Ali Jafarabadi
Contact
Empa
Überlandstrasse 129
BA 228
8600
Dübendorf
Schweiz
Short Bio
Ali obtained his diploma in Civil Engineering in 2018 from the external pageShahrood University of Technology, where he conducted his undergraduate project in seismic design and detailing of a multi-story steel structure. He received his master’s degree in Earthquake Engineering in 2021 from the external pageUniversity of Tehran. He conducted his master’s thesis at external pageEmpa (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology), investigating additively manufactured metallic (Fe-based shape memory alloys and Ti6Al4V) architected materials for energy absorption/dissipation, and following that, he conducted a research internship at Empa, calibrating contact extensometers for measurements at sub-zero and elevated temperatures in particular for Fe-SMAs.
Ali joined the Chair of Structural Mechanics and monitoring at ETH Zurich in June 2022 and is working on the clamping and coupling technologies using Fe-based shape memory alloys (Fe-SMA) as a PhD student at both ETH Zurich and Empa.
Research
Integration of on-demand intelligent solutions and automation in construction are the core objectives of construction 4.0. Intelligent coupling technologies are the key members for improving the on-site assembly and construction speed. Innovative couplers made of Fe-SMAs are promising, cost-competitive, and on-demand solutions for clamping and coupling steel members and, particularly, for rebars and joints, thanks to a unique characteristic of the alloy, namely Shape Memory Effect (SME).
The main goal of the project is to develop, for the first time, a fast and cost-effective coupling system made of Fe-based shape memory alloys (Fe-SMAs). The Fe-SMA coupler contracts after activation (i.e., a heating and cooling process), generating a friction force that can hold the two pieces of steel bars together. Development of this innovative coupling technology can significantly ease the installation process of the couplers and speed up the assembly processes on the construction site. The static, seismic, and fatigue performance of such couplers will be studied in this project.