In her research project called NABUCCO ↗ Professor Chiara Bisagni ↗ develops radically new concepts of adaptive and buckling‐driven composite structures for next generation aircraft. In aeronautics, buckling is generally avoided because it causes stiffness reduction, large deformations and can result in a catastrophic collapse.

Instead, NABUCCO considers buckling no longer as a phenomenon to be avoided, but as a design opportunity to be explored for its groundbreaking potentialities. The idea is to use buckling drawbacks in a positive way, to conceive, design and realize adaptive composite structures and aircraft morphing wings.

Professor Chiara Bisagni will develop new design, analysis and optimization methods based on novel analytical formulations, neural networks algorithms and an integrated and multi‐disciplinary design approach.

The structures developed in the NABUCCO project will be able to adapt their shape during different flight conditions, acting on two of the biggest levers for the future of clean aviation: reduced weight and increased efficiency.

Professor Chiara Bisagni just returned to Italy after more than 10 years abroad: at first,
Professor at the University of California San Diego in the United States, and then Professor at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), an Executive Council Member of the International Committee on Composite Materials (ICCM) and a Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy.