Dr Mehran Eskandari Torbaghan BSc, PGCert, MSc PhD, FHEA, MCIHT

Mehran Eskandari Torbaghan

Department of Civil Engineering
Lecturer in Infrastructure Asset Management

Contact details

Address
Department of Civil Engineering
The University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT

Dr Mehran Eskandari Torbaghan is a lecturer in Infrastructure Asset Management at the Department of Civil Engineering with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) focused in risk management and linear infrastructure systems from University of Birmingham.

Mehran spent five years in the civil engineering industry, as a geotechnical engineer, before returning to academia to study a Master in Construction Management and then the PhD both at the University of Birmingham.

He then worked as a research fellow at the University of Birmingham for around five years, before becoming a lecturer. He was also a visiting research fellow at the University of Nottingham.

Mehran has been engaged in supervising a number of PhD students. His research portfolio and interest lie in the field of smart management of infrastructure systems, investigating the application of robotics and autonomous systems for condition monitoring and repair of urban infrastructure.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Risk Based Approach for Importing Renewable Electricity, University of Birmingham, 2016
  • Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE), University of Birmingham, Fellowship of Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
  • MSc (Distinction) in Construction Management, University of Birmingham, 2011
  • BSc in Civil Engineering, Uromieh University, Iran, 2005

Biography

Dr Mehran Eskandari Torbaghan qualified with a BSc in Civil Engineering, from Uromieh University in Iran. He then joined construction industry and worked as a geotechnical engineer for nearly five years. Mehran studied a master's in Construction Management, at the University of Birmingham, graduated with a Distinction. He went on to study for a PhD in Risk Management and Renewable Energy, at the University of Birmingham.

Since his PhD graduation, he was engaged in numbers of research projects on road managing and railway engineering. He was also involved in different teaching activities, including MSc Road Management Programme. His role as a research fellow was started with Assessing the Underworld Project looking into interaction of buried utilities and roads, before moving to Self-Repairing Cities project where he investigated the applications of robots and drones in monitoring and repairing city infrastructure. The last research project that Mehran was involved in as a research fellow was the Climate resilient sustainable road pavement surfacings (CRISPS) project. As part of the CRISPS project, he was demonstrating the technical and economic suitability of three global best-practice road-surfacing technologies for the range of traffic and environmental conditions of high volume roads.

Teaching

Dr Eskandari Torbaghan primary teaching interests are in the infrastructure asset management (MSc and MEng), along with rural roads and road design and planning (MSc), and Geotechnical Engineering principles (BEng and MEng).

Postgraduate supervision

Digital twins for Roads
Automated condition assessment of infrastructure systems, e.g. pavement
Risk Assessment and Drainage Systems
Risk Assessment and Railway Engineering, Fault-Tree Analysis and Monte Carlo Simulation
Risk Assessment and Urban Transport

Research

Mehran principal research interest lies in the field of smart management of infrastructure systems, investigating the application of robotics and autonomous systems for condition monitoring and repair of urban infrastructure.

His vision is to explore the application of automation techniques including Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning approaches to inform decision-making in infrastructure asset management, including those related to roads, maintenance type and timing as part of achieving a proactive asset management approach.

Other activities

  • Member of the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT)
  • Fellow in Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
  • Special Issue Editor of MDPI Sustainability Journal

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Li, Z, Miao, Y, Eskandari Torbaghan, M, Zhang, H & Zhang, J 2024, 'Semi-automatic crack width measurement using an OrthoBoundary algorithm', Automation in Construction, vol. 158, 105251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2023.105251

Du, H, Wei, L, Dimitrova, V, Magee, D, Clarke, B, Collins, R, Entwisle, D, Eskandari Torbaghan, M, Curioni, G, Stirling, R, Reeves, HJ & Cohn, AG 2023, 'City infrastructure ontologies', Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, vol. 104, 101991. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2023.101991

Sasidharan, M, Eskandari Torbaghan, M, Fathy, Y, Rogers, C, Metje, N & Schooling, J 2023, 'Designing user-centric transport strategies for urban road space redistribution', Communications in Transportation Research, vol. 3, 100109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.commtr.2023.100109

Ngezahayo, E, Eskandari Torbaghan, M, Metje, N, Burrow, M, Ghataora, G & Desalegn, Y 2023, 'Investigating the Effectiveness of Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) as an Antifraud Approach for Modified Epoxy Asphalt Mixes in Developing Countries', Sustainability (Switzerland), vol. 15, no. 23, 16332. https://doi.org/10.3390/su152316332

Liang , PKP, Burrow, M, Sasidharan, M, Eskandari Torbaghan, M & Ghataora, G 2022, 'A rational framework for post-flood road network condition recovery', Infrastructure Asset Management. https://doi.org/10.1680/jinam.21.00027

Aljafari, N, Burrow, M, Ghataora, G, Eskandari Torbaghan, M & Raja, J 2022, 'Condition modelling of railway drainage pipes', Journal of Infrastructure Systems, vol. 28, no. 4, 04022031. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)IS.1943-555X.0000708

Chen, K, Eskandari Torbaghan, M, Chu, M, Zhang, L & Garcia-Hernández, A 2022, 'Identifying the most suitable machine learning approach for a road digital twin: a systematic literature review', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Smart Infrastructure and Construction, vol. 174, no. 3, pp. 88-101. https://doi.org/10.1680/jsmic.22.00003

Guenat, S, Purnell, P, Davies, ZG, Nawrath, M, Stringer, L, Babu, G, Balasubramanian, M, Ballantyne, EEF, Bylappa, BK, Chen, B, De Jager, P, Del Prete, A, Di Nuovo, A, EhiEromosele, CO, Eskandari Torbaghan, M, Evans, KL, Fraundorfer, M, Haouas, W, Izunobi, J, Jauregui-Correa, JC, Kaddouh, B, Lewycka, S, MacIntosh, AC, Mady, C, Maple, C, Mhiret, WN, Mohammed-Amin, RK, Olawole, OC, Oluseyi, T, Orfila, C, Ossola, A, Pfeifer, M, Pridmore, TP, Rijal, ML, Rega-Brodsky, CC, Robertson, ID, Rogers, C, Rougé, C, Rumaney, MB, Seeletso, MK, Shaqura, MZ, Suresh, LM, Sweeting, MN, Buck, NT, Ukwuru, MU, Verbeek, T, Voss, H, Wadud, Z, Wang, X, Winn, N & Dallimer, M 2022, 'Meeting sustainable development goals via robotics and autonomous systems', Nature Communications, vol. 13, no. 1, 3559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31150-5

Eskandari Torbaghan, M, Sasidharan, M, Jefferson, I & Watkins, J 2022, 'Preparing students for a digitised future', IEEE Transactions on Education, vol. 2022, pp. 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1109/TE.2022.3174263

Eskandari Torbaghan, M, Sasidharan, M, Reardon, L & Leila, M 2022, 'Understanding the potential of emerging digital technologies for improving road safety', Accident Analysis & Prevention, vol. 166, 106543. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2021.106543

Conference contribution

Hojjati, A, Movahedifar, R & Eskandari Torbaghan, M 2024, Application of Machine Learning within an Asset Management Framework for Realizing the Impact of Trenching in Urban Environments. in TM Evans, N Stark & S Chang (eds), Geo Congress 2024: Geotechnical Data Analysis and Computation. Geo-Congress 2024, no. 352, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), pp. 464-474, Proceedings of Geo-Congress 2024: Geotechnical Data Analysis and Computation, Vancouver, Canada, 25/02/24. <https://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/9780784485347.047>

Corker, J, Remenyte-Prescott, R, Torbaghan, ME & Ninic, J 2023, A GIS based approach for predicting pavement deterioration on the UK road network. in Proceedings of the 12th IMA International Conference on Modelling in Industrial Maintenance and Reliability., 5, Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, 12th IMA International Conference on Modelling in Industrial Maintenance and Reliability (MIMAR), Nottingham, United Kingdom, 4/07/23. https://doi.org/10.19124/ima.2023.01.5

Literature review

Tanzadeh, R, Eskandari Torbaghan, M, Venetsaneas, N & Moghadas Nejad, F 2024, 'Harvesting electricity from road traffic noise energy, a literature review', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Transport. https://doi.org/10.1680/jtran.23.00057

Paper

Ngezahayo, E, Eskandari Torbaghan, M, Luiu, C, Avis, W & Obuolloh, OE 2023, 'Assessing social equity and accessibility of transport systems for people with disability in Kenya', Paper presented at XXVII World Road Congress - PIARC, Prague, Czech Republic, 2/10/23 - 6/10/23.

Awuah, F, Hernandez, A, Ghiassi, B, Li, Y, Eskandari Torbaghan, M, Jackson, R & Miodownik, M 2022, 'Feasibility of 3D printing to fill in-situ cracks in asphalt concretes', Paper presented at 101st TRB Annual Meeting, Washington, United States, 9/01/22 - 13/01/22.

View all publications in research portal