Irene SIMONETTI

Ruolo attuale:: Ricercatore Legge 240/10 a tempo determinato
SSD:: CEAR-01/B - Costruzioni idrauliche e marittime e idrologia
Afferenza organizzativa:: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale (DICEA)

Recapiti

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	irene.simonetti(AT)unifi.it

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LABORATORIO DI GESTIONE SOSTENIBILE DELLA RISORSA IDRICA - Inizio lezioni 20 ottobre

Le lezioni del Laboratorio di Gestione Sostenibile della Risorsa Idrica (L. LOTTI, B. PAGLIACCIA, I. SIMONETTI, C. LUBELLO, B032637) avranno inizio il 20 ottobre 2026

Irene SIMONETTI

Orario di ricevimento (aggiornato al 31/10/2025)

Il ricevimento studenti si svolge il martedì in orario 10.00-12.00, previa richiesta tramite e-mail.

Modalità di ricevimento: il ricevimento si svolge in presenza (stanza 127 - DICEA), oppure online.

Irene SIMONETTI

Biografia

Irene Simonetti è ricercatrice in tenure track (RTT) presso il Dip.to di Ing. Civile e Ambientale.

Nel 2016 ha conseguito il titolo di dottore di ricerca in "Civil and Environmental Engineering" programma internazionale congiunto con TU Braunschweig (Germania), con tesi di dottorato dal titolo "Optimization of Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Convertes – A numerical study".

Ha conseguito la Laurea Magistrale in Ingegneria per la Tutela dell'Ambiente e del Territorio nel 2012.

Irene SIMONETTI

Curriculum

dal 10/2025: Ricercatrice in Tenure Track - RTT - CEAR-01/B - Costruzioni idrauliche e marittime e idrologia

2022-2025: ricercatrice (RTD, art. 24 c.3-a L. 240/10), settore scientifico disciplinare ICAR-02, presso il Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale di Firenze.

2016-2021: assegnista di ricerca presso il Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale Università degli Studi di Firenze, settore scientifico disciplinare ICAR-02, con tematiche di ricerca: “Strutture, Infrastrutture e Dispositivi Innovativi di Ingegneria Marittima e Off-Shore” e “Canali marittimi virtuali con CFD e applicazione a convertitori di energia OWC – Oscillating Water Column”.

ISTRUZIONE E FORMAZIONE

2016: Dottorato di ricerca internazionale in Civil and Environmental Engineering (UNIFI, UNIPI, UNIPG, TU Braunschweig)

2012: Laurea magistrale in Ingegneria per la Tutela dell’ambiente e del Territorio (UNIFI)

2009: Laurea triennale in Ingegneria per l’Ambientale e in Territorio (UNIFI)

ABILITAZIONI

Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale alle funzioni di professore universitario di Seconda Fascia nel Settore Concorsuale 08/A1 - IDRAULICA, IDROLOGIA, COSTRUZIONI IDRAULICHE E MARITTIME, in data 06/2023.

ATTIVITÁ SCIENTIFICA

Articoli su riviste internazionali e atti di convegno: 53. Citazioni totali: 709 (Scopus), 1013 (Scholar). H-index: 14 (Scopus), 16 (Scholar).

Responsabilità di progetti di ricerca:

2026-2027. Responsabile dell’unità operativa del DICEA (UNIFI) del Progetto HYDRAS HYdrodynamic-aware Distributed Robots for mArine Source-seeking, finanziato dall’Università degli Studi Di Firenze.

Partecipazione a progetti di ricerca:

2024-2027. Progetto AMMIRARE - Azioni e Metodologie per il Miglioramento della Resilienza degli Arenili (Interreg MARITTIMO IT-FR). Ruolo ricoperto: Membro del Comitato di Pilotaggio.

2022-2024. Progetto TWIN-COASTS – Digital Twins of coastal basins to air efficient environmental management (PON Ricerca e Innovazione). Ruolo: beneficiario e responsabile della modellistica numerica.

2018-2023. COST Action WECANET - A pan-European Network for Marine Renewable Energy (Horizon 2020). Ruolo: membro del “Working Group 2: Experimental hydrodynamic modelling and testing of WECs, WEC arrays/farms, PTO systems, and field testing”.

2020-2021. Progetto AKU-WEC: A step forward in AKU-WEC prototype development (4th call for Transnational Access di EU-H2020 MaRINET2). Ruolo ricoperto: co-proponente.

2015-2018. Partecipa al gruppo di ricerca del progetto nazionale INNOWAS e INNOWAS Seconda Fase INNOvative WAve-maker System dell’Università di Firenze, finanziato dalla Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze.

Attività di revisione per riviste scientifiche:

Revisore per le riviste scientifiche: “Scientific Reports” (Nature portfolio) (dal 2024), “Coastal Engineering” (Elsevier) dal 2020, “Ocean Engineering” (Elsevier) dal 2017, “Renewable Energy” (Elsevier) dal 2017, “International Journal of Marine Energy” (Elsevier) dal 2017, “Energies” (MDPI) dal 2017, “Journal of Marine Science and Engineering” (MDPI) dal 2018, “Processes” (MDPI) dal 2019, “Applied Energy” (Elsevier) dal 2018, “Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews” (Elsevier) dal 2018.

ATTIVITÁ DIDATTICA

A.A. 2025-2026 - oggi. Titolare del corso di Acqua e Energia (co-docenza, 3 CFU di 6), per il corso di Laurea Magistrale in Ingegneria per L’Ambiente e il Territorio.

A.A. 2025-2026 - oggi. Titolare del corso Laboratorio di Gestione sostenibile delle risorse idriche (co-docenza, 5 CFU di 12) per il corso di Laurea Triennale in Ingegneria Ambientale.

A.A. 2021-2022 - oggi. Titolare del corso di Costal Dynamics (co-docenza, 3 CFU di 6), per il corso di Laurea Magistrale in Geoengineering.

A.A. 2023-2024 - oggi. Docente per il Dottorato Internazionale International Doctorate in Civil and Environmental Engineering (INDICEE) dell’Università degli Studi di Firenze – titolarità del modulo “Introduction and fundamentals of wave energy and conversion” della scuola estiva “Hands-on course on experimental and numerical modelling of wave-structure interaction”.

ATTIVITÁ ISTITUZIONALI PRINCIPALI

2024 – oggi: Delegato all’Orientamento e alla Mobilità Internazionale per il corso di laurea magistrale in Ingegneria Magistrale per l’Ambiente e il Territorio dell’Università degli Studi di Firenze.

2024 – oggi: membro della commissione interdipartimentale per l’ammissione al corso di Laurea Magistrale in Geo-engineering per studenti stranieri.

2023 – oggi: Membro della Commissione Internazionalizzazione del DICEA.

2022 e 2024: Membro esperto per l’Esame di Stato per l’abilitazione all’esercizio della professione di ingegnere dell’Università degli Studi di Firenze, per il settore Civile e Ambientale, sotto-settore: Idraulica.

Irene SIMONETTI

Interessi

Idrodinamica offshore e delle zone costiere.

Sviluppo di strutture e dispositivi marittimi green per l’adattamento ai cambiamenti climatici e per lo sfruttamento delle energie rinnovabili marine.

Simulazione numerica dell’interazione onda-struttura con tecniche di fluidodinamica computazionale.

Irene SIMONETTI

Pubblicazioni

Legenda

Contributo su rivista |

Articolo su libro |

Libro |

Contributo in atti di convegno (proceeding) |

Brevetto |

Curatela | Altro

Altro |

Tesi di Dottorato

Stagnitti, M.; Esposito, A.; Simonetti, I.; Foti, E.; Musumeci, R.E.; Cappietti, L. (2026). Wave overtopping of non-conventional rubble-mound breakwaters: Blind comparison between experimental and numerical data. OCEAN ENGINEERING, vol. 359, pp. 0-0, ISSN:0029-8018 DOI

Simonetti, Irene; Cappietti, Lorenzo (2025). Effects of projected wave climate changes on the sizing and performance of OWCs: a focus on the Atlantic North African and European coastal waters. INTERNATIONAL MARINE ENERGY JOURNAL, vol. 8, pp. 177-186, ISSN:2631-5548 DOI

Zannella, Amanda; Simonetti, Irene; Lubello, Claudio; Cappietti, Lorenzo (2025). Hydrodynamics, transport time scales and water temperature dynamics in heavily anthropized eutrophic coastal lagoon. ESTUARINE, COASTAL AND SHELF SCIENCE, vol. 314, pp. 0-15, ISSN:0272-7714 DOI Accesso ONLINE all'editore

Lubello, Claudio; Simonetti, Irene; Cocchi, Giuseppe; Ducci, Iacopo; Salaorni, Tommaso; Cappietti, Lorenzo (2025). Calibration of an ecological model of a eutrophic coastal lagoon and assessment of the effect of management strategies on dissolved oxygen. MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN, vol. 214, pp. 0-17, ISSN:1879-3363 DOI

Crema, Ilaria; Esposito, Andrea; Simonetti, Irene; Cappietti, Lorenzo (2024). Experimental Parametric Study on the Primary Efficiency of a Fixed Bottom-Detached Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Converter in Short-Fetch Sea Conditions. JOURNAL OF MARINE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, vol. 12, pp. 0-31, ISSN:2077-1312 DOI Accesso ONLINE all'editore

Zannella, Amanda; Esposito, Andrea; Simonetti, Irene; Cappietti, Lorenzo (2024). Adaptation of the coastal protection system at Marina di Pisa, to extreme sea conditions: experimental analysis of the submerged breakwater and gravel beach. In: Tenth International Symposium "Monitoring of Mediterranean Coastal Areas: Problems and Measurement Techniques", Livorno, 11-13 June 2024, Edited by Laura Bonora, Marcantonio Catelani, Matteo De Vincenzi, Giorgio Matteucci, pp. 1030-1038, ISBN:9791221505566 DOI Accesso ONLINE all'editore

Simonetti, Irene; Lubello, Claudio; Cappietti, Lorenzo (2024). On the use of hydrodynamic modelling and random forest classifiers for the prediction of hypoxia in coastal lagoons. SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, vol. 951, pp. 0-14, ISSN:0048-9697 DOI

Simonetti, Irene; Cappietti, Lorenzo (2024). Projected Trends in Wave Energy Potentials along the European Coasts and Implications for Wave Energy Exploitation (1976–2100). JOURNAL OF MARINE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, vol. 12, pp. 0-24, ISSN:2077-1312 DOI Accesso ONLINE all'editore

Raghavan, Vaibhav; Simonetti, Irene; Metrikine, Andrei V.; Lavidas, George; Cappietti, Lorenzo (2024). A new numerical modelling framework for fixed oscillating water column wave energy conversion device combining BEM and CFD methods: Validation with experiments. OCEAN ENGINEERING, vol. 301, pp. 0-11, ISSN:0029-8018 DOI Accesso ONLINE all'editore

Simonetti, Irene; Cappietti, Lorenzo (2023). Effects of projected wave climate changes on the sizing and performance of OWCs: a focus on the Mediterranean and Atlantic European coastal waters. In: European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, Bilbao, Spain, Sept. 2023, Editor: Jesús María Blanco Ilzarbe (Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea/Universidad del País Vasco), vol. 15, pp. 0-9. DOI

Irene Simonetti; Lorenzo Cappietti (2023). Mediterranean coastal wave-climate long-term trend in climate change scenarios and effects on the optimal sizing of OWC wave energy converters. COASTAL ENGINEERING, vol. 179, pp. 0-17, ISSN:0378-3839 DOI

Crespo, Alejandro; Tagliafierro, Bonaventura; Martínez-Estévez, Iván; Domínguez, José M.; DeCastro, Maite; Gómez-Gesteira, Moncho; Altomare, Corrado; Brito, Moises; Bernardo, Francisco; Ferreira, Rui M.; Capasso, Salvatore; Viccione, Giacomo; Quartier, Nicolas; Stratigaki, Vasiliki; Troch, Peter; Simonetti, Irene; Cappietti, Lorenzo; Göteman, Malin; Engström, Jens; Clemente, Daniel; Rosa-Santos, Paulo; Taveira-Pinto, Francisco; Bacelli, Giorgio; Coe, Ryan; Fourtakas, Georgios; Rogers, Benedict; Stasnby, Peter (2023). On the state-of-the-art of CFD simulations for wave energy converters within the open-source numerical framework of DualSPHysics. In: European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, Bilbao, Spain, Sept. 2023, Editor: Jesús María Blanco Ilzarbe (Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea/Universidad del País Vasco), vol. 15, pp. 0-9. DOI

Irene Simonetti; Lorenzo Cappietti (2023). Development of a hybrid Oscillating Water Column-Overtopping device: Preliminary results of laboratory tests at scale 1:25 on the O2WC WEC. In: 5th International Conference on Renewable Energies Offshore, Lisbon, Portugal, 8-10 Novembre 2022, Taylor & Francis Group, pp. 0-8, ISBN:9781003360773 Accesso ONLINE all'editore

Raghavan, Vaibhav; Simonetti, Irene; Lavidas, George; Cappietti, Lorenzo (2023). Numerical modelling of a box-type and bottom-detached oscillating water column wave energy conversion device: a comparison with experimental data and between BEM and CFD numerical modelling. In: European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, Bilbao, Spain, Sept. 2023, Editor: Jesús María Blanco Ilzarbe (Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea/Universidad del País Vasco), vol. 15, pp. 0-9. DOI

Simonetti I.; Cappietti L. (2022). Influence of Inlets Morphology and Forcing Mechanisms on Water Exchange between Coastal Basins and the Sea: A Hindcast Study for a Mediterranean Lagoon. JOURNAL OF MARINE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, vol. 10, pp. 0-0, ISSN:2077-1312 DOI

Ciappi L.; Simonetti I.; Bianchini A.; Cappietti L.; Manfrida G. (2022). Application of integrated wave-to-wire modelling for the preliminary design of oscillating water column systems for installations in moderate wave climates. RENEWABLE ENERGY, vol. 194, pp. 232-248, ISSN:0960-1481 DOI

Irene Simonetti, Andrea Esposito, Lorenzo Cappietti (2022). Experimental Proof-of-Concept of a Hybrid Wave Energy Converter Based on Oscillating Water Column and Overtopping Mechanisms. ENERGIES, vol. 15(21), pp. 0-20, ISSN:1996-1073 DOI Accesso ONLINE all'editore

Lorenzo Ciappi, Lapo Cheli, Irene Simonetti, Alessandro Bianchini, Lorenzo Talluri, Lorenzo Cappietti, Giampaolo Manfrida (2022). Wave-to-wire models of Wells and impulse turbines for oscillating water column wave energy converters operating in the Mediterranean Sea. ENERGY, vol. 238, pp. 1-19, ISSN:0360-5442 DOI

Simonetti I.; Cappietti L. (2021). Hydraulic performance of oscillating water column structures as anti-reflection devices to reduce harbour agitation. COASTAL ENGINEERING, vol. 165, pp. 0-17, ISSN:0378-3839 DOI

Lorenzo Ciappi; Irene Simonetti; Alessandro Bianchini; Lorenzo Cappietti; Giampaolo Manfrida (2021). Application of wave-to-wire modelling to optimise oscillating water column wave energy converters for small installations in the Mediterranean Sea. In: Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES), Dubrovnik, Croatia, 10-15 October 2021, Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES), pp. 0-25.

Lorenzo Cappietti, Stefano Solari, Irene Simonetti, Ilaria Crema (2020). Numerical modelling of Orbetello lagoon circulation in the XVIII century. In: International Workshop on Metrology for the Sea, IEEE, pp. 172-178, ISBN:978-929900842-3 Accesso ONLINE all'editore

Kisacik D.; Stratigaki V.; Wu M.; Cappietti L.; Simonetti I.; Troch P.; Crespo A.; Altomare C.; Dominguez J.; Hall M.; Gomez-Gesteira M.; Canelas R.B.; Stansby P. (2020). Efficiency and survivability of a floating oscillating water column wave energy converter moored to the seabed: An overview of the EsflOWC MaRINET2 Database. WATER, vol. 12, pp. 1-21, ISSN:2073-4441 DOI

Stuart Walker; Lorenzo Cappietti; Irene Simonetti; Andrea Esposito (2020). Laboratory scale tests of a floating tidal turbine. In: 4th Conference on Renewable Energies Offshore, Lisbon, Portugal, 12-15 October 2020, Taylor & Francis Group, pp. 582-590, ISBN:978-0-367-68131-9 Accesso ONLINE all'editore

Ciappi, Lorenzo; Cheli, Lapo; Simonetti, Irene; Bianchini, Alessandro; Manfrida, Giampaolo; Cappietti, Lorenzo (2020). Wave-to-Wire Model of an Oscillating-Water-Column Wave Energy Converter and Its Application to Mediterranean Energy Hot-Spots. ENERGIES, vol. 13, pp. 5582-5609, ISSN:1996-1073 DOI Accesso ONLINE all'editore

Cappietti L.; Simonetti I. (2020). Wave-induced water-mass flow across shore-defense detached and emergent rubble-mound breakwaters. JOURNAL OF COASTAL RESEARCH, vol. 95, pp. 197-201, ISSN:0749-0208 DOI

Lorenzo Ciappi, Lapo Cheli, Irene Simonetti, Alessandro Bianchini, Lorenzo Talluri, Lorenzo Cappietti, Giampaolo Manfrida (2020). Analytical Models of Oscillating Water Column Systems Operating with Air Turbines in the Mediterranean Sea. In: Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES), Cologne, Germany, 1-5 September 2020, SDEWES, pp. 1-20.

Lorenzo Cappietti; Ilaria Crema; Irene Simonetti (2019). Assessing water exchange between sea and the Orbetello lagoon (Italy) by field measurements and numerical simulations. In: International Workshop on Metrology for the Sea, Bari, Italy, 2018, IEEE, pp. 55-59, ISBN:978-1-5386-7643-1

Lorenzo Cappietti; Irene Simonetti; Valeri Penchev; Philip Penchev (2019). Laboratory tests on an original wave energy converter combining oscillating water column and overtopping devices. In: Renewable Energies Offshore - RENEW 2018, Lisbon, Portugal, 8-10 October 2018, Taylor & Francis Group, pp. 791-796, ISBN:978-1-138-58535-5 Accesso ONLINE all'editore

Lorenzo Cappietti; Irene Simonetti; Ilaria Crema (2019). Concept design of a Very Large Floating Structure and Laboratory Scale Physical Modelling. In: 38th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering, OMAE2019, Glasgow, SCOTLAND, 09-14 June 2019, ASME, pp. 1-7. DOI Accesso ONLINE all'editore

Cappietti Lorenzo, Simonetti Irene, Crema Ilaria (2019). Laboratory experiments on the performance of an OWC-WEC: fixed condition versus floating platform-embodied condition. In: 13th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, Naples, Italy, 1-6 Sept. 2019, Prof AbuBakr S. Bahaj, pp. 1-7.

Irene Simonetti; Lorenzo Cappietti (2019). The impact of modelling air compressibility in the selection of optimal OWC design parameters in site specific wave conditions. In: International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering, Glasgow, UK, June 9-14, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), pp. 1-10, ISBN:978-079185889-9 DOI

Lorenzo Cappietti, Lorenzo Ciappi, Andrea Esposito, Daniele Fiaschi, Giampaolo Manfrida, Bartłomiej Melka, Marcin Nowak, Irene Simonetti, Michal Stebel, Jacek Smolka, Lorenzo Talluri (2019). Experimental investigation of velocity-augmented barriers for tidal stream turbines. In: Conference on Substainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systerm, SDEWES2019, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 1-6 Oct. 2019, SDEWES2019, pp. 1-14.

Stuart Walker, Lorenzo Cappietti, Irene Simonetti (2019). A laboratory study on the effects of waves on the performance and structural deflection of a tidal stream turbine. In: 13th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, Naples, Italy, 1-6 Sept. 2019, Prof AbuBakr S. Bahaj, pp. 1-8.

Crespo AJC, Domínguez JM, Gómez-Gesteira M, Hall M, Altomare C, Wu M, Verbrugghe T, Stratigaki V, Troch P, Kisacik D, Simonetti I, Cappietti L, Canelas RB, Ferreira RML, Stansby P (2018). Survivability of floating moored offshore structures studied with DualSPHysics. In: 13th SPHERIC International Workshop, Galway, Ireland, 2018, SPHERIC International Workshop, pp. 0-6.

Irene Simonetti; Lorenzo Cappietti (2018). Quantificazione delle perdite di energia utile in dispositivi WEC-OWC. In: Convegno Nazionale di Idraulica e Costruzioni Idrauliche IDRA 2018, Ancona, 2018, Convegno Nazionale di Idraulica e Costruzioni Idrauliche, pp. 0-4, ISBN:9788894379907

Lorenzo Cappietti; Irene SImonetti; Andrea Esposito; Maximilian Streicher; Andreas Kortenhaus (2018). Esperimenti a grande scala su carichi da overtopping d'onda su pareti verticali: spessore e velocità della lama tracimante. In: Congresso Nazionale di Idraulica e Costruzioni Idrauliche, XXXVI Convegno Nazionale di Idraulica e Costruzioni Idrauliche, pp. 0-3, ISBN:9788894379907

Cappietti, Lorenzo; Simonetti, Irene; Esposito, Andrea; Streicher, Maximilian; Kortenhaus, Andreas; Scheres, Babette; Schuettrumpf, Holger; Hirt, Matthias; Hofland, Bas; Chen, Xuexue (2018). Large-scale experiments of wave-overtopping loads on walls: Layer thicknesses and velocities. In: ASME 2018 37th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering, OMAE 2018, Madrid, Spain, 2018, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), vol. 7A, pp. 0-6, ISBN:9780791851265 DOI Accesso ONLINE all'editore

Simonetti, I.*; Cappietti, L.; Oumeraci, H. (2018). An empirical model as a supporting tool to optimize the main design parameters of a stationary oscillating water column wave energy converter. APPLIED ENERGY, vol. 231, pp. 1205-1215, ISSN:0306-2619 DOI Accesso ONLINE all'editore

Irene Simonetti; Lorenzo Cappietti (2018). Evaluation of air compressibility effects on the performance of fixed OWC wave energy converters using CFD modelling. RENEWABLE ENERGY, vol. 119, pp. 741-753, ISSN:0960-1481 DOI Accesso ONLINE all'editore

Lorenzo Cappietti; Irene Simonetti (2018). On the effectiveness of Oscillating Water Column devices in reducing the agitation in front of vertical walls harbour structures. In: International Conference on Coastal Engineering - ICCE 2018, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), pp. 0-1.

Simonetti, Irene; Cappietti, Lorenzo; Elsafti, H.; Oumeraci, H. (2017). Optimization of the geometry and the turbine induced damping for fixed detached and asymmetric OWC devices: A numerical study. ENERGY, vol. 139, pp. 1197-1209, ISSN:0360-5442 DOI Accesso ONLINE all'editore

Simonetti, Irene; Cappietti, Lorenzo (2017). Energy Losses in Oscillating Water Column Devices: A CFD study. In: 8th International Short Course and Conference on Applied Coastal Research (SCACR), Santander, Spain, 3-6 ottobre 2017, Proceedings of the 8th International Short Course and Conference on Applied Coastal Research (SCACR), pp. 0-0.

Irene Simonetti; Lorenzo Cappietti (2017). A CFD Study on the Balance of Energy in a Fixed Bottom-detached Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Converter. In: 12th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, Cork, Ireland, 27 agosto - 1 settembre 2017, European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference 2017, pp. 0-0.

Simonetti, Irene (2016). Optimization of Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Converters - A numerical study. (Tutor: Lorenzo Cappietti, Houcine Oumeraci)

Bigozzi, Lisa; EL BASRI, Emanuele; Iannicello, Francesca; MARSILI LIBELLI, Stefano; Simonetti, Irene (2016). Assessing input-output relations in environemntal data by means of fuzzy clustering and Bayesian inference. In: 8th International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software, Toluose, France, 10-14 July 2016, Sauvage, Sánchez-Pérez, Rizzoli, pp. 583-592, ISBN:9788890357459

Simonetti, Irene; Crema, Ilaria; Cappietti, Lorenzo; Elsafti, Hisham; Oumeraci, Hocine (2016). Site-specific optimization of an OWC wave energy converter in a Mediterranean area. In: 2nd International Conference on Renewable Energies Offshore, Lisbon, Portugal, 24-26 Ottobre 2016, Guedes Soares, pp. 343-350, ISBN:978-1-138-62627-0

Irene, Simonetti; Lorenzo, Cappietti (2016). Ottimizzazione mediante CFD di un dispositivo OWC per il clima ondoso Mediterraneo. In: XXXV Congresso Nazionale di Idraulica e Costruzioni Idrauliche, Bologna, 14-16 Settembre 2016, Castellarin, Attilio ; Archetti, Renata ; Baratti, Emanuele ; Cappelletti, Matteo ; Carisi, Francesca ; Domeneghetti, Alessio ; Gaeta, Maria Gabriella ; Paci, Agnese ; Persiano, Simone ; Pugliese, Alessio ; Samaras, Achilleas G., pp. 257-260, ISBN:9788898010400 DOI Accesso ONLINE all'editore

Simonetti, Irene; Cappietti, Lorenzo; Oumeraci, Hocine (2016). Phenomenon of air compressibility in air-water systems, benchmarking a two-phase numerical model. In: 7th Short Course and Conference on Applied Coastal Research (SCACR), Firenze, Italia, 28 Settembre - 1 Ottobre 2015, EdiBios, pp. 233-239, ISBN:978-88-97181-52-1

Irene Simonetti; Lorenzo Cappietti; Hisham El Safti; Hocine Oumeraci (2015). 3D Numerical Modelling of Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Conversion Devices: Current Knowledge and OpenFOAM® implementation. In: RENEW 2014, Lisbon, 2014, Guedes Soares, pp. 497-504, ISBN:978-113802871-5

Simonetti, Irene; Cappietti, Lorenzo; El Safti, Hisham; Oumeraci, Hocine (2015). Numerical Modelling of Fixed Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Conversion Devices: Toward Geometry Hydraulic Optimization. In: ASME 2015 34th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, May 31–June 5, 2015, ASME, vol. Volume 9: Ocean Renwable Energy, pp. 0-0, ISBN:978-0-7918-5657-4 DOI Accesso ONLINE all'editore

Crema, Ilaria; Simonetti, Irene; Cappietti, Lorenzo; Oumeraci, Hocine. (2015). Laboratory Experiments on Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Converters Integrated in a Very Large Floating Structure. In: European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference, Nantes, France, 6-11th Sept 2015, Alain H. Clément, pp. 0-0.

Simonetti, Irene; Cappietti, Lorenzo; El Safti, Hisham; Manfrida, Giampaolo; Matthies Herman; Oumeraci, Hocine. (2015). THE USE OF OPENFOAM AS A VIRTUAL LABORATORY TO SIMULATE OSCILLATING WATER COLUMN WAVE ENERGY CONVERTERS. In: 6th International Conference on Computational Methods in Marine Engineering, MARINE 2015, Roma, 2015, F. Salvatore, R. Broglia and R. Muscari, pp. 153-164, ISBN:978-84-943928-6-3

Simonetti, Irene; Maltagliati, Silvia; Manfrida, Giampaolo (2015). Air quality impact of a middle size airport within an urban context through EDMS simulation. TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH. PART D, TRANSPORT AND ENVIRONMENT, vol. 40, pp. 144-154, ISSN:1361-9209 DOI

IRENE SIMONETTI; LORENZO CAPPIETTI (2014). Simulazione numerica di un dispositivo Oscillating Water Column per lo struttamento dell'energia delle onde marine. Stato dell'arte e implementazione in ambiente OpenFOAM. In: IDRA14, Bari, 7-10 settembre 2014, Zaccaria Editore, pp. 827-828, ISBN:9788890456183

Simonetti, Irene (2014). Modellistica analitica e numerica di dispositivi del tipo “Oscillating Water Column”, stato dell’arte e prime applicazioni. STUDI COSTIERI, vol. 22, pp. 259-260, ISSN:1129-8588

Dainotto A.; Barni G.; Giaccherini F.; Magnolfi V.; Marsili Libelli S.; Simonetti I. (2012). A multilevel coordinated control strategy for energy conservation in wastewater treatment plants. In: 2nd IFAC Conference on Advances in PID Control - PID 2012, Brescia, 28-30 March 2012, IFAC, pp. 1-6.

Irene SIMONETTI

Biography

Irene Simonetti is currently an assistant professor (Tenure-Track) - RTT at the Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering in Florence.

In November 2016 she was awarded a PhD in "Civil and Environmental Engineering" (joint consortium of universities of Florence - UNIFI, Pisa - UNIPI, Perugia - UNIPG and TU Braunschweigh, Germany) with a thesis entitled "Optimization of Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Convertes – A numerical study" .

Irene SIMONETTI

Curriculum

Since 10/2025: Tenure-Track Researcher (RTT) – CEAR-01/B – Hydraulic and Maritime Constructions and Hydrology

2022–2025: Researcher (RTD, art. 24 c.3-a L. 240/10), scientific disciplinary sector ICAR-02, at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Florence.

2016–2021: Research fellow at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Florence, scientific disciplinary sector ICAR-02, with research topics: “Innovative Structures, Infrastructures and Devices in Maritime and Offshore Engineering” and “Virtual wave flumes using CFD and application to OWC – Oscillating Water Column energy converters.”

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

2016: International PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering (UNIFI, UNIPI, UNIPG, TU Braunschweig)

2012: Master’s degree in environmental and Territorial Engineering (UNIFI)

2009: Bachelor’s degree in environmental and Territorial Engineering (UNIFI)

SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITY

Journal articles and conference proceedings: 53, Total citations: 709 (Scopus), 1013 (Google Scholar), H-index: 14 (Scopus), 16 (Google Scholar)

Research project leadership:

2026–2027: Head of the DICEA (UNIFI) research unit for the project HYDRAS – HYdrodynamic-aware Distributed Robots for mArine Source-seeking, funded by the University of Florence.

Participation in research projects:

2024–2027: Project AMMIRARE – Actions and Methodologies for Improving Coastal Resilience (Interreg MARITTIMO IT-FR). Role: Member of the Steering Committee.

2022–2024: Project TWIN-COASTS – Digital Twins of coastal basins for efficient environmental management (PON Research and Innovation). Role: beneficiary and responsible for numerical modelling.

2018–2023: COST Action WECANET – A pan-European Network for Marine Renewable Energy (Horizon 2020). Role: member of Working Group 2: Experimental hydrodynamic modelling and testing of WECs, WEC arrays/farms, PTO systems, and field testing.

2020–2021: Project AKU-WEC: A step forward in AKU-WEC prototype development (4th call for Transnational Access, EU-H2020 MaRINET2). Role: co-proposer.

2015–2018: Member of the research group for the national projects INNOWAS and INNOWAS – Phase II (INNOvative WAve-maker System) at the University of Florence, funded by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze.

Peer-review activity for scientific journals:

Reviewer for: Scientific Reports (Nature Portfolio) (since 2024), Coastal Engineering (Elsevier) since 2020, Ocean Engineering (Elsevier) since 2017, Renewable Energy (Elsevier) since 2017, International Journal of Marine Energy (Elsevier) since 2017, Energies (MDPI) since 2017, Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (MDPI) since 2018, Processes (MDPI) since 2019, Applied Energy (Elsevier) since 2018, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews (Elsevier) since 2018.

TEACHING ACTIVITY

2025-2026 - present. Lecturer for Water and Energy (co-teaching, 3 ECTS out of 6), Master’s Degree in Environmental and Territorial Engineering.

2025-2026 - present. Lecturer for Laboratory of Sustainable Water Resources Management (co-teaching, 5 ECTS out of 12), Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Engineering.

2021-2022 - present. Lecturer for Coastal Dynamics (co-teaching, 3 ECTS out of 6), Master’s Degree in Geoengineering.

2024-2025 - present. Lecturer in the International Doctorate in Civil and Environmental Engineering (INDICEE), University of Florence – responsible for the module “Introduction and fundamentals of wave energy and conversion” within the summer school “Hands-on course on experimental and numerical modelling of wave-structure interaction”.

MAIN INSTITUTIONAL ACTIVITIES

2024 – present: Delegate for Orientation and International Mobility for the Master’s Degree in Environmental and Territorial Engineering, University of Florence.

2024 – present: Member of the interdepartmental committee for admission to the Master’s Degree in Geo-engineering for international students.

2023 – present: Member of the DICEA Internationalization Committee.

2022 and 2024: Expert member for the State Examination for professional qualification as Engineer at the University of Florence, Civil and Environmental sector, sub-sector: Hydraulics.

Irene SIMONETTI

Interest

Nearshore and Offshore Hydrodynamics. Wave Energy Conversion technologies, focusing on device optimization.

CFD simulation of wave/coastal structure interaction with open source software (e.g. OpenFOAM).

Numerical wave generation and Virtual wave flumes with CFD techniques.