NOWHERE FAST? SHORTCUTS TO JUDGMENT IN RECENT ITALIAN PROCEDURAL LEGISLATION

o texto trata das medidas adotadas, no Direito italiano, que criaram novas regras procedimentais, com vistas a permitir maior agilidade na prolacao de decisoes de merito. Tratou-se, neste trabalho, das novas regras a respeito da concessao de medidas antecipadas de natureza provisoria, bem como dos procedimentos sumarios para casos mais simples, a possibilidade de conversao do rito comum para os ritos sumarios e o novo filtro para os recursos de apelacao. DOI: 10.12957/redp.2017.3002

Elena Alina Ontanu, Cross Border Debt Recovery in the EU. A Comparative and Empirical Study on the Use of the European Uniform Procedures. Cambridge: Intersentia, 2018. 534 pages. ISBN: 9781780686097. EUR 125

Si tratta della recensione, in inglese, del volume di Elena Alina Ontanu "Cross Border Debt Recovery in the EU. A Comparative and Empirical Study on the Use of the European Uniform Procedures", sull'applicazione, in alcuni Stati membri della UE, dei regolamento sull'ingiunzione di pagamento europea e sul procedimento per le cause di modesta entit

The effectiveness of viscous dampers in the seismic retrofitting project of an Italian cantilever bridge

The viscous anti-seismic devices, also called “viscous dampers”, are frequently used to improve the seismic response of structures and in particular of bridges. Unlike other anti-seismic devices, the viscous dampers are characterized by a considerable damping and yield capacity which allows to dissipate a rate of energy induced by the seismic action and to contain, together with the displacements, also the stres- ses that arise in the structural elements. Due to their performance characteristics, the viscous dampers have been used within a huge seismic retrofitting project of an Italian bridge located on A14 highway Bologna- Taranto in the Abruzzo Region, which is the case study outlined in this paper

New procedure for bridge analysis of heavy vehicles transit (NTEO)

Infrastructures such as Bridges and Viaducts can be significantly affected by the effects of Heavy Vehicles (H.V.) transit, which represent an unexpected overload, potentially greater than design stand- ard loads. Moreover, Heavy Vehicle transit authorization is a very onerous activity; as a matter of fact, safety check valuations of all the involved structures are required in reasonable time. NTEO (“New T.E. Online”) is a new H.V. transit authorization procedure, which aims to provide a semi- automatic method for estimating the assessment of several existing structures in the process of H.V. transit. The methodology is focused on the general approach of influence lines, related to the most critical sections of the examined structures (e.g. bending moment in the beam mid-span or shear in the beam support). The traditional definition of influence lines in bridge design is based on the common criteria of transversal distribution of the actions (Courbon, Massonet). Contrastingly, the NTEO procedure uses influence lines extrapolated from an explicit F.E.M. model of each structure involved in the H.V. transit. This choice requires the implementation of many calculation models, but at the same time leads to much more accurate and reliable results than the simplified theories of transversal distribution, especially when these theories can’t be applied. Once models have been created, it is possible to reuse the influence lines for different load scenarios, facili- tating authorizations for the following Heavy Vehicle transit

Assessment of shear strength of existing prestressed concrete bridge beams: Full-scale tests and numerical simulations

The obsolescence and the end of service lifetime of a big portion of our infrastructure, culmin- ated with recent catastrophic bridge collapses, determine an increasing need to implement monitoring activities and safety assessment of existing bridges and viaducts. As stated in numerous studies and experimental evi- dence, shear strength is one of the critical issues concerning existing bridges. In order to deepen the knowledge on structural shear behavior, an experimental campaign on full-scale prestressed concrete girders sampled from an existing structure has been performed in the structures laboratory of the University of Pavia (Italy). This study illustrates the results of experimental tests and numerical finite element simulations, which have been performed both to obtain a comparison with experimental data and to study the main contributing factors to the collapse of the girder for shear type failure. The failure strength obtained from experimental testing has been compared with the shear strength calculated according to different strength models presented both in design codes and in the literature; therefore the accuracy of such models will be assessed in order to define the most suitable approach to assess girder shear strength

Powder sheets additive manufacturing: Principles and capabilities for multi-material printing

In this work, a novel Metal Additive Manufacturing using Powder sheets (MAPS) method for printing multimaterial composites in one process is proposed. MAPS employs powder sheets (i.e. metal powder-polymer matrix flexible films) as the feedstock material. Its key advantages include a relatively rapid change from one material to another and a minimum wastage of materials due to the elimination of the powder bed. The powder sheets were fabricated using a 'solvent casting' method. They were then employed in a commercialised metal printer for printing metal multi-material composites. To prove the disruptive concept of MAPS, a 60-layer trimetallic multi-material composite (304 L stainless steel, In718 and CoCrFeMnNi high entropy alloy) was additively manufactured using three different types of powder sheet material in the same manufacturing system for the first time. Experimental results indicate a high density (99.80 %) multi-material composites was printed by MAPS. EDX and SEM observations of the multi-material composites revealed variations of chemical composition and microstructure along the build direction. The newly proposed MAPS manufacturing method and results of this study provide insights into a new avenue for multi-material metallic parts

Microstructural, Mechanical and Wear Behavior of HVOF and Cold-Sprayed High-Entropy Alloys (HEAs) Coatings

HEAs powders, unlike standard alloys which contain one or two base elements, are new alloys that contain multiple elements in the same quantity. These materials have outstanding physical and mechanical properties and for this reason, are of great interest in the material science community for their application in advanced industrial sectors. In this investigation, cold spray (CS) and high-velocity oxy fuel (HVOF) processes were used to deposit Cantor alloy (FeCoCrNiMn) coatings. Starting feedstock powders were thoroughly characterized in terms of size, shape, phase and elastic modulus. For CS process, the coating deposition efficiency and porosity could be optimized by varying gas pressure, gas temperature and stand-off distance. In the case of HVOF process, stand-off distance influenced the thickness of the coatings. Besides, on the optimized CS and HVOF coatings, corrosion tests in 3.5% NaCl solution, as well as rubber wheel, ball on disk and jet erosion tests were carried out to evaluate their wear behavior. Also, to benchmark the corrosion and wear behavior of optimized coatings, the results were compared to 316L and C-Steel bulks. The tribological study shows that Cantor alloy coatings deposited via CS and HVOF are promising to protect parts and components in a harsh environment

A novel method for metal–diamond composite coating deposition with cold spray and formation mechanism

This paper describes the application of cold spray to the deposition of a diamond grade pre-coated with Cu and Ni. This is the first time that pre-coated diamond powders are used as the sole feedstock without the addition of binders (ductile phases) in cold spraying. The experimental results showed that it was possible to manufacture thick metal–diamond composite coatings onto an Al alloy substrate with high diamond fraction in the coating and without phase change. Results from this paper also have demonstrated a new methodology for the deposition of metal–diamond/ceramic composite coating with the cold spray technique

Binder evaporation during powder sheet Additive Manufacturing

Several Additive Manufacturing methods are well established and found access into regular production in multiple sectors. For processing metals, typically wire or powder is used as feedstock. Wire processing is typically used for comparably large structure building, while powder processes offer, in general, a more precise metal application. For Powder Bed Fusion processes, very fine powder is used (typical 20 µm to 65 µm), while for Directed Energy Deposition powders are in the range between 50 µm and 160 µm. Such fine powders can be a health risk for humans (aspiration, skin integration). Avoiding contact with the powders in a production environment can be a big effort or not avoidable. Therefore, an alternative process was developed that provides the powder not as free powder particles but in form of powder sheets. For enabling the necessary bonding between the particles, a binder is used. In order to understand the impact of the binder during laser processing of the powder sheets, single pulse and line treatments were produced and recorded with high-speed imaging. Recordings show the vaporization of the binder and the related ejections of powder particles. At lower energy input, the binder evaporation led to less spattering, which indicates that a binder heating at low heating rates induces less pressure on the powder particles.Mechanical Engineerin