Biography:

I am a lecturer in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and a member of Advanced Composites Research Group at Queen’s University Belfast, UK. Prior to joining QUB, I was a lecturer in mechanical engineering and design in the School of Engineering at Ulster University, UK. I have also worked in the School of Engineering, at the University of Glasgow as post-doc between 2013 and 2017. I have received my PhD in Computational Solid Mechanics from the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences, Durham University. I graduated from UET Peshawar with BEng in Mechanical Engineering, which was followed by an MSc in Mechanical Engineering (Applied Mechanics and Design) from UET Taxila.    

I was a member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and a Chartered Engineer. I am currently holding a full fellowship of the higher education academy (FHEA).

My research interests are broadly in computational mechanics. Currently, as part of the Belfast Maritime Consortium led by Artemis Technologies, we are working on the modelling, analysis and experimental characterisation of fibre reinforced polymer composites. we are particularly working on the following projects:    

• Modelling and assessing impact damage in efoil-powered composite marine structures (Dr Scott Millen, Research Fellow)
• Application of artificial intelligence in the failure prediction of composite materials (Dr Lei Wan, Research Fellow)
• Hybrid metallic–composites laminates for bolted joints of high-performance vessels (Dr Tommaso Scalici, Research Fellow)

As part of my PhD, I have worked on the development of adaptively coupled finite element-meshless methods for the solution of problems subjected to both material and geometrical nonlinearities. As part of the EPSRC funded multi-university and multi-disciplinary project, I have also worked on the development of finite element based multi-scale and multi-physics models for the prediction of long-term performance of composites subjected to harsh hygro-thermal environmental conditions in addition to mechanical loading. As part of the Royal Academy of Engineering and EDF energy project, I have worked on the development of novel contact algorithms. Moreover, as part of the same project, I have worked on the analysis of fracture prediction within the graphite bricks. 

PhD students as a primary supervisor: 

• Mr Mohammad Burhan (Oct 2020), An investigation into fatigue fracture of composites-metal laminates
• Mr Ertugrul Sari (Oct 2022), Auxetic materials 

Research Interests:

• Computational solid mechanics (Finite elements, meshless and other advanced numerical methods)
• Multi-scale and Multi-physics (hygro-thermo-mechanical) modelling of FRP composites
• Impact modelling of advanced composites
• Digital twin for failure prediction of advanced composite structures
• Hybrid composites-metallic joints
• 2D and 3D woven FRP composites
• Topology optimisation of both isotropic and composite materials
• 3D printing of polymer and composites
• Damage and fracture mechanics
• Contact mechanics
• Error estimation and adaptive analysis
• Finite deformation and elasto-plasticity
• Coupling of finite element and meshless methods
• Stochastic finite element method and reliability analysis
• High-performance computing
• Open-source computational mechanics software development

Teaching:

I am currently teaching the following modules: 

• Polymer and Composites (MSc, Lecturer)
• Dynamic System 1  (1st year BEng/MEng, Module coordinator)
• Dynamics 2 (2nd Year BEng/MEng, Lecturer)
• Final year Projects and Dissertation (BEng/MEng/MSc)

I am also the Advisor of Studies for the BEng/MEng Stage-2 students.