J. Conte. Auditor SE 201B
Design of Structural Concrete, J. Restrepo. Auditor SE 151A
Graduate Research Student
University of Catania, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department.
Dynamics of Structures, G. Oliveto. Teaching assistant.
Solid Mechanics and Structural Analysis, G. Oliveto. Teaching assistant.
Skills & Expertise
Finite Element Analysis – Matlab - Numerical Analysis - Structural Dynamics - Seismic
Design - Earthquake Engineering - Structural Analysis – OpenSees - SAP2000 - Reinforced
Concrete - Structural Engineering - PRESSS Technology - Ruaumoko - Earthquake
Engineering - Modeling - Mathematical Modeling – LaTeX – Abaqus - Unbonded Post-
Tensioned Rocking Walls - Performance based Seismic Design - Passive Supplemental
Damping and Seismic Isolation - Strut-and-Tie Model - Resilience to Seismic Disaster - Loss
Optimization Seismic Design

8. Appreciation letter