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

Mehran Eskandari Torbaghan

Department of Civil Engineering
Lecturer in Infrastructure Asset Management

Contact details

Telephone
0121 414 2933
Email
m.eskandaritorbaghan@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@MehranEskandari
View my research portal
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

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

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

Sasidharan, M & Eskandari Torbaghan, M 2021, 'Risk-informed sustainable asset management of railway tracks', Infrastructure Asset Management, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 25-35. https://doi.org/10.1680/jinam.20.00018

Sasidharan, M, Singh, A, Eskandari Torbaghan, M & Parlikad, AK 2020, 'A vulnerability-based approach to human-mobility reduction for countering COVID-19 transmission in London while considering local air quality', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 741, no. 2020, 140515. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140515

Eskandari Torbaghan, M, Kaddouh, B, Abdellatif, M, Metje, N, Liu, J, Jackson, R, Rogers, C, Chapman, D, Fuentes, R, Miodownik, M, Richardson, R & Purnell, P 2020, 'Application of Robotic and Autonomous Systems for Road Defect Detection and Repair - A Position Paper on Future Road Asset Management', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Smart Infrastructure and Construction. https://doi.org/10.1680/jsmic.19.00008

Eskandari Torbaghan, M, Li, W, Metje, N, Burrow, M, Chapman, D & Rogers, C 2020, 'Automated detection of cracks in roads using ground penetrating radar', Journal of Applied Geophysics, vol. 179, 104118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jappgeo.2020.104118

Moghareh Abed, T, Eskandari Torbaghan, M, Hojjati, A, Rogers, CDF & Chapman, DN 2020, 'Experimental investigation into the effects of cast-iron pipe corrosion on GPR detection performance in clay soils', Pipeline System Engineering and Practice, vol. 11, no. 4, 04020040. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)PS.1949-1204.0000491

Eskandari Torbaghan, M, Curioni, G, Hayati, F, Royal, A, Chapman, D, Atkins, P & Rogers, C 2020, 'Investigating the relationship between trenching practice and road deterioration using a field trial', Infrastructure Asset Management. https://doi.org/10.1680/jinam.19.00052

Paper

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.

Rogers, C, Chapman, D, Metje, N & Eskandari Torbaghan, M 2019, 'Assessing the underworld - A three-infrastructure approach to remote sensing', Paper presented at 37th International NO-DIG Conference and Exhibition 2019, Florence, Italy, 30/09/19 - 2/10/19.

View all publications in research portal