Doctoral School

Reading date: 06/03/2026

• ALCAYDE ROMO, BARBARA: Numerical modelling of the fatigue behaviour of composites. Application to the automotive industry.
  
  Author: ALCAYDE ROMO, BARBARA
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS
  Department: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DECA)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 19/12/2025
  Reading date: 06/03/2026
  Reading time: 11:00
  Reading place: Sala Zienkiewich (CIMNE) Building C1, UPC - Campus North Gran Capitan S/N 08034 Barcelona
  Thesis director: BARBU, LUCIA GRATIELA | CORNEJO VELÁZQUEZ, ALEJANDRO
  Thesis abstract: In an engineering landscape increasingly focused on optimized design, lightweight materials, and multifunctional performance, accurately predicting the fatigue behaviour of composite materials under realistic service conditions is essential. Traditional approaches to fatigue analysis in Fibre Reinforced Polymers (FRP) often rely on simplified extrapolations of laboratory data or homogenized models that neglect the complex interactions between constituent materials and environmental influences. Moreover, these approaches typically fail to account for temperature variations. Such reductionist perspectives limit the ability to capture the coupled mechanical and thermal degradation mechanisms inherent to advanced materials. This thesis proposes a unified numerical framework grounded in the Finite Element Method (FEM), integrating a phenomenological homogenization strategy, the Serial Parallel Rule of Mixtures Law (SP-RoM), with a High Cycle Fatigue (HCF) Constituive Law (CL). This approach enables the simultaneous representation of the distinct fatigue responses of fibres and matrix within layered composite laminates, accounting for variations in stacking sequence and fibre orientation. A key innovation is a calibration methodology that infers fatigue parameters at constituent level from experimental data at laminate scale, thus overcoming the challenges of direct testing of individual components. Furthermore, the work presents a thermomechanically coupled fatigue model incorporating temperature dependent material properties and thermal expansion, generalizing classical fatigue life prediction curves to fluctuating and spatially varying temperature fields. To address the significant computational demands of fatigue simulations, an Advance in Time Strategy (AITS) Cycle Jump (CJ) is developed, enabling efficient simulation of long-term fatigue damage evolution without sacrificing accuracy. Validated against experimental benchmarks and literature data, the proposed methodology advances fatigue life prediction in composite materials by delivering a flexible, robust, and computationally efficient tool. Additionally, the fatigue formulation has been enhanced to capture complex thermomechanical effects. This work lays the foundation for future research on integrated modelling of fatigue and multiphysics deterioration phenomena in advanced composite structures.
  

• CARRIZOSA RENDÓN, ÁLVARO: Advances in Set-Based Motion Planning for Safe Interaction of Autonomous Vehicles
  
  Author: CARRIZOSA RENDÓN, ÁLVARO
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN AUTOMATIC CONTROL, ROBOTICS AND VISION
  Department: Department of Automatic Control (ESAII)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 11/02/2026
  Reading date: 06/03/2026
  Reading time: 10:00
  Reading place: Aula Capella de l'Escola Tècnica Superior d'Enginyeria Industrial de Barcelona (ETSEIB), Campus Diagonal Sud, . Av. Diagonal, 647, 08028 Barcelona
  Thesis director: PUIG CAYUELA, VICENÇ | NEJJARI AKHI-ELARAB, FATIHA
  Thesis abstract: This thesis presents several contributions in the field of safe driving of autonomous vehicles, focusing on motion planning and prediction of environmental agents based on their behaviour. The methodologies combine set-based techniques, LPV models and optimisation, seeking to ensure safety with low computational cost in realistic scenarios.First, a comprehensive review of the literature on the use of set-based methods to address safety in autonomous driving is presented. The study focuses on three main families of techniques: reachability analysis, invariant sets, and feasibility theory, describing how they have been applied to different planning, control, and supervision problems. Their advantages, disadvantages, differences and similarities are analysed. With this review, a unified framework for interpreting the existing literature is proposed, which serves as a basis for justifying the design decisions adopted in the subsequent contributions of the thesis.The following contribution consists of a safe motion planner designed for structured convex scenarios with complete knowledge of the environment and the actions of the agents surrounding it. To this end, a formulation based on LPV models and reachability analysis using zonotopes with constraints is proposed, which is integrated into a predictive control scheme formulated as a quadratic problem. This approach allows explicit safety constraints to be imposed on the optimiser, ensuring collision avoidance and achieving safe trajectories with lower computational cost and less conservatism than classical robust approaches.Subsequently, an efficient prediction method is proposed to estimate the future occupancy of surrounding vehicles online, based solely on their observed actions. The approach is based on optimisation and zonotopic propagation techniques to construct occupancy sets that adapt dynamically without the need for trained models or prior assumptions. The result is a refined and computationally lightweight estimator, designed to be integrated into real-time planners.Finally, a motion planner capable of working in complex urban scenarios is presented, extending the two previous contributions. Based on the first safe planner, a new structure is formulated that maintains the QP problem but now employs a purely zonotopic reachability analysis combined with constraints, allowing it to work in non-convex environments and with partial knowledge of the intentions of surrounding vehicles. The prediction module is proposed as an evolution of the previous one, taking advantage of the known geometry of the road to obtain more refined occupancy sets.
  

• PUERTAS SEGURA, ANTONIO JESUS: Nano-enabled hydrogel coating for prevention of catheter-associated urinary tract infections
  
  Author: PUERTAS SEGURA, ANTONIO JESUS
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN POLYMERS AND BIOPOLYMERS
  Department: Department of Chemical Engineering (EQ)
  Mode: Article-based thesis
  Deposit date: 16/12/2025
  Reading date: 06/03/2026
  Reading time: 15:00
  Reading place: UPC-ESEIATTSala de conferències - TR5C. Colom, 1 - TERRASSAhttps://utgct.upc.edu/ca/imatges/espais-i-recursos/zones-destudi/espai-tr5
  Thesis director: TZANOV, TZANKO KALOYANOV | CIARDELLI, GIANLUCA
  Thesis abstract: Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) represent a critical healthcare challenge, accounting for a substantial proportion of the nosocomial infections worldwide and imposing significant economic burdens on healthcare systems through prolonged hospitalisation, additional treatments, and increased healthcare costs. These infections are primarily initiated by bacterial adhesion to catheter surfaces, followed by the formation of structured biofilms that protect pathogens against host immune defences and antimicrobial treatments. Biofilm-embedded bacteria exhibit significantly enhanced antibiotic tolerance and facilitate horizontal gene transfer, thereby accelerating the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains. Current clinical strategies, including catheter replacement, systemic antimicrobial therapy, and conventional surface coatings, often prove inadequate due to limited efficacy duration, poor selectivity, or cytotoxicity concerns. This underscores the urgent need for innovative, multifunctional, and biocompatible solutions capable of preventing biofilm establishment whilst maintaining excellent biological compatibility.The present doctoral thesis addresses these challenges through the design and development of advanced nano-enabled hydrogel-based coatings, specifically engineered to enhance the performance of urinary catheters. Innovative coatings were engineered to incorporate diverse antibacterial and antibiofilm nanomaterials, including lauryl gallate-, silver-, ceragenin-, and lignin-based nanoparticles, employing green and cost-effective methodologies such as sonochemical deposition and enzymatic grafting. These nano-actives were incorporated in bio-based and antifouling polymers including chitosan, catechol-modified gelatine, and polyzwitterions. The resulting hybrid coatings were engineered to combine synergistic contact-killing and sustained-release antimicrobial mechanisms with enhanced surface hydration and superior resistance to bacterial adhesion.Comprehensive physicochemical characterisation confirmed the successful integration of the nano-enabled coatings onto indwelling urinary catheters, revealing tailored surface morphology, high stability, and controlled release profiles of the active compound. In vitro assays demonstrated potent bactericidal activity and biofilm inhibition against clinically relevant uropathogens, including Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus, under both static and dynamic flow conditions that simulate physiological environments. Cytotoxicity studies revealed high biocompatibility with human fibroblasts and keratinocytes, confirming safety for prolonged medical applications. Importantly, in vivo experiments using a rabbit catheterisation model showed significant reductions in microbial colonisation and excellent biocompatibility in animals fitted with the coated catheters, validating the protective performance of these devices under realistic physiological conditions.This thesis establishes a framework for the design and implementation of nano-enabled coatings that synergistically combine antimicrobial efficacy, biofilm resistance, and host compatibility. The findings present promising pathways for advancing next-generation urinary catheter technologies and provide a solid foundation for clinical translation, ultimately aiming to minimise CAUTI incidence and reduce the global burden of antimicrobial resistance.
  

Reading date: 09/03/2026

• DE SANTIAGO GARCIA, JAVIER NICOLAS: La imagen poética en los procesos de producción, proyectuales y habitar de la vivienda de autoproducción en Lomas del Centinela.
  
  Author: DE SANTIAGO GARCIA, JAVIER NICOLAS
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN THEORY AND HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE
  Department: Department of History and Theory of Architecture and Communication Techniques (THATC)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 09/02/2026
  Reading date: pending
  Reading time: pending
  Reading place: pending
  Thesis director: USANDIZAGA CALPARSORO, MIGUEL M. | SERRA PERMANYER, MARTA
  Thesis abstract: This thesis addresses the search for the poetic image in self-built housing in the Lomas del Centinela neighborhood, in Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico. This search focuses on some of the processes identified with self-built housing, particularly in the production processes, design processes, and the dwelling process.The concept of poetic image is constructed through the discourses of authors such as Gaston Bachelard, Carlos González y Lobo, Steven Holl, Manuel Martín Hernández, Juhanni Pallasmaa, and Alberto Pérez-Gómez. It can be defined as the element that results from having imagined something with a specific purpose in mind. It is referred to as an element because it can manifest as a thought, a written text, a goal, a conceptual drawing, a method to achieve an end, a way of experiencing a place, of appropriating it, and of recognizing oneself in that journey.This study examines women from Lomas del Centinela who have self-built their homes, approaching their history and the forms of production they engaged in during the years they, along with their families, pursued the dream of building their own homes.During this research, they were interviewed, seeking in their discourses elements that could be considered poetic images, with the aim of exploring their self-building processes through the lens of the poetic image. Through this search, not only is the importance of imagination emphasized, but also the fact that self-building processes are not spontaneous. Rather, in much of their conception, construction, and inhabitation, they respond—beyond the management of minimal resources—to a strong imaginative component. This entails a profound reflection on the potential of self-built housing in terms of creative achievement.
  

Reading date: 10/03/2026

• CUADROS ROJAS, EMERSON JULIO: Out-of-Plane Flexural Behaviour of Masonry Walls Reinforced with High-Strength Steel Cord Mesh
  
  Author: CUADROS ROJAS, EMERSON JULIO
  Thesis file: (contact the Doctoral School to confirm you have a valid doctoral degree and to get the link to the thesis)
  Programme: DOCTORAL DEGREE IN CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING
  Department: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DECA)
  Mode: Normal
  Deposit date: 11/02/2026
  Reading date: pending
  Reading time: pending
  Reading place: pending
  Thesis director: PELA, LUCA | ROCA FABREGAT, PEDRO
  Thesis abstract: Perforated brick masonry facades with exposed brickwork are a common feature in contemporary construction, yet they frequently demonstrate an out-of-plane response that renders them suscep-tible to wind and seismic action. Concurrently, innovative horizontal joint reinforcement systems utilising high-strength steel meshes are being adopted in increasing numbers in practice, although specific design provisions are still lacking. The present thesis investigates the mechanical behav-iour of perforated brick masonry walls reinforced with high-strength steel meshes. The investiga-tion focuses on out-of-plane bending response, and the thesis combines three different experi-mental programs in the laboratory, and numerical modelling.Initially, the experimental characterisation of the constituent masonry materials was conducted. Tests were carried out on perforated clay bricks and M5 mortar to provide their compressive and flexural strengths. Masonry prisms were subjected to compression tests and monitored using digi-tal image correlation (DIC) to determine the compressive strength, Young’s modulus and Pois-son's ratio. A methodology was proposed that utilised a co-barycentric effective area approach in order to account for the eccentricity induced by the asymmetric perforation pattern when evalu-ating compressive strength and stiffness.The shear behaviour of perforated brick masonry was the subject of a second experimental pro-gramme that involved triplet tests performed at three levels of pre-compression. The employment of DIC facilitated the observation of damage mechanisms and the estimation of Mohr-Coulomb strength parameters. The core of the research focuses on the execution of out-of-plane flexural tests of five unrein-forced masonry walls and six walls reinforced with high-strength steel mesh arranged with two different separations (0.6 m and 0.4 m, corresponding to geometric reinforcement ratios of 0.015% and 0.022%). The experimental programme was conducted in accordance with the four-point bending method specified in the standard EN 1052-2, and the damage process was moni-tored with three-dimensional digital image correlation (3D DIC). The reinforced walls demon-strated a substantial enhancement in strength and ductility in comparison to the unreinforced walls, higher overstrength ratios, and significantly greater ultimate displacements. The walls with a higher amount of bed-joint reinforcement exhibited a more distributed cracking with reduced crack widths, demonstrating crack control at low geometric reinforcement ratios compared to traditional reinforcement systems.An analytical model for the moment-curvature response and finite element micro-models were developed and calibrated based on the experimental results.