PSI - Issue 78

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

ScienceDirect

Procedia Structural Integrity 78 (2026) 1807–1814

XX ANIDIS Conference Structural Engineering Solutions for the DarkSide-20k Experiment: Design, Modelling and On-Site Implementation Michele Angiolilli a,b, ∗ , Marco Carlini b , Andrea Ianni c , Marzio Nessi d , Roberto Tartaglia b , Andrea Zani e

a Gran Sasso Science Institute, Viale Francesco Crispi 7, L’Aquila 67100, Italy b INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Via G. Acitelli 22, L’Aquila 67100, Italy c Princeton University, Princeton, Washington Road, NJ 08544, U.S.A. d Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Roma 00186, Italy e INFN-Milano, Via Celoria 16, Milano 20133, Italy

© 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of XX ANIDIS Conference organizers Keywords: Mechanics; Large-scale experiment, Nonlinear Analyses, Finite Element Model, Installation and Integration, Detector, Cryostat Abstract In recent decades, the field of fundamental physics has witnessed a significant shift toward large-scale, highly engineered exper imental setups. The increasing sensitivity required to probe rare events—such as dark matter interactions—has driven the design and construction of detectors with unprecedented volumes, often involving hundreds of tons of cryogenic liquids and massive in frastructures. This trend reflects not only the evolving scientific goals but also the indispensable role of advanced structural, and thermo-mechanical engineering in supporting these ambitious experiments. At sites like the Gran Sasso Laboratory — situated in a region with significant seismogenic potential - seismic resilience becomes a fundamental requirement. The DarkSide program, with its transition from DarkSide-50 to the thousand-fold larger DarkSide-20k, exemplifies the close interplay between funda mental physics objectives and advanced engineering. Its detector, housed within meticulously designed cryostats and supported by complex infrastructures, stands as a benchmark for how modern physics experiments rely on engineering to probe the deepest questions of the Universe. This paper details the structural engineering solutions developed for DarkSide-20k, covering the design strategies, advanced numerical modelling, and on-site implementation supporting the experimental infrastructure.

1. Project Framework and Research Aims

The DarkSide-20k (DS-20k) experiment, currently under construction at the INFN Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS), is a pioneering initiative in the search for dark matter using a dual-phase Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LAr-TPC). While the physics goals of the experiment are ambitious, the realization of DS-20k poses equally

∗ Corresponding author on behalf of the DarkSide-20k Collaboration. E-mail address: michele.angiolilli@gssi.it;ds-ed@lists.infn.it

2452-3216 © 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of XX ANIDIS Conference organizers 10.1016/j.prostr.2025.12.230