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 explore new structural systems and methods using steel, and contribute to the construction sector’s transition toward a digitalised and sustainable production of safe and elegant structures requiring less material and energy consumption. To know more about his activity, you can scroll over this website or surf to the following:
Academic web-page / Linkedin / ResearchGate / Scopus
If you would like to cooperate, please contact him.
Research
His three research lines are constructed using both numerical and experimental methods, up to high TRL levels (e.g., pilot-scale):
He has been a principal investigator in several European research projects, cooperating with the steel construction industry, different disciplines, and worldwide research institutes.
Teaching
He transfers his research experience to the civil engineering and architecture students in terms of teaching, MSc and PhD thesis supervision. He is the instructor of two courses in 2021-2022:
Most of his teaching involves numerical simulation and experimentation in the classes, laboratories, and online, having Socrates in mind: “Can it be, Ischomachus, that asking questions is teaching? I am just beginning to see what is behind all your questions. You lead me on by means of things I know, point to things that resemble them, and persuade me that I know things that I thought I had no knowledge of.” From Oeconomicus.
News
6 March 2023
Alper Kanyilmaz and José Oliveira Pedro (Senior Bridge Engineer in GRID International Consulting Engineers, Portugal) discussed the pain points of the structural design that can be addressed with the opportunities of metal 3d printing.
9 February 2023
ConstructAdd 2nd coordination meeting in Madrid took place in Madrid, Spain.
Project coordinator Alper Kanyilmaz from the Politecnico di Milano, Gorka Iglesias from ArcelorMittal Europe Tubular Products and Sastry Y Kandukuri from Det Norske Veritas (DNV-GL) share their thoughts on ConstructAdd at the six month mark.
1 February 2023
“CHANGING THE WORLD’S MOST RESOURCE-INTENSIVE INDUSTRY WITH METAL 3D PRINTING”
3D Printing Industry published an article with Alper Kanyilmaz on how ConstructAdd project is aiming to increase resource efficiency in the automobile and construction sectors through the use of 3D-printed steels:
You can read the full article at the link.
21 December 2022
Hassan Haidar graduated with his MSc thesis titled “Seismic response prediction of steel moment frames using machine learning methods“.
His thesis was co-supervised by PhD candidate Aleksei Kondratenko.
Amazing results achieved: hours of non-linear time history analysis were reduced to seconds with 80% accuracy for multi-storey moment resisting frames.
A journal publication is on its way.
08 September 2022
We kicked-off EU-RFCS CONSTRUCTADD project in Milano, aiming to place the Metal Additive Manufacturing in the mainstream of Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry by the year 2026.
Partnership covers the whole-supply chain of AEC industry:
Politecnico di Milano (coordinator), RWTH Aachen University, Università di Pisa, Prima Additive, BLM GROUP, FOMAS Group, ArcelorMittal, Vallourec, IMDEA Materials Institute, Cimolai Group, DNV
The project is funded by European Research Executive Agency (REA) Research Fund for Coal and Steel #RFCS (2022-2026).
22 July 2022
Mussie Amaha Birhane and Furkan Turan graduated with their MSc thesis titled “Automated decision-making framework for the end-of-life scenario of steel structures using convolutional neural networks” in cooperation with Catherine de Wolf, and “Prediction of experimental test results of thin-walled racking components using machine learning“, in cooperation with Filippo Delladonna.
27 April 2022
Our MSc student Van Hoi Dang discussed successfully his thesis “Conceptual Design of Mass Timber Structures using Genetic Algorithms“. Full mark for him, grateful for his co-supervisor PhD candidate Aleksei Kondratenko, and thanks to Sustainability Director (Skanska) Tolga Tutar for the industry cooperation.
15 March 2022
Published article:
A genetic algorithm tool for conceptual structural design with cost and embodied carbon optimization, Alper Kanyilmaz, Patricia Raquel Navarro Tichell, Daniele Loiacono, Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, Volume 112, 2022, 104711, ISSN 0952-1976, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engappai.2022.104711 In the article, we present the development and validation of a genetic algorithm tool based on Non-dominated Sorted Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) that can be used to analyse a wide range of safe, economical and low-CO options for the conceptual design of buildings.
23 February 2022
EU-RFCS DISSIPABLE final workshop: Alper coordinated this 4 year research project composed of pilot-scale shaking table tests, hybrid numerical/ physical simulations, life cycle economic and environmental analysis of #earthquake-resistant & dissipative #steel structures: In this workshop, the results will be presented to the worlwide engineering community, putting “#sustainability” on the table of seismic design.
24 January 2022
Role of metal 3D printing to increase quality and resource-efficiency in the construction sector” is published in Additive Manufacturing journal: It is an opinion article discussing how metal 3D printing can help us make the construction industry better by reducing its lead times, embodied CO2 emissions and costs. It is co-authored by the experts from the industry and academics located in Europe, the US, Japan, South Africa (structural engineering, architecture, mechanical engineering, steel manufacturing, metallurgy, and standardization disciplines are involved!).
26 October 2021
The MSc thesis of Aleksei Kondratenko resulted in an elegant journal article (4 rounds of review in Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering). It is about Automated warehouses, which keep the goods arriving us from Amazon and more. Massive racking structures, reaching 40 m height + 100 m in plan, using often cold formed steel. You can read it here (open access): https://rdcu.be/cC5As
1 August 2021
New article published: “Nature-inspired optimization of tubular joints for metal 3D printing”. We analyzed new tubular joint shapes using solid isotropic material with the penalization method (SIMP) in cooperation with multiple players (architects, manufacturers, producers). The article is open access, and can be downloaded from here.
22 July 2021
Our MSc student Muyao Li discussed successfully his thesis
27 May 2021
The results of the foto-contest I organized for my 2nd year BSc Architecture students are published
25 March 2021 11:30 CET
Speaker in AI in AEC conference: “A multi-criteria conceptual design method using genetic algorithms to optimize structures’ cost and environmental impacts”
I will present our recent research, where we developed an AI-based computer-assisted design tool to assist structural engineers in the decision-making process of building design. The tool is constructed upon Non-dominated Sorted Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA ii) using Python and aims to optimize structures’ cost and environmental impacts. You can register here. First few slides of my talk on right:
03 March 2021
New article: Resource efficient joint fabrication by welding metal 3D printed parts to conventional steel: A structural integrity study: Together with Filippo Berto (Chair of Mechanics of Materials, Fracture Mechanics and Fatigue, NTNU Norway) and Martina Chierici (PhD candidate, Politecnico di Milano), we presented a ‘hybrid’ manufacturing approach to weld optimized 3d-printed nodes to conventional steel elements.
15 March 2019
New article published: “The problematic nature of steel hollow section joint fabrication, and a remedy using laser cutting technology: A review of research, applications, opportunities” by Alper Kanyilmaz.
Alper Kanyilmaz 