Professor Amabili was a Distinguished James McGill professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. At McGill University he held the Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Vibrations and Fluid-Structure Interaction for 14 years. He started his academic career at the University of Parma in Italy in 1997. The obtained his M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering at the Polytechnical University of Marche, Ancona, Italy, in 1992 and obtained his PhD in Applied Mechanics in 1996 from the University of Bologna in Italy.

His research contributions span several areas of dynamics, solid mechanics and fluid-structure interaction. In particular, he is the author of over 500 scientific papers in vibrations and applied mechanics, over 280 of which are published in prestigious refereed international journals, including multidisciplinary ones like Nature Communications, Physical Review X, and PNAS.

In 2008 Professor Amabili wrote the monograph “Nonlinear Vibrations and Stability of Shells and Plates” published by Cambridge University Press. For this book, he received the Worcester Reed Warner Medal of the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) in 2020; this medal was established in 1930 to honor seminal contribution to the permanent literature in engineering.  His second monograph, again for Cambridge University Press, appeared in 2018. In the last three decades, Professor Amabili has made tremendous contributions to the progress of knowledge of nonlinear vibrations of shells and plates made of traditional, advanced composite and soft materials. He is very often invited to deliver plenary and keynote lectures at the most prestigious conferences worldwide.

He is the co-Editor-in Chief of International Journal of Mechanical System Dynamics, (J. Wiley), Contributing Editor of the International Journal of Non-linear Mechanics (Elsevier), Associate Editor of Journal of Fluids and Structures (Elsevier) and Mechanics Research Communications (Elsevier), Contributing Editor of Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures. He is member of the editorial board of Journal of Sound and Vibration (Elsevier), Journal of the Mechanical Behaviour of Biomedical Materials (Elsevier), and International Journal of Structural Stability and Dynamics. He was Associate Editor of Applied Mechanics Reviews (ASME) and Journal of Vibration and Acoustics (ASME).

My main research interest is nonlinear vibrations and stability of shells with and without fluid-structure interaction. I study vibrations of shells and plates made of traditional, composite, functionally graded materials and biological tissues. I have a wide research approach, since I use numerical and analytical tools, as well as laboratory experiments with the most advanced instrumentation, including laser Doppler vibrometers, LMS modal analysis system and large water tunnels. Particular attention is developed in (i) obtaining very accurate reduced-order models that can be fully studied by using bifurcation analysis, and (ii) investigating nonlinear damping. The applications of my research are in very different fields: aeronautics, aerospace, vascular mechanics, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, energy generation.

Nonlinear vibrations and stability of shells interacting with fluids. This is an area of wide interest since shells are often associated to fluids and dynamic loads (rockets, storage tanks, fuselage of airplanes, …). Amabili applied the studies to nuclear engineering and soft biomaterials (arteries and grafts). His activity focused on integration of experiments and modelling.

- Discovery of divergence instability of shells conveying flow. His water tunnel experiments and reduced-order modelling have shown, for the first time (1999), the subcritical divergence instability of circular shells conveying liquid flow. In this instability, instantaneous collapse arises before the stability limit under small perturbations, which is very dangerous in applications. This behavior was not known before his pioneering studies.
-Nonlinear damping of shells. This was first ever reported by Amabili who identified it from experiments on shells in 2003. Nonlinear damping was later accurately modelled by Amabili using linear viscoelasticity introducing geometric nonlinearities. Before his studies, no model was available to describe the damping increase with the vibration amplitude which was compatible with experimental results.

Mechanical characterization of the human aorta. This research is particularly significant to understand diseases (e.g. aneurysms) and develop innovative grafts. Amabili has been the first to characterize the quasi-static and dynamic mechanical behaviour of human aortic tissue with smooth muscle activation. This is a very challenging mechanical characterization which required the development of an innovative experimental protocol.

1. M. Amabili, 2023, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, vol. 189, 110119. Do we need to satisfy natural boundary conditions in energy approach to nonlinear vibrations of rectangular plates?

2. F. Giovanniello, M. Asgari, I. D. Breslavsky, G. Franchini, G. A. Holzapfel, M. Tabrizian, M. Amabili, 2023, Acta Biomaterialia, vol. 160, pp. 59-72. Development and mechanical characterization of decellularized scaffolds for an active aortic graft.

3. G. Franchini, I.D. Breslavsky, F. Giovanniello, A. Kassab, G.A. Holzapfel, M. Amabili, 2022, PNAS, vol. 119, No. 3, e2117232119. Role of smooth muscle activation in the static and dynamic mechanical characterization of human aortas. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2117232119

4. M. Amabili, J.N. Reddy, 2021, Composite Structures, vol. 278, 114693. Nonlinear mechanics of sandwich plates: layerwise third-order thickness and shear deformation theory.

5. M. Amabili, P. Balasubramanian, I. Bozzo, I.D. Breslavsky, G. Ferrari, G. Franchini, F. Giovanniello, C. Pogue, 2020, Physical Review X, vol. 10, 011015. Nonlinear dynamics of human aortas for material characterization. This paper was featured in the Physics Magazine of the American Physical Society (APS); https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.10.011015

6. M. Amabili, I.D. Breslavsky, J.N. Reddy, 2019, Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, vol. 346, pp. 841-861. Nonlinear higher-order shell theory for incompressible biological hyperelastic materials. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cma.2018.09.023

7. M. Amabili, 2018, Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, vol. 118, pp. 275-292.Nonlinear damping in nonlinear vibrations of rectangular plates: derivation from viscoelasticity and experimental validation. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmps.2018.06.004

8. P. Balasubramanian, G. Ferrari, M. Amabili, 2018, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, vol. 111, pp. 376-398. Identification of the viscoelastic response and nonlinear damping of a rubber plate in nonlinear vibration regime. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymssp.2018.03.061

9. M. Amabili, 2018, Nonlinear Mechanics of Shells and Plates: Composite, Soft and Biological Materials, Cambridge University Press, New York, USA.

10. D. Davidovikj, F. Alijani, S.J. Cartamil-Bueno, H.S.J. van der Zant, M. Amabili, P.G. Steeneken, 2017, Nature Communications, vol. 8, art. 1253. Nonlinear dynamic characterization of two-dimensional materials. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-01351-4

11. M. Amabili, 2008, Nonlinear Vibrations and Stability of Shells and Plates, Cambridge University Press, New York, USA.

Awards, honors, and fellowships: 

· Elected Member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), 2024.

· Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada – Academy of Sciences, 2020.

· Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, 2019.

· Guggenheim Fellowship in engineering 2022,  John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation

· Raymond D. Mindlin Medal of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 2021

· Worcester Reed Warner Medal 2020, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

· Gili-Agostinelli International Prize of the Lincei National Academy of Sciences of Italy, 2021

· Rayleigh Lecture Award, ASME, 2022

· Blaise Pascal Medal in Engineering, European Academy of Sciences, 2022

· Elected Foreign Member of Academia Europaea, 2020.

· Elected to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2018.

· Elected to the European Academy of Sciences, 2020.

· Christophe Pierre Research Excellence Award, McGill University, 2015.

· Koiter lecture of the Dutch research school on Engineering Mechanics, 2019

· Chair of the Executive Committee of Applied Mechanics Division ASME, 2023-2024

· Member of the Executive Committee of Applied Mechanics Division ASME, 2019-2024

· Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), 2011.

· Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada, 2020

· Elected Foreign Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna, Italy, 2022