Dr Abolfazl Zahedi

Background

Dr Abolfazl Zahedi holds PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Loughborough University (2013). During his doctoral research, he developed a crystal plasticity model to characterise the anisotropic deformation and damage behaviour of single crystals under excessive deformation. Following the completion of his PhD, he awarded a Marie Curie Research Fellowship, securing funding for a year to extend his collaboration with the Mechanics of Advanced Materials Research Group at Loughborough University. Subsequently, he joined the Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) at the University of Strathclyde (2014), managing industrial projects in Advanced Manufacturing disciplines and leading the forming modelling and simulation group. 

In 2015, he started his position as a research fellow at the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering (MACE) at the University of Manchester. Here, he developed a discrete energy approach to understand the fracture behaviour of elastic-brittle polymers. His computational code has been integrated into the Code-aster FE software for public use.  

Dr Zahedi appointed a Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at De Montfort University in 2018, during which time he served as the Research Lead of the Mechanical and Aeronautical Subject Group. 

In 2023 he returned to Loughborough University as a Lecturer in Mechanics of Advanced Materials.  

Dr Zahedi is recognized as a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and serves as an EPSRC peer review college

Key awards

• Nominated for Vice-Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award, De Montfort University, April 2023 
• Future Leadership Programme award, De Montfort University, May 2022 
• Most Impactful Publication Prize in the Engineering School, De Montfort University, January 2019 
• Best PhD Student Prize in the Mechanics of Advanced Materials Research Group, Loughborough University, 2013 
• Fully Funded PhD Studentship for Doctoral Study at Loughborough University, 2010 
• Appreciation Prize from the Iranian Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, October 2010 
• Innovation Prize from Iran Tractor Industrial Group, August 2008 
• Best MSc Student Prize from Mazandaran University, ranked 1st among 30 MSc Students, 2008 

Dr Abolfazl Zahedi's research vision is driven by the requirements of the automotive, aerospace, and biomedical industries. This vision aims to advance the engineering science of structural integrity, enabling the prediction of complex in-service performances of advanced materials and components under real-world conditions and validation by experimental study. This involves fundamental research on a range of topics in solid mechanics such as crystal plasticity, creep deformation, damage, crack initiation and growth, low-cycle fatigue, weld simulations, machining, prediction and measurement of residual stresses and failure analyses in metallic and non-metallic materials. Dr Zahedi is interested to use applied mechanics to solve engineering problems, in particular, computational mechanics to facilitate design and manufacturing. His core knowledge is in the following areas: 

• Musculoskeletal modelling of human movement; bone, and soft-tissue deformation 
• Multiscale modelling and simulation of complex systems  
• Impact and dynamic loading analysis 
• Composite materials and structures 
• Simulation of AM processes, lattice structures and architected materials 
• Digital Twin; Represent physical object, process, or service with numerical understanding. 

Grants and contracts

• PI., 18 Months Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) (£146,270) Design and fabrication of custom-fit orthotics, 2023-2025 
• PI., Innovate UK Accelerated Knowledge Transfer (AKT) (£37,077) Thermal Analysis of Vacuum Furnace, 2022-23  
• Co-I., European Parliament consultancy project (€610,560) Smart building: design, modelling, and operation, 2022-24  
• PI., British Council Newton Fund (£1,500) Travel grant to attend UK-INDIA interdisciplinary workshop on advanced biomaterials and biosensors, November 2018  
• PI., Higher Education Innovation Fund (£10,000) Design and fabrication of custom-fit lattice splints, 2019- 2020.  
• PI., Higher Education Innovation Fund (£15,000) Fabricate component from upcycled material, 2018-2019  

Current teaching responsibilities 

• WSB302 -Engineering computation for sport 
• WSA701 - Mechanical Design for Sport (ML)  
• WSB500 - Industrial-Based Project 
• WSA102 - Engineering Science 1