The Department of Steel Structures was established in 1948 under the leadership of Academician Professor Dr. HC ing. Dan Mateescu. In 1961, the present building of the Department and Laboratory of Steel Structures from Timisoara, situated on Ioan Curea street, no. 1, was given in use. During 1981-1985, the name of the Department was changed into the actual one: Department of Steel Structures and Structural Mechanics - CMMC.

CMMC Department was the initiator of a series of conferences as:

  • National conferences on steel structures (with international participation) since 1973;
  • Coupled Instabilities in Metal Structures CIMS (1992);
  • Behaviour of Steel Structures in Seismic Areas STESSA (1994);
  • and organizer of international conferences like:
  • Stability and Ductility of Steel Structures SDSS (1999);
  • ECCS Annual Conference coupled with Steel International Conference “Steel – a new material” (2006);
  • 6th International Conference on Thin Walled Structures ICTWS (2011);
  • 7th International Workshop on Connections in Steel Structures (2012).

Through the Department of Steel Structures and Structural Mechanics, the Politehnica University is a founding member of the Association "Romanian Convention for Constructional Steelwork - APCMR" from 2001, affiliated to the “European Convention for Constructional Steelwork – ECCS”. During 2005-2006, the Director of the CMMC Department, Acad. Prof. dr. ing. Dan Dubina owned the Presidency of the European Convention for Constructional Steelwork

Areas of research

The main traditional areas of research within the CMMC Department are:

  • Performance of steel and composite steel-concrete structures under exceptional actions;
  • Light gauge steel structures;
  • Sustainable building design and technology;
  • Safety in operation and rehabilitation of existing highway and railway bridges;
  • New solution for composite bridges and new technologies for bridges.

Code-drafting activity is very important within CMMC Department, which was involved in the translation of European Norms, or in the elaboration of National Annexes for Romania, like EN19933-1.3 Cold-Formed, EN19933-1.8 Structural Connections, EN19933-1.12 High Strength Steels and the structural fire design parts of EN1993, EN1994 and EN1999. Also, CMMC team elaborated the chapter for Steel structures of the National Seismic Code P100-1/2013.

Design and consultancy is also one important concern of the CMMC department, being involved in several objectives in Romania. For two of the most important projects, the department received the ECCS design award: Bancpost Building in Timisoara (2003) and Bucharest Tower Centre (2007).

The Research Centre for Mechanics of Materials and Structural Safety - CEMSIG was established in 1999 and in 2001 was qualified as Research Centre of Excellence by the National University Research Council (CNCSIS). The research area focuses on cold formed steel structures and performance of steel and composite structures under seismic action, fire and other natural and man-made hazards. New directions extend the area of expertise to seismic rehabilitation of existing buildings using new techniques and materials, as well high-performance materials for steel structures located in seismic regions.

The Laboratory of Structures within CEMSIG has a comprehensive set of equipment which allows testing various materials, joints, sub-assemblies and structures under quasi-static monotonic and cyclic loading, as well under dynamic loading, at room or high temperature.

The most important testing facilities and equipment of the laboratory are: reaction frame (4.5x5.2 m) for quasi-static tests, reaction wall (5.0x6.2 m) and strong concrete slab (5.0x9.5 m) for static and pseudo-dynamic tests (5.0x6.2x9.5 m); 1.5m x 1.5m uniaxial shaking table; 6 quasi-static hydraulic actuators (+/-500 kN, +/-1000 kN, +650/-1015 kN, +965/-1460 kN) and 2 dynamic hydraulic actuators (+/-500 kN) with hydraulic and control systems;  universal testing machine for dynamic tests of +/-1000 kN capacity, with hydraulic grips; universal testing machine of 250 kN capacity, with hydraulic grips; universal testing machine of 10 kN capacity; temperature chambers for 600/1200°C; Charpy impact testing device; equipment for measurements of deformations using image correlation technique.

Relevant projects

  • CMMC Department has a large participation in European and national research projects:
  • International grants: FP4, FP6, FP7, RFCS, World bank
  • National Grants: CEEX, Partnerships, PN II, Idei
  • Partnerships with industry (Arcelor-Mittal, Ruukki, Lindab…)

Recent or ongoing research projects

  • Conception and Structural Design on Control of Failure Mechanism of Multi-storey Structures Subjected to Accidental Actions –CODEC: PN-II type
  • Full-scale experimental validation of dual eccentrically braced frame with removable links – DUAREM
  • Steel solutions for seismic retrofit and upgrade of existing constructions – STEELRETRO, RFCS
  • High Strength Steel in Seismic Resistant Building Frames - HSS-SERF, RFCS
  • Sustainable Building Project in Steel - SB_STEEL
  • Large Valorisation on Sustainability of Steel Structures - LVS3, RFCS
  • Steel-Based Applications in Earthquake-Prone Areas - STEEL-EARTH, RFCS
  • Temperature assessment of a vertical steel member subjected to localised Fire – LOCAFI, RFCS
  • European pre-qualified steel Joints - EQUALJOINTS, RFCS
  • Seismic protection of engineering structures through dissipative braces of nano-micro magneto-rheological fluid dampers (SEMNAL-MRD), type Collaborative research
  • Implementation into Romanian seismic resistant design practice of buckling restrained braces (IMSER) type Collaborative research
  • Valorisation of Knowledge for Sustainable Steel-Composite Bridges in Built Environment – (SBRI+).
  • Experimental validation of the response of a full scale frame building subjected to blast load (FRAMEBLAST)
  • Cold formed steel beams assembled with high productivity welding technologies (WELLFORMED)
  • Valorization of Innovative Antiseismic Devices (INNOSEIS)