Laura Govoni is Associate Professor of Geotechnical Engineering at the Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental, and Materials Engineering (DICAM) of the University of Bologna.
Laura graduates in 2002, cum laude, discussing a thesis entitled «The behaviour of masonry in an archaeological context: the atrium of The House of the Centenary [IX, 8,6] in Pompei». The thesis wins the Prize «Luigi Querzè» and the topic addressed within is investigated further thanks to a scholarship funded within project «Methodology for the multidisciplinary intervention towards the survey, the analysis and the protection of archaeological structures in Pompei». In 2003 she joins the PhD Course in Geotechnical Engineering instituted by the consortium of Universities of Bologna, Brescia, Ferrara, Parma and Venezia. In 2004, she is selected as consultant within project «Pompei Insula IX, 8: physical and numerical modelling of materials and structures» attending, for a few months time, the Laboratory of Computational Mechanics in Bologna, investigating implicit and explicit time integration methods for FE analysesi. Within the PhD years, she is supervised by Guido Gottardi, addressing the topic of plastic beahviour of shallow foundations on sand under general loading conditions, theme that finds suitable applications in the interpretation of the response of slender structures (e.g. towers, bells, wind turbines) and bridges’ piers. In 2005, she is Academic Visitor at the Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems (COFS) of the University of Western Australia (WA) to explore the experimental aspects of the study with the support of Susan Gourvenec and Mark Cassidy. The testing programme is carried in a geotechnical centrifuge and entirely funded by the Australian Research Council’s Research Centres Program. Vital to the analytical interpretation of the data, is a short stay at the Schofield Centre of Cambridge (UK) at the beginning of 2006. In 2007, she acquires the Doctoral degree in Geotechnincal engineering, discussing a thesis entitled «Centrifuge modelling of surface and buried footings on silica sand». Since 2006, she is Assistant Professor in Geotechnical Engineering at the DICAM Department, position confirmed by the Faculty of Engineering in 2010. Between 2006 and 2008 she is consultant in the development of the full-scale test site for falling rock protection barriers of Fonzaso (BL) and between 2008 and 2009 she works on the development of FE models of these structures along with Officine Maccaferri. Within the broader context of rockfall risk assessment, she is consultant in the Alpine Space European project «Paramount». In 2014, she collaborates with the Aalborg University in the investigation of the monotonic and cyclic behaviour of bucket foundations for offshore wind turbines and, as member of the Centre for Offshore And Marine Systems Engineering (COMSE), of the DICAM department, she is involved by the Province of Rimini (within European Project 4Power) in the first feasibility study for the development of a large wind plant in the Northern Adriatic Sea, exploring innovative, effective and economically convenient solutions for the foundation systems. Between 2007 and 2012, she is a member of the Board of the DICAM Department. She is also member of the PhD School in Geoengineering, Georesources and Geotechnical Engineering of the University of Bologna, and a member of the PhD School in Geotechnical Engineering of the consortium of Universities of Bologna, Brescia, Ferrara, Parma and Venezia. Between 2011 and 2014, she is also involved in the evaluation of research activities for the CUN area 08 of the University of Bologna, as member of the board of the University’s Research Observatory. In 2014 she acquires the National Scientific Qualification as Associate in sector 08/B1/Geotechnics. Since 2006, she is involved with the teaching activities in Geotechnical Engineering at the University of Bologna within the bachelor and master courses in Architectural Engineering and Civil Engineering. She is also involved in the teaching activities of Phd Courses and Winter Schools of the University of Bologna. She is in the Organizing Committees of events held in Bologna (IAGIG, International Symposium on Design and Practice of Geosynthetic-Reinforced Soil Structures, CNRIG2016).Since 2019 she is Associate Professor of Geotechnical Engineering.
Research interests include:i) Physical and numerical modelling of structural rockfall protection measures; ii) Solutions for foundations of offshore wind turbines.
