Dr Behzad Nematollahi

Department of Civil and Structural Engineering

Lecturer in Concrete Technology

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b.nematollahi@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 5064

Full contact details

Dr Behzad Nematollahi
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering
Room F118
Sir Frederick Mappin Building (Broad Lane Building)
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
Profile

My research focuses on enabling ‘free-form’ construction of structures with complex geometries and enhancing resilience and sustainability of our infrastructure under natural disasters.

Dr Behzad Nematollahi


Behzad joined the Department in January 2022. Previously, he was a Lecturer and Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow in Australia. He has a PhD in Civil Engineering specialized in concrete technology and sustainable construction materials from Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, and an MSc in Structural Engineering from University Putra Malaysia. Further, he has about 4 years of industry experience as a Civil/Structural Engineer and Construction Supervisor.

Behzad received his DECRA Fellowship in 2018 focusing on development of 3D-printable high-performance fibre-reinforced low carbon concretes. DECRA is a highly prestigious Fellowship funded by the Australian Research Council with a success rate of 16%.

Behzad has 13 years of research experience in 3D concrete printing, low-carbon concrete, geopolymer concrete, ultra-high performance concrete, and strain-hardening cementitious composites. He has also 10 years of teaching experience in several civil and structural engineering modules. In recognition of his teaching excellence, he received the ‘Excellent Academic Teacher’ recognition in 2015 and 2016 from Swinburne University of Technology.

Research interests

Behzad has research interest and expertise in:

(a) Sustainable (low carbon) concrete materials, such as geopolymer concrete;

(b) High-performance fibre-reinforced cementitious composites, such as strain-hardening cementitious composites (SHCC) and ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC); and

(c) State-of-the-art digital fabrication with concrete technologies, such as 3D concrete printing.

Combination of expertise and high-quality research in (a), (b), and (c) has enabled Behzad to develop new generation of concrete materials and innovative construction methods, which:

(i) leads to simultaneous increase in resilience and sustainability of buildings and civil infrastructure under natural disasters (e.g. cyclones, floods and earthquakes) and manmade attacks; and

(ii) enables ‘free-form’ construction of sustainable, commercially viable, and architecturally elegant buildings and civil infrastructure with complex geometries that are not currently possible or too expensive to build.

Publications

Books

Journal articles

Chapters

Conference proceedings papers

Preprints

Research group

Concrete Structures

Steel & Composite Structures

Intelligent Infrastructure

Grants

View all research projects

PhD opportunities

3D-printable fibre-reinforced low-carbon concrete for additive construction

Development of low-carbon and low-cost textile reinforced concrete

Development of low-cost ultra-high performance low-carbon concrete

Strain-hardening geopolymer composites for sustainable and durable construction

3D-printable strain-hardening cementitious composites using Limestone Calcined Clay Cement (LC3)

Rheological properties of geopolymer/alkali-activated concrete

Structural performance of reinforced concrete beams made of ultra-high performance geopolymer concrete


If you're interested in one of these projects, or would like to self-propose a project, please contact Behzad at the above email. Current PhD opportunities in the department can be viewed here.