Andrea Chiocca

Researcher in machine design (research contract) at the Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering, University of Pisa

I study fatigue and structural integrity: how repeated loads affect notched and welded components, materials and joints. My work combines finite element modelling, analytical methods and experimental testing, with applications in mechanical design, automotive components and additive manufacturing.

I hold a research contract at the University of Pisa and am Co-Leader of FABER WG3 — Fatigue Estimation Competition. I received my PhD in Industrial Engineering from Pisa in 2021.

Current research activity

FABER — Fatigue Benchmark Repository

Co-Leader of WG3, Fatigue Estimation Competition, within COST Action CA23109. An international collaboration on fatigue datasets, benchmarking and the comparison of prediction methods.

Selected publications

  1. Fatigue Assessment of Welded Joints Subjected to Multiaxial Loading Conditions through the Effective Critical Plane Approach
    Andrea Chiocca, and Francesco Frendo
    Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures, 2026
    First published online on 25 August 2026.
    DOI Publisher
    BibTeX 
    @article{Chiocca2026WeldedECP,
  author = {Chiocca, Andrea and Frendo, Francesco},
  doi = {10.1111/ffe.70429},
  journal = {Fatigue \& Fracture of Engineering Materials \& Structures},
  note = {First published online on 25 August 2026.},
  number = {11},
  pages = {5048--5064},
  title = {Fatigue Assessment of Welded Joints Subjected to Multiaxial Loading Conditions through the Effective Critical Plane Approach},
  volume = {49},
  year = {2026}
}
  2. Application of the Effective critical plane approach for the fatigue assessment of ductile cast iron under multiaxial and non-proportional loading conditions
    Andrea Chiocca, Matteo Pedranz, Filippo Zanini, Simone Carmignato, Vigilio Fontanari, Matteo Benedetti, and Francesco Frendo
    International Journal of Fatigue, Mar 2025
    DOI Publisher
    BibTeX 
    @article{Chiocca2025,
  author = {Chiocca, Andrea and Pedranz, Matteo and Zanini, Filippo and Carmignato, Simone and Fontanari, Vigilio and Benedetti, Matteo and Frendo, Francesco},
  doi = {10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2024.108716},
  issn = {01421123},
  journal = {International Journal of Fatigue},
  month = mar,
  pages = {108716},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  title = {{Application of the Effective critical plane approach for the fatigue assessment of ductile cast iron under multiaxial and non-proportional loading conditions}},
  volume = {192},
  year = {2025}
}
  3. Temperature Effect on Fatigue Performance of Thermoset and Thermoplastic Composites
    Andrea Chiocca, Michele Sgamma, Alessandro Franceschini, Alessio Vestri, Simone Mancini, Francesco Bucchi, Francesco Frendo, and Raffaele Squarcini
    In SAE Technical Paper Series, 2025
    DOI Publisher
    BibTeX 
    @inproceedings{Chiocca2025ab,
  author = {Chiocca, Andrea and Sgamma, Michele and Franceschini, Alessandro and Vestri, Alessio and Mancini, Simone and Bucchi, Francesco and Frendo, Francesco and Squarcini, Raffaele},
  booktitle = {SAE Technical Paper Series},
  doi = {10.4271/2025-32-0006},
  journal = {SAE Technical Papers},
  pages = {2025-32-0006},
  title = {Temperature Effect on Fatigue Performance of Thermoset and Thermoplastic Composites},
  year = {2025}
}
  4. Fatigue assessment of structural components through the Effective Critical Plane factor
    Andrea Chiocca, and Francesco Frendo
    International Journal of Fatigue, Aug 2024
    DOI Publisher PDF
    Abstract

    The integrity assessment of structural components under complex loading conditions relies on the evaluation of the fatigue damage typically arising from stress concentrations, such as geometric irregularities, notches, weld beads, grooves etc. Various methodologies, including the Notch Stress Approach (NSA), the Theory of Critical Distances (TCD), the Strain Energy Density (SED), and the Critical Plane (CP) concept, have been pivotal in assessing fatigue strength for notched and welded components. Recent works combine some of the above mentioned methodologies, while other works propose to vary the embedded parameters accounting for the loading type or the fatigue lives, trying to improve the accuracy of the fatigue assessment process. This paper introduces a novel approach, the Effective Critical Plane (ECP), which is founded on the critical plane concept. The CP factor is, however, calculated starting from an averaged, over a small volume, stress–strain field. The size of the averaging volume is assumed to be a material parameter and is determined by a best fitting procedure over different experimental data sets. The novel approach is illustrated by means of the Fatemi-Socie and the Smith-Watson-Topper CP damage factors. Its potential application to other CP formulations is straightforward, as well. Literature experimental data for low carbon steel specimens possessing different notches and loading conditions are used to validate the method’s capability in accurately determining the fatigue life and to set the radius of the averaging volume for the given material and CP parameter. A spherical volume or circular area are used in case of fully 3D or 2D numerical models, respectively. Results are compared to those of some of already existing methods, namely SED, TCD and the Modified Wöhler Curve Method.

    BibTeX 
    @article{Chiocca2024b,
  author = {Chiocca, Andrea and Frendo, Francesco},
  dimensions = {true},
  doi = {10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2024.108565},
  file = {::},
  issn = {01421123},
  journal = {International Journal of Fatigue},
  keywords = {Computational cost,Control volume,Critical plane method,Fatigue assessment,Notched component,Volumetric average},
  month = aug,
  pages = {108565},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  title = {{Fatigue assessment of structural components through the Effective Critical Plane factor}},
  volume = {189},
  year = {2024}
}

Software and research data

Explore scientific software, engineering tools and datasets, including the FABER WG4.3 multiaxial fatigue library. Its development and validation limits are documented separately from the WG3 responsibility.

Interested in research collaboration?

I welcome discussions with researchers and engineering teams about shared scientific interests, research proposals, fatigue-assessment methods and relevant industrial challenges.

andrea.chiocca@unipi.it