Dimitrios Lignos

Full Professor
+41 21 693 24 27
EPFL
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ENAC
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ENAC-SGC
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SGC-ENS
EPFL ENAC IIC RESSLAB
GC B3 485 (Bâtiment GC)
Station 18
1015 Lausanne
Web site: Web site: https://resslab.epfl.ch/
+41 21 693 24 27
EPFL
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ENAC
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ENAC-DEC
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ENAC-DIR
Web site: Web site: https://www.epfl.ch/schools/enac/about/organization/
Fields of expertise
-Multi-scale Experimental Testing
-Nonlinear Analysis with Emphasis on Deterioration Phenomena
-Seismic Design & Assessment of Steel and Composite-steel Concrete Structures
-Assessment and Retrofitting of Existing Structures
Biography
Dimitrios Lignos is a Full Professor and Department Chair of the Civil Engineering Institute (IIC Director) at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). He joined EPFL in 2016 from McGill University, Canada, where he was a tenured Associate Professor. Prior to that he was a postdoctoral researcher at Kyoto University (2010) and Stanford University (2009). He holds degrees in Structural Engineering (Stanford University, M.S. 2004, Ph.D. 2008) and Civil Engineering (NTU, Athens, 5-year Diploma 2003). Prof. Lignos’s research focuses on the fundamental understanding of extreme limit states such as structural collapse. The research combines physical experimentation across scales, data-driven techniques along with the development of physics-based and engineering-oriented models for nonlinear finite element analysis to exploit and implement new design paradigms in seismic design. His awards include the 2025 Special Achievement Award by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), the 2022 Raymond Reese Research Prize and the 2019 Walter L. Huber Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) among others. As a member of the Project Team 2, he wrote the new chapters on the steel and composite steel concrete structures in the second generation of Eurocode 8 Parts 1-1 and 1-2 and the new Clause 9 of Eurocode 8 Part 3 for the seismic assessment of existing steel structures. Prof. Lignos is a member of the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) S16 technical committee for Steel Structures and SIA-263 in Switzerland. Since 2025 he serves as an Editor in Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, the journal of the International Association for Earthquake Engineering.Current work
Structural stability of steel and composite-steel concrete structuresComputational mechanics-based simulation
Inverse plasticity problems
Seismic design for deconstruction
Low-damage structural systems
Seismic risk assessment
Education
Post-Doctorate
Seismic Assessment of Existing Tall Structures under Long-Duration Ground Motions, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Scholar
Kyoto University
09/2009 - 08/2010
Post-Doctorate
Seismic Retrofit of Existing Steel Structures with Innovative Materials
Stanford University
09/2008 - 09/2009
Ph.D.
Sidesway Collapse of Deteriorating Structural Systems under Seismic Excitations
Stanford University
09/2004 - 09/2008
Master or Science
Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering, Program: Structural Engineering and Geomechanics
Stanford University
09/2003 - 06/2004
Diploma
Civil Engineering/Structural Engineering, Diploma Thesis: Evaluation of Nonlinear Analysis Methods for Seismic Assessment of Steel Structures
National Technical University of Athens (NTUA)
10/1998 - 06/2003
Awards
2025 : Special Achievement Award : American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC)
2022 : Raymond C. Reese Research Prize : American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
2019 : Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize : American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
2011 : Outstanding Teaching Award : McGill University, Faculty of Engineering
2013 : State-of-the-Art in Civil Engineering Award : ASCE
2014 : Christophe Pierre Award for Research Excellence - Early Career : McGill University, Montreal, CanadaThe Christophe Pierre Award for Research Excellence recognizes excellence in research by academic staff in the Faculty of Engineering.
Publications
Infoscience publications
Research
Research
My work integrates simulation-based engineering science and the use of experimental methods for the risk and life-cycle cost quantification of steel and composite-steel concrete structures under multi-hazards. Recent work focuses on construction materials and protective systems for multi-hazard risk mitigation, and the development of reduced-order model techniques along with open access tools for elucidating the influence of deteriorating mechanisms on the structural performance of structures with emphasis on seismic loading. Check periodically our resslab-hub.epfl.ch website for recent developments on structural performance databases and integrated numerical models.Teaching & PhD
Teaching
Civil Engineering