bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Brasilia (1994), master’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Brasilia (1999), doctorate in Civil Engineering from École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (2004), and post-doctorate from the University of Brasilia in the Department of Civil Engineering. She is currently an associate professor at the University of Brasilia. Her main interest is passive automotive safety, focusing on the structural and occupants’ behaviors during impact events.
Effect of 3D-Printed Honeycomb Core on Compressive Property of Hybrid Energy Absorbers: Experimental Testing and Optimization Analysis Rita de Cássia Silva, Gabriel Martins de Castro, Alessandro Borges de Sousa Oliveira, Augusto César de Mendonça Brasil Materials, 2024 This paper presents an innovative method of constructing energy absorbers, whose primary function is to effectively transform kinetic energy into strain energy in events with high deformation rates. Hybrid specimens are proposed considering thin-walled windowed metallic tubes filled with 3D-printed hexagonal honeycombs made of PET-G and ABS thermoplastic. The patterned windows dimensions vary from 20 × 20, 20 × 30, 15 × 20 and 15 × 30 mm2. Although using polymers in engineering and thin-walled sections is not new, their combination has not been explored in this type of structure designed to withstand impacts. Specimens resist out-of-plane quasi-static axial loading, and test results are analyzed, demonstrating that polymer core gives the samples better performance parameters than unfilled samples regarding energy absorption (Ea), load rate (LR), and structural effectiveness (η). An optimization procedure using specialized software was applied to evaluate experimental results, which led to identifying the optimal window geometry (16.4 × 20 mm2, in case) and polymer to be used (ABS). The optimized sample was constructed and tested for axial compression to validate the optimization outcomes. The results reveal that the optimal sample performed similarly to the estimated parameters, making this geometry the best choice under the test conditions.
Experimental and numerical performance assessment of square aluminum and steel energy absorbers with circular hole discontinuities Rita de Cássia Silva, José Carlos de Souza Teles, Alessandro Borges de Sousa Oliveira International Journal of Crashworthiness, 2022 This work reports the performance of energy absorbers made in mild-steel and aluminum thin-walled square tubes under quasi-static compression tests. They have circular holes discontinuities laterally drilled on two or four opposing faces of the tube, according to three different distances based on the effective crushing distance, resulting in 23, 36, and 46 mm, as well as two diameters 8 and 12 mm. The tubes are 300 mm in effective length, 50 mm wide, and thickness varies. A substantial variation at performance parameters occurs with wall thickness and material changes. Failure initiators with 12 mm in diameter distant from each other 23 and 36 mm lead to better performance for aluminum and steel absorbers, respectively. Von Mises equivalent stress reaffirms that failure initiator influences stress distribution; consequently, the deformation process and; eigenvalue buckling analysis highlights the relation of buckling effect with the peak force and the stiffness of the tube face.
Accidental injuries caused by automotive frontal collision Karen Viviana Pérez Luján, Rita de Cassia Silva, Alessandro Borges de Souza Oliveira, Diego Antonio Legarda Cordoba, Palloma Vieira Muterlle, et al. Latin American Journal of Solids and Structures, 2021 This study aimed to use a simulated vehicle to asses quantitatively the head and neck injuries of the occupants, in a frontal car crash, when the driver has only one hand on the steering wheel, such as while using a cell phone when driving. First, we conducted a survey of NHTSA reports on real laboratory tests of frontal collisions involving sedans. The effects of these collisions on the neck of a Hybrid III 50 th percentile male crash test dummy were measured in terms of average head acceleration and force along the X, Z, and Y-axes. These acceleration, force and torque values obtained from the NHTSA database were used to validate the simulated model. The results obtained were compared with case E, the standard dummy position used in frontal collision tests. The results obtained in the simulation of the four cases of driving with only one hand demonstrate a probability of more than 67% that the driver will sustain AIS+2 injuries during a frontal crash. In all the cases, the skull fracture percentage was the most representative, occurring between 89 and 94% of cases where the driver had only one hand on the steering wheel.
Assessing the crashworthiness of a vehicle seat for rear and frontal impacts Rita de Cássia Silva, Paulo Guilherme Marques Flávio, Alessandro B. de Sousa Oliveira Latin American Journal of Solids and Structures, 2019 A vehicle seat represents an automotive passive system because it limits the damage caused to passengers in the events of an accident or a crash. This way, the present work intends to evaluate the safety of an anchorage mechanism of a frontal vehicle driver seat considering two hazardous situations rear and frontal impacts. Performing a nonlinear FE in static and transient analyses provide the stress distribution in the main components of the mechanism, such as the inner track, the lock device and the bolts using Ansys®. Regulation No 17 from Un/ECE regulates the acceleration levels predicted in a crash test and therefore applied in the simulation. In addition, departing from a crash of 5g a fatigue analysis is carried out. From this particular analysis, it becomes possible to evaluate the actual safety of the vehicle seat after a minor crash.
Kart team: A laboratory for engineering learning International Symposium on Project Approaches in Engineering Education, 2018
A tool for students' grouping in classroom Sergio A. A. Freitas, Rita C. Silva, Edna D. Canedo, Tiago Franklin R. Lucena Proceedings Frontiers in Education Conference Fie, 2016 This paper aims to present a students' clustering method based on their backward knowledge of a specific domain. The categorization process uses the tracking information of students' answers in multiple choice questions (MCQ). We used an enhanced MCQ representation in which all the choice items (right or wrong) are linked to an existing conceptual map. We track the students' answers and propose a method to identify each student's profile on a certain subject and then cluster all the students' similar profiles. The resulting grouping map indicates how much the students learned about concepts on the knowledge domain.
Smart quizzes in the engineering education Sergio Antonio Andrade Freitas, Rita De Cassia Silva, Tiago Franklin R. Lucena, Eduardo do N. Ribeiro, Victor Cotrim De Lima, et al. Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2016
The influence of a rops safety device in the occupants integrity during rollover events: A numerical approach Fisita 2014 World Automotive Congress Proceedings, 2014
Study of a FCMAC ANN for implementation in the modeling of an active control transtibial prosthesis Achi 2013 6th International Conference on Advances in Computer Human Interactions, 2013
Applying CAD/CAE tools in the roll center determination for a double a automotive suspension Eccomas 2012 European Congress on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences and Engineering E Book Full Papers, 2012
Development of an active prosthesis for transtibial amputees J. A. A Andrade, R. C. Silva, L. M. Brasil, S. F. Rosa Pan American Health Care Exchanges Pahce 2011 Conference Workshops and Exhibits Cooperation Linkages an Independent Forum for Patient Care and Technology Support, 2011
Serious games in cognitive rehabilitation G. C. Peron, L. I. B. dos Santos, L. M. Brasil, R. C. Silva, F. Bombonato, et al. Pan American Health Care Exchanges Pahce 2011 Conference Workshops and Exhibits Cooperation Linkages an Independent Forum for Patient Care and Technology Support, 2011
Challenges in turbine transport International Water Power and Dam Construction, 2008
Contribution to reliability assessment of concrete dams under dynamic effects Civil Comp Proceedings, 2008
Reliability assessment of theoretical profiles in concrete gravity dams Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Civil Structural and Environmental Engineering Computing Civil Comp 2007, 2007
Long-term effect of reinforcement corrosion on mechanical properties of reinforced concrete beams: A probabilistic approach Eurocorr 2004 European Corrosion Conference Long Term Prediction and Modelling of Corrosion, 2004
