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About her:

“In 2014, I enrolled at Politecnico di Torino to study Aerospace Engineering. During the three years I have spent completing my Bachelor’s degree, I developed a particular interest in structural mechanics. For this reason, I chose a Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering specifically focused on structural design and simulation, from which I graduated in April 2020. My master’s thesis was focused on a sensor distribution analysis for inverse finite element problems, which find an application in Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems for aerospace structures. In June 2021, I joined SURFICE project as a PhD student at ISAE-SUPAERO. My work is focused on the design and structural optimization of an electromechanical ice protection system, and on the evaluation of its performance when coupled with icephobic coatings”

Project goals:

The project concerns the design of electromechanical resonant ice protection systems based on piezoelectric actuators, which are a low-power solution adopting vibrations to produce stress within the ice, leading ultimately to ice shedding. The study will be carried out by integrating the industrial constraints of the aeronautics sector (weight, consumption, fatigue, and impact resistance). This is a topic of great interest for industrial applications since current de-icing systems are the second power consumers among non-propulsive systems in medium-haul and long-haul aircraft. The challenges to be met during the thesis will be the structural optimization of the system, in order to maximize the de-icing efficiency and the study of its behavior in the presence of icephobic coatings. Furthermore, another topic to be addressed during this research project will be the control of the deicing system according to the thickness of the ice, with the purpose of minimizing its consumption while guaranteeing the overall safety of the aircraft