Dr Sakdirat Kaewunruen CPEng, NPER, RPEQ

Dr Sakdirat Kaewunruen

Department of Civil Engineering
Senior Lecturer in Railway and Civil Engineering
Coordinator, RISEN (www.risen2rail.eu)

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0) 121 414 2670
Fax
+44 (0) 121 414 3675
Email
s.kaewunruen@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@sakdirat
View my research portal
Address
School of Civil Engineering
Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education
Gisbert Kapp Building
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Sakdirat Kaewunruen is a positive, self-motivated technical manager and specialist with extensive experience across civil, transport and rail industry in public and private sectors. He has extensive expertise in transport infrastructure engineering and management, successfully dealing with all stages of infrastructure life cycle and assuring safety, reliability, resilience and sustainability of rail infrastructure systems.

He has outstanding skills in business management and continuous improvement of customer experience, he held visiting appointments at various institutions, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Chalmers University of Technology’s Railway Mechanics Centre in Gothenburg Sweden, The University of Tokyo, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and Railway Technical Research Institute in Tokyo Japan.

He has over 300 technical publications and evidence-based consultancy reports, and has served on the editorial boards of many international journals, including Structural Monitoring and Maintenance, Shock and Vibration, Journal of Structures, and International Conferences of Railway Technology and Rail Transportation.

Dr Sakdirat Kaewunruen has extensive industry experience in the field of structural, civil and track engineering both in industry and in academia. With over 14 years in rail industry and regulatory environments prior to joining academia, he has wide variety of specialisations, including rail engineering, track design, track components, structural and geotechnical engineering, maintenance and construction.

He is a Chartered Engineering in both Civil and Structural Colleges, and has research and practical experience internationally in railway systems and infrastructure engineering. His professional work had involved many industry projects worth over £5billions and has supervised/participated in railway research projects worth over £8milions (in Australia, UK, Japan, USA, Sweden, China, Malaysia and Thailand).

His industry and research work has won him numerous international and domestic awards. A few recent awards include Stephenson’s Best Paper Award (2017), Institute of Structural Engineers Midlands’ Research Award (2016), and Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences Long-term Fellowship (2015-2016).

He has membership in EU-Cost Actions: TU1404 (Towards the next generation of standards for service life of cement-based materials and structures), CA15125 (Designs for noise reducing materials and structures), CA15202 (Self-healing as preventive repair of concrete structures) and TU1409 (Mathematics for Industry Network).

Dr Kaewunruen is a member of ISO and BSI standard committees for railway sleepers (using concrete, plastic and composite materials) and recycling of rolling stocks. He successfully coordinates EU-funded RISEN and is a CI of S-CODE. He is also a committee member of Concrete Society Midlands and is Chief Editor of Frontiers in Transportation and Transit Systems.

His current research focuses cover a wide range of civil and railway engineering, including:

  • Civil and rail infrastructure
  • Lifecycle assessment and sustainability
  • Train/track interface and interaction
  • Structural dynamics realiability and resilience
  • Shock/blast and impact
  • Railway and transportation systems
  • Risks economics, strategy, systems and urbanisation

Qualifications

  • Emerging Leader Program, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
  • Ph.D. Civil Engineering (Structures / Railway Infrastructure), University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia
  • MBA (Executive), 2011 – date, Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM), Australia
  • G.Cert. in Business (Distinction), University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia
  • Cert. (Sustainable Urban Development) International Center for Land Policy Studies and Training, Taiwan, Republic of China
  • M.Eng. Civil Engineering (Offshore structures), King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok, Thailand.
  • B.Eng. (Hons), Civil Engineering, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand
  • Cooperative Education, Central Queensland University, QLD, Australia
  • Chartered Professional Engineer, Civil and Structural Colleges, Engineers Australia
  • RPEQ, Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland, Australia
  • Licensed Civil Engineer, Engineering Council of Thailand

Teaching

Teaching Programmes

  • BEng/MEng Civil and Railway Engineering
    • Module Leader for Railway Infrastructure Engineering
    • Module Leader for Structural Engineering 3
  • MSc in Railway Systems Engineering and Integration (Infrastructure Module)
  • MSc in Structural Engineering and Practice
  • Civil Engineering research projects
  • Management research projects
  • Integrated design projects

Postgraduate supervision

Zac is interested in supervising doctoral researchers in the following areas:

design, construction, inspection, operation and maintenance of civil and rail infrastructure system
train/track interface and interaction
railway and permanent way engineering; structural dynamics, reliability and resilience
shock/blast and impact
transportation systems
risks, economics, strategy, systems and urbanisation

Background:
A positive and self-motivated technical manager and specialist with extensive experience across civil, transport, and rail industry in public and private sectors. Expertise in transport infrastructure engineering and management, successfully dealing with all stages of infrastructure life cycle and assuring safety, reliability, resilience and sustainability of rail infrastructure systems. Highly skills in business management and continuous improvement of customer experience. Zac is a chartered engineer, has over 260 technical publications and held a visiting position in various institutions including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, University of Tokyo, and Railway Technical Research Institute.

Dr Kaewunruen has extensive experience in the field of structural, civil and railway track engineering both in industry and in academia. With over decades in industry and regulatory environments, he has wide variety of specialisations, including rail engineering, track engineering, track components, structural and geotechnical engineering, maintenance and construction. He has research and practical experience internationally in railway systems and infrastructure engineering. His work has involved many industry projects worth over £5b and supervised/participated in railway research projects worth over £8m (in Australia, UK, Japan, USA, Sweden, China, Malaysia and Thailand). He published significantly in this field in terms of both academic work and evidenced-based governmental/authoritative technical reports. He has membership in EU-Cost Actions: TU1404 (Towards the next generation of standards for service life of cement-based materials and structures), CA15125 (Designs for noise reducing materials and structures), CA15202 (Self-healing as preventive repair of concrete structures) and TU1409 (Mathematics for Industry Network). Zac is a member of ISO and BSI standard committees for railway sleepers and recycling of rolling stocks. He successfully coordinates EU-funded RISEN (www.risen2rail.eu). He is also a committee member of Concrete Society West Midlands and is Chief Editor of Frontiers in Transportation and Transit Systems.

http://loop.frontiersin.org/people/157523

Other activities

  • External Examiner (PhD/MRes): The University of Sheffield, UK; Queensland University of Technology, Australia; Central Queensland University, Australia.
  • Editor Board Member of Structural Monitoring and Maintenance, Shock and Vibration, Journal of Structures, Scientific World Journal, and International Conference of Railway Technology.
  • Lead Guest Editor for Special Issue on Safety, reliability, risks and uncertainties in railway and transport systems, The Scientific World Journal (2014)
  • Session Chair, World Congress on Rail Research, Sydney Australia
  • International Expert Assessor & Rapporteur, Romania National Research Council’s Engineering Panel, Romania
  • Expert Grant Assessor, European Cooperation in Science and Technology (EU-Cost Action).
  • Member of EU-Cost Actions: TU1404 (TOWARDS THE NEXT GENERATION OF STANDARDS FOR SERVICE LIFE OF CEMENT-BASED MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES) and TU1409 (Mathematics for Industry Network).
  • Committee Member, Concrete Society West Midlands, the UK (2015-present).
  • Member, Industrial Advisory Committee for QUT Master of Rail Infrastructure Engineering Program, School of Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
  • Member, Organising Committee for Mentoring Program, Centre for Engineering Management and Leaderships (CELM), Sydney, Australia
  • Deputy Chair and Member, External Industrial Advisory Committee, School of Engineering, University of Western Sydney, Australia (2009-2012)
  • Guest Lecturer, Rail Design and Construction, School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Australia (September 2010)
  • Guest Lecturer, Rail Civil Engineering Course, RailCorp, Sydney, Australia
  • Interviewer, Interview and Evaluation Panel for Chartered Professional Engineer Status in Civil and Structural Disciplines, Engineers Australia, Sydney
  • Reviewer and assessor for International Journal of Experimental Mechanics; Journal of Sound and Vibration; Engineering Structures; ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering; ASCE Journal of Transportation Engineering; Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers: Part B: Eng Manufacture; Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers: Part C: Mechanical Science Eng; Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers: Part F: Rail and Rapid Transit; Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Civil Engineering; Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Structures and Building; Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Transport; Journal of Zhejiang University Part A Science and Engineering; IES Journal Part A: Civil and Structural Engineering; Engineers Australia’s Transport Engineering in Australia Journal; Engineers Australia’s Australian Journal of Mechanical Engineering; World Journal of Applied Mechanics; Transportation Geomechanics; Materials; PCI Journals, Prestressed Concrete Institute; Proceedings of 20th Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials; Proceedings of 2012 Conference on Railway Engineering; World University Ranking 2008/09/10, Times Higher Education Supplement.

 

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Kaewunruen, S, Ngamkhanong, C & Ng, J 2019, 'Influence of time-dependent material degradation on life cycle serviceability of interspersed railway tracks due to moving train loads', Engineering Structures, vol. 199, 109625. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2019.109625

Heng, J, Zheng, K, Kaewunruen, S, Zhu, J & Baniotopoulos, C 2019, 'Dynamic Bayesian network-based system-level evaluation on fatigue reliability of orthotropic steel decks', Engineering Failure Analysis, vol. 105, pp. 1212-1228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2019.06.092

You, R & Kaewunruen, S 2019, 'Evaluation of remaining fatigue life of concrete sleeper based on field loading conditions', Engineering Failure Analysis, vol. 105, pp. 70-86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2019.06.086

Janeliukstis, R, Rucevskis, S & Kaewunruen, S 2019, 'Mode shape curvature squares method for crack detection in railway prestressed concrete sleepers', Engineering Failure Analysis, vol. 105, pp. 386-401. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2019.07.020

Hamarat, M, Kaewunruen, S, Papaelias, M & Silvast, M 2019, 'New insights from multibody dynamic analyses of a turnout system under impact loads', Applied Sciences (Switzerland), vol. 9, no. 19, 4080. https://doi.org/10.3390/app9194080

Dindar, S, Kaewunruen, S & An, M 2019, 'Rail accident analysis using large-scale investigations of train derailments on switches and crossings: comparing the performances of a novel stochastic mathematical prediction and various assumptions', Engineering Failure Analysis, vol. 103, pp. 203-216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2019.04.010

Xu, M, Zhu, J, Heng, J & Kaewunruen, S 2019, 'Fatigue assessment on suspenders under stochastic wind and traffic loads based on in-situ monitoring data', Applied Sciences (Switzerland), vol. 9, no. 16, 3405. https://doi.org/10.3390/app9163405

Shao, J-H, Wang, K, Kaewunruen, S, Cai, W & Wang, Z 2019, 'Experimental investigations into earthquake resistance of steel frame retrofitted by low-yield-point steel energy absorbers', Applied Sciences (Switzerland), vol. 9, no. 16, 3299. https://doi.org/10.3390/app9163299

Book/Film/Article review

Kaewunruen, S 2019, '“Ballast Railroad Design: SMART-UOW Approach” by Buddhima Indraratna and Trung Ngo CRC Press ISBN 9781138587038)', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Transport. https://doi.org/10.1680/jtran.19.00075

Conference contribution

Kaewunruen, S, Sengsri, P & Oliveira De Melo, A 2019, Experimental and numerical investigations of flexural behaviour of composite bearers in railway switches and crossings. in GeoMEast 2019. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34187-9_8

Ngamkhanong, C, Kaewunruen, S, Calçada, R & Martin, R 2019, Failure of Overhead Line Equipment (OHLE) Structure under Hurricane. in GeoMEast 2019. Springer, pp. 54-63. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34252-4_6

Kaewunruen, S, Aikawa, A & Remennikov, A 2019, The importance of ‘dynamics’ in the design and performance-based testing criteria for railway track components. in International Workshop on Plasticity, Damage and Fracture of Engineering Materials. Elsevier, 1st International Workshop on Plasticity, Damage and Fracture of Engineering Materials, Ankara, Turkey, 22/08/19.

Rungskunroch, P, Kaewunruen, S & Shen, Z-J 2019, The connectivity of modern transportation and logistics for sustainable development in Thailand. in The Association of Thai Professionals in European Region - Annual Conference: ATPER2019 . The Association of Thai Professionals in European Region, ATPER2019 Conference, Düsseldorf, Germany, 3/08/19.

Kaewunruen, S 2019, Keynote lecture: new practical insights towards resilient and sustainable highspeed rail infrastructures. in International Conference on Geotechnics for High Speed Corridors. Springer, International Conference on Geotechnics for High Speed Corridors, Kerala, India, 24/07/19.

Ngamkhanong, C, Kaewunruen, S & Baniotopoulos, C 2019, Cascading effects on Overhead Line Equipment (OHLE) of extreme wind and flood events. in Dealing with Disasters, GCRF, UK Alliance for Disaster Research, Disasters Research Group and UK Collaborative for Development Research: DwD-UKADR-DRG-UKCDR, International Conference, 2019. Northumbria University, pp. 17-17, DwD-UKADR-DRG-UKCDR, International Conference 2019 , Newcastle, United Kingdom, 17/07/19.

View all publications in research portal