The Técnico alumnus Pedro Frade (PhD in Sustainable Energy Systems) won the 1st prize of the Young Engineer Innovation Award (PIJE 2020). However, more Técnico alumni were among the winners: Vítor Camacho and José Gonilha, PhDs in Civil Engineering, received the 3rd prize and an honourable mention, respectively.
The Young Engineer Innovation Award – worth €10,000 – is delivered annually by Ordem dos Engenheiros – Região Sul, to the authors of the best engineering research works under the age of 35. The award was established in 1990 and recognises projects that demonstrate innovation and practical applicability.
Pedro Frade won the 1st prize for his work titled “A importância dos Serviços Sistema transfronteiriços no atual paradigma da transição energética”. “I am very proud to receive this award, as I believe that there is no better professional recognition than that given by our peers. I think that only our peers are fully capable of evaluating the quality of our work”, says the Técnico alumnus.
“From 2015 to 2020 I decided to get a PhD in Sustainable Energy Systems, while I was developing my professional activity at REN’s Global Technical System Management”, recalls Pedro Frade. “I tried to create synergies between industry and academia, with the aim of providing solutions that help the Electric System Operators to face the challenges of decarbonisation in the sector”, he stresses.
With vast experience in the field and currently working at REN as a Senior Electrical Engineer, Pedro Frade has no doubts that “the electricity sector will undergo a profound transformation in the present decade, immeasurably greater than in the last 50 years. The challenges are, and will be, enormous, some of them complex. I tried to contribute to the sustainability of the Electric System without ever neglecting the security of supply”, says Pedro Frade.
Civil Engineering alumni win bronze medal and honourable mention
Vítor Camacho won the 3rd prize of the Young Engineer Innovation Award 2020, for his doctoral thesis titled “Otimização do projeto sísmico de pontes e utilização de técnicas de machine learning para identificação de variáveis críticas e modelos preditivos” (“Optimization of the seismic design of reinforced concrete bridges using evolutionary algorithms”), supervised by professor Mário Lopes and co-supervised by professor Carlos Sousa Oliveira.
“It is a great honour and an enormous satisfaction to be recognised by the Ordem dos Engenheiros”, says the alumnus. “It also proves the excellent work that is carried out at Instituto Superior Técnico”, he stresses.
In this study conducted by the Técnico alumnus, a framework that uses a modified version of the NSGA-II optimization algorithm is applied to optimize the seismic design of a long irregular reinforced concrete bridge. The study allows to revise behaviour factors used for reinforced concrete bridge design. The optimization results serve as an input for the development of predictive seismic response and surrogate models based on machine learning techniques.
José Gonilha, researcher at CERIS – Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability won an honourable mention for his work titled “Novo modelo de progressão de dano para análise tridimensional de estruturas em FRP”. The damage progression model for fiber-reinforced polymer materials (FRP) developed by the Técnico researcher allows for 3D simulation – and design – of complex structural components.
José Gonilha shares his joy, in particular because it is a recognition given by his peers. “Furthermore, it’s very important that the academic work is recognised by the engineering community and that this work can have real impact on industrial sectors” he says.
The jury of the 2020 Young Engineer Innovation Award was chaired by engineer Carlos Pina, assisted by engineers João Godinho Viegas and Luís Oliveira Santos. The works that fell within a particular discipline were evaluated with the support of engineers Jorge Vasquez, Ana Maria Fonseca and Ana Estela Barbosa.
