The SXL welcomes Xavier Estrella as Postdoc
© 2021 EPFL
Xavier Estrella (PhD from Pontifical Chile and Sydney) joined the Structural Xploration Lab earlier this month as postdoctoral researcher. He will be actively contributing on the ready-for-reuse slab-and-column system developed by the lab over the past years. He will also take part in projects related to the design of building parts that enable more component reusability.
Xavier studied civil engineering at the University of Azuay, Ecuador. Then he pursued his doctoral degree in structural engineering in a collaborative program between the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and the University of Technology Sydney. Aiming at laying the foundations for the development of timber construction in Latin America, during his thesis he studied the dynamic behavior of mid-rise wood-frame structures under different seismic hazard levels. Through experimental and numerical methods, he validated a new approach for timber buildings in high seismicity countries employing fixed-base solutions. The results of this investigation led to propose a reform of the current Chilean building standard and won the National Contest on Timber Engineering in 2018.
Xavier's research interests span a wide range of fields in structural engineering, such a structural dynamics, non-linear modeling, seismic protection solutions, mid- to -high-rise timber buildings, eco-friendly structural solutions, circular economy, among others.