Alexia finished her doctoral thesis "Moment Resistant Joints for Timber Frames" with Distinction!

Her dissertation proposes and discusses a novel type of moment-resisting joint for timber frames. The corner’s prismatic volume was made of high-strength reinforced concrete, bonded to both the timber beam and column in a composite joint. The research includes analytical, experimental, and numerical studies, focusing on bending strength, stiffness, and failure modes of this innovative joint. From the mechanical model, based on assumed stress-strain relations with elastoplastic characteristics, design equations have been derived to describe the ductile behavior of the moment resistant joint.

The final dissertation has been approved on July 19, 2024. Thank you for the fascinating insights in your research and to the Supervisors João Negrão and Alfredo Dias.