In his talk titled “Discontinuum Based Analysis of Built Environment New Trends and Challenges”, Prof. Pulatsu presented recent developments in the use of discrete element methods (DEM) for the analysis of unreinforced masonry (URM) structures. He discussed the increasing need for efficient conservation strategies in the face of resource limitations climate change and the growing frequency of extreme environmental actions.

The lecture introduced a broad range of DEM applications from material scale simulations to full structural assessments and emphasized how vision based documentation tools can be coupled with advanced numerical models to generate highly representative digital replicas of existing buildings. Prof. Pulatsu also outlined emerging research directions including data driven computational modelingspatial stochastic analysis and the integration of remote sensing measurements with state of the art simulation techniques.

The session offered students valuable insights into current research challenges in conservation engineering and computational structural mechanics enriching the course’s focus on assessing and designing structures for long term performance.