Francesca PASSARELLA | Curriculum

Biographical notes

She was born in Salerno on 3 July 1968 and graduated in Mathematics on 15 July 1992 at the University of Salerno.

She has been a member since 1994 of the National Group for Mathematical Physics of the INdAM.

Academic career

She received a scholarship for further training at the Physics Department of the University of Stockholm from April 1994 to February 1995, as well as a C.N.R scholarship from March to December 1995.

In 2000 she obtained the title of PhD in Mathematics at the University of Bologna.

She was a University Researcher in the scientific-disciplinary sector MAT / 07 (Mathematical Physics) at the University of Salerno from 1 July 2000 to 30 September 2020.

She is a second-level Professor in the scientific-disciplinary sector MAT / 07 (Mathematical Physics) at the Department of Mathematics of the University of Salerno from 1 October 2020 to today.

She is the holder of the National Scientific Qualification as full professor (competition sector 01/A4 - Mathematical Physics) - 2018/2020, sixth term.

Didactic activity

At the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Salerno, she held the course of Mathematical Methods for Engineering, as an adjunct professor, in the academic years 1995/96 and 1996/97.

From 2000 to today, she has been taught courses in Mathematical Analysis and Rational Mechanics. In particular, today she teaches courses in Rational Mechanics at the Department of Mathematics and Mathematics I at the Department of Civil Engineering.

Research activity

Her scientific interests are framed in the field of Continuity Mechanics.
Some of the specific themes the research was directed towards are detailed below:

Flat and surface waves in materials with micro-temperatures

The propagation of plane and surface Rayleigh waves in various models of continuous media is interesting in itself, as this type of waves occur in the context of seismic events and therefore understanding the response of various materials to these waves is important for the engineering applications.
The theory of micro-temperatures, on the other hand, was introduced to take into account the local temperature variations in the granular media.
Rayleigh waves in isotropic media were studied, the study was then extended to anisotropic media, and plane waves.

Thermoelasticity and thermoviscoelasticity of materials, mixtures and plates with microstructure

In this context, the problem of the final and boundary values ​​for a linearly elastic material of the thermomicrostretch type has been studied.
For this problem, a uniqueness of solutions theorem was established and the asymptotic behavior over time relative to the partitioning of energy was then investigated.
Then, in the context of the linear theory of thermoelasticity for porous micropolar materials with heat flow, a uniqueness theorem was derived without the hypothesis of positive definiteness for the matrix of elastic constituent coefficients; moreover, with non-homogeneous initial conditions, a reciprocity relationship and a variational principle have been proved.

Study of strongly elliptical anisotropic materials

The problem of the spatial behavior of the solutions for a Mindlin-type plate for a non-isotropic system, and in particular with a rhombic type anisotropy, has been studied.
Furthermore, the elastic tensor was supposed to be strongly elliptical.
It has been shown that the transient solution vanishes at a distance from the external data support that increases with time, while for shorter distances a Saint-Venant-type decay has been found.
The spatial behavior was then studied for the amplitude of harmonic vibrations with a frequency lower than a critical value.
The conditions of strong ellipticity were then studied and determined for a linearly elastic micropolar material in a state of plane deformation, characterized by orthotropic anisotropy.
The amplitudes and frequencies of the possible longitudinal or transverse plane waves admitted in the material were also identified.

Propagation of seismic waves in viscoelastic media

The problem of the propagation of plane and harmonic waves in a linearly elastic medium has been studied, within which there is a voscoelastic layer.
The model is that of a building subjected to a seismic wave and protected by a viscoelastic layer.

Other topics

The propagation of acoustic waves in porous media has been studied, according to a Darcy type model with inertial term and with objective time derivative, the structural stability in a convection model in which the solubility is assumed to be dependent on the temperature, the instabilities have been studied in a second order fluid, which are explosive.

Scientific publications
The results of scientific research have been published in over 40 scientific publications (mostly in international journals).

Bibliometric indexes
Scopus (updated as of 07/26/2022):

number of publications: 38;
number of citations: 422;
h-index: 13.

Scientific collaborations

Collaborations with foreign researchers:

prof. Brian Straughan, University of Durham, UK;
dr. Pedro Jordan, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, USA;
prof. Moncef Aouadi, Université de Carthage, Tunisia;
prof. Stan Chirita, Al. I. Cuza University of Iasi, Romania.

Collaborations with Italian researchers:

prof. ing. Michele Ciarletta, retired, full professor at the University of Salerno;
prof. Vincenzo Tibullo, full professor at the University of Salerno;
dr. ing. Giacomo Viccione, researcher at the University of Salerno.

Visiting researcher activity

at the University of Durham, United Kingdom, from 08/02/2016 to 12/02/2016.
at the University A.I. Cuza di Iasi, Romania, from 29/01/2014 to 05/02/2014.

Referee activity

She works as Referee for several international journals including:

Acta Mechanica,
Archives of Mechanics,
Applied Mathematics Letters,
Applied Mathematical Modeling,
Archives of Mechanics,
European Journal of Mechanics - A / Solids,
International Journal of Solids and Structures,
Journal of Thermal Stresses,
Mechanics,
Mechanics Research Communications,
Wave Motion.

Organization of conferences

Organization of the V International Conference on New Trends in Fluid and Solid Models, held in Vietri sul Mare, from 30 January to 1 February 2018.
Organization of the "XXIII Congress - Italian Association of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics", Salerno, September 2017.
Organization of the 11th International Congress on Thermal Stresses 2016, which was held in Salerno from 5 to 9 June 2016.
Organization of the IV International Conference on New Trends in Fluid and Solid Models, held in Vietri sul Mare, from 4 to 6 April 2013.
Organization of the III International Conference on New Trends in Fluid and Solid Models, held in Vietri sul Mare, from 18 to 20 March 2010.
Organization of the II International Conference on New Trends in Fluid and Solid Models, held in Vietri sul Mare, from 19 to 21 March 2009.
Organization of the International Conference on New Trends in Fluid and Solid Models, held in Vietri sul Mare, from February 28th to March 1st 2008.
Organization of the Conference "Analysis, Strategies and Didactic Perspectives for Physics-Mathematics", Salerno, 2003.

Editor activity

1. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Thermal Stresses, published by Taylor & Francis.
2. She was Editor of the Proceedings of the 11th International Congress on Thermal Stresses 2016, a volume published in electronic format with ISBN 978-88-99509-14-9.