Sajedur Rahman

I am a PhD student in Civil Engineering (Structural Engineering) at Adelaide University, Australia, supported by a fully funded University of Adelaide Research Scholarship. My research focuses on Lunar Habitat Structures using Lunar Construction Materials, with particular emphasis on structural performance, thermal behaviour, and radiation shielding.

Previously, I served as a Lecturer in Civil Engineering at East West University (EWU), Dhaka, Bangladesh, until September 2025. I also worked at Port City International University (PCIU), Chattogram, from 2015 to 2024, where I progressed from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer.

I hold an MSc in Structural Engineering from the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand, supported by the prestigious Royal Thai Government Scholarship (His Majesty the King’s Scholarship). At AIT, I was honoured with the Wen Zei Yang Prize in the Graduation Ceremony for outstanding academic performance (1st in Class).

My academic journey began with a BSc in Civil Engineering from the Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology (AUST), Dhaka, Bangladesh, where I ranked 3rd in my department and received the Dean’s Award for academic excellence.

Researcher Profile (Adelaide University):
https://researchers.adelaide.edu.au/profile/sajedur.rahman

Research Interests

Concrete Materials.
Green Concrete.
Fiber Reinforced Concrete.
Earthquake Engineering.
Structural Health Monitoring.
Damage Assessment.
Finite Element Analysis.

Technical Skills

Structural Analysis and Design:

AutoCAD, ETABS, SAP2000, STAAD Pro, CSI Col, Section Builder, GEAR, Vector and Formworks, GRASP.

Numerical Analysis and mathematical operations:

MATLAB.

Simulations and Finite Element Analysis:

Solid Works, ANSYS, ABAQUS, GMSH, AEM.

Programming:

C Programming.

Research Experience

Master's Thesis: A COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION OF REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES USING STRAIN-BASED DAMAGE INDEX IN 3D APPLIED ELEMENT METHOD

Current structural analysis methods often neglect detailed stress and strain information within elements. This research introduces a novel strain-based damage index (DI) implemented within a 3D Applied Element Method (AEM) framework. The DI, based on material properties, captures damage at the element level and is normalized for clear interpretation (0 = undamaged, 1 = failure). Validation against experiments showed the DI's effectiveness in predicting crack patterns. Furthermore, the DI was applied to assess a school building in Dhaka under increasing earthquake loads. The DI successfully identified weak zones near stairs, highlighting its potential for seismic vulnerability assessment of aging infrastructure. This method, offering local damage insights, can aid policymakers in improving earthquake safety measures.

Undergraduate Thesis: INVESTIGATION ON THE COMPRESSION ZONE OF P-M INTERACTION DIAGRAM FOR RC SQUARE COLUMNS MADE OF SFRC

Experiments investigated the effectiveness of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) for improving earthquake resistance in Bangladesh. SFRC columns showed significant improvement in both compression capacity and ductility compared to regular concrete columns. This enhancement was observed under various loading conditions (concentric and eccentric) using P-M Interaction Diagrams. Finite Element (FE) models were created to replicate these experimental results and successfully match the structural behavior and failure modes. These validated FE models can be used for cost-effective analysis of larger SFRC structures in the future. The study demonstrates that SFRC with locally available fibers is a promising solution for Bangladesh to improve the seismic performance of buildings by reducing the risk of brittle failures.