Staff Profile

Background

Dr Sadegh Nadimi (PhD FHEA MInstP) is an Engineering Scientist and Lecturer/Assistant Professor in the School of Engineering at Newcastle University. He holds a PhD in Geotechnical Engineering from City, University of London and MSc in Geotechnical Engineering from Newcastle University. Following the award of his doctorate, Sadegh moved to the University of Leeds as Post-doctoral Research Fellow studying tribology of particulate solids (in particular, metal and pharmaceutical powders).

Sadegh is committed to advancing fundamental engineering research and teaching.  He is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and has been involved in teaching since 2015. Sadegh was awarded the prize for the best presentation at the Young Geotechnical Engineers Symposium (YGES) organised by the British Geotechnical Association in 2016.

Current Appointments

Degree Programme Director of MSc Geotechnical Engineering and MSc Engineering Geology, School of Engineering, Newcastle University, since Jan 2022

Academic Adviser to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, since Dec 2021

Chair of the Board of Examiners, MEng General Engineering Programme, School of Engineering, Newcastle University, since Aug 2021

Lecturer in Geotechnical Engineering, School of Engineering, Newcastle University, since Mar 2019

Visiting Researcher, School of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Leeds, since Mar 2019

Membership of Learned Societies

Member of the EPSRC Peer Review College since 2021

Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA) since 2021

Member of Vehicle/Track System Interface Committee Adhesion Research Group, Rail Safety & Standard Board since 2021

Committee Member of IOP Applied Mechanics Group from 2020 to 2024

Member of International Technical Committee of ISSMGE (TC105, TC211, TC306) since 2019

Member of Institute of Physics (IOP) since 2018

Member of British Geotechnical Association (BGA) since 2011

Research Interests

Studying interfacial processes at particle-to-particle and particle-to-structure contacts

Multi-scale computational modelling of granular materials

Image-based characterisation – application of imaging techniques, such as X-ray tomography, PIV, and DIC in particle characterisation, centrifuge modelling, etc.

Funded Projects

2022-2023 (PI) Northern Accelerator, OCULAR2.0: autOmated aCqUisition and cLassificAtion of paRticles

2021-2024 (PI) EPSRC New Investigator Award, RAILSANDING - EP/V053655/1

2021-2022 (PI) EPSRC IAA, OCULAR: automated acquisition & classification of particles.

2017-2022 (Co-I) EPSRC, Friction: The Tribology Enigma - EP/R001766/1

2019-2021 (PI) Joint JSPS-Royal Society, International Exchanges 2018 Cost Share - IEC\R3\183026 with the collaboration of University of Tokyo - Entitled: The role of particle shape and surface friction on interlocking phenomenon for granular materials.

2018-2020 (Co-I) Newton Fund, Royal Academy of Engineering, with the collaboration of University of Cape Town in South Africa - Entitled: CAPE Partnership – Characterisation Advances in Particle Engineering.

Consultancy Projects

2022-2023 Rail Standard Safety Board (RSSB) - Sand Consist Change 2.0

2020-2021 Rail Standard Safety Board (RSSB) - Sand Consist Change for Improved Track Circuit Performance

2021 University of Surrey - Application of X-ray Computed Tomography for better understanding the packing state of powders under ball indentation

2019 Hewlett-Packard (hp) - Particle characterisation and modelling of metal 3D printing

Postdoctoral Associates

Iain Brown (2022-23) - RA in Particle Imaging

Sadaf Marami (2022-24) - RA in Particle Modelling

Vasileios Angelidakis (2021-22) - RA in Particle Imaging

PhD Supervisions

Chao Zhang - DEM modelling of high pressure torsion for electromechanical investigation of wheel-rail interface

Geng Fei - CFD-DEM Modelling of the failure mechanism of offshore wind turbine foundation

Connor O'Shaughnessy - Numerical analysis and optimisation of engineering structures using Discrete Element Method 

Peng Jia - visiting student - Micromechanical characteristics of coal before and after freezing

Bin Zhang - Granular simulation based on image analysis and particle morphology

Vasileios Angelidakis - Discrete element modelling of polyhedral particles: application to materials with highly angular grains

Cailin Wang (University of Leeds) - Determination of thickness and air-void distribution within the iron carbonate layer using X-ray computed tomography

Esteem Indicators

Young Professional Editorial Board of Particuology, from January 1st, 2022 to December 31st, 2023.

Member of Editorial Board of Soils and Foundations, the official journal of the Japanese Geotechnical Society.

Sadegh regularly reviews for international journals, such as Géotechnique, Computers and Geotechnics, Granular Matter, Powder Technology, Computational Particle Mechanics, Tribology Letters, International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, Journal of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, and Chemical Engineering Research and Design.

Organised 17^th Annual UK Workshop on Geomechanics from Micro to Macro - GM3 (Dec 2020).

Member of Organising Committee of 16th European Symposium on Comminution & Classification (ESCC2019) at Leeds (UK) on 2nd-4th September 2019.

Member of Organising Committee of Powders and Granular Materials Challenges and Future Trends at Montpellier (France) 6th-7th June 2019.

Postgraduate Teaching

CEG8210 Soil Mechanics and Ground Characterisations (Module Leader, contributing 40%)

CEG8214 Soil Modelling and Numerical Methods (contributing 20%)                                             

CEG8215 Foundation Design and Soil Improvement Solutions (contributing 40%) 

Undergraduate Teaching

ENG2016 Geotechnics (Module Leader, contributing 70%)

ENG1006 Properties & Behaviour of Engineering Materials 

Project Supervision

CEG8296 MSc Project in Geotechnical Engineering (Module Leader, supervising ~3 projects annually)                                           

CEG8297 MSc Project in Engineering Geology (Module Leader, supervising ~3 projects annually)

CEG8099 Investigative Research Project (supervising ~1 project annually)

CEG3099 Individual Project (supervising ~2 projects annually)

Current and Previous Master Students

2021-22:

Shreya Ranjan (MSc): Monitoring partially saturated triaxial test using 3D imaging system

Omar Alhamedah (MSc): Influence of particle surface energy on the dynamics of hillslope creep

Nathan Fullerton (MSc): Numerical modelling of degradation of ballasted rail track

Dan Thorne-Large (MEng): Modelling the behaviour of recycled construction materials in stone columns

2020-21:

Amy Pritchett (MSc): Influence of grain shape on the dynamics of hillslope creep

Jack Welch (MSc): Modelling friction and abrasion in railway ballast

Daniel Sultana (MSc): Modelling fracturing process using Lattice Element Method

Nina Kemp (MSc): How do roots interact with structured soils?

Liam Leung (MEng): Influence of particle shape modelling on simulations of two geotechnical tests

Clinton Chou (MEng): How soil characteristics affect the efficiency of energy geostrucutres?

2019-20:

Jack Collishaw (MSc): Modelling fracturing process of sandstone

Ivan Cheung (MSc): Modelling friction and abrasion in railway ballast

Nathan Freeman (MSc): Numerical modelling of degradation of ballasted rail track

Zac Herrod (MSc): Influence of grain shape on the dynamics of hillslope creep and landsliding

Thomas Kunnathu (MSc): Surface characterisation of sand particles

2018-19:

Mark Bradley (MSc): An investigation of the effects of backing material on masonry arch bridges

Leung Ka (MSc): Numerical modelling of the seismic response of tunnels observed in centrifuge experiments

• Articles

  • Geng F, Yang W, Nadimi S, Han B, Huang G. Study for predicting the earthquake-induced liquefaction around the monopile foundation of offshore wind turbines. Ocean Engineering 2023, 268, 113421.
  • Saomoto H, Kikkawa N, Moriguchi S, Nakata Y, Otsubo M, Angelidakis V, Cheng YP, Chew K, Chiaro G, Duriez J, Duverger S, Irazabal Gonzalez J, Jiang M, Karasaki Y, Kono A, Li X, Lin Z, Liu A, Nadimi S, Nakase H, Nishiura D, Rashique U, Shimizu H, Tsuji K, Watanabe T, Xu X, Zeghal M. Round robin test on angle of repose: DEM simulation results collected from 16 groups around the world. Soils and Foundation 2023, 63(1), 101272.
  • Skipper W, Nadimi S, Watson M, Chalisey A, Lewis R. Quantifying the effect of particle characteristics on wheel/rail adhesion & damage through high pressure torsion testing. Tribology International 2023, 179, 108190.
  • Maramizonouz S, Nadimi S, Skipper W, Lewis S, Lewis R. Numerical Modelling of Particle Entrainment in the Wheel–Rail Interface. Computational Particle Mechanics 2023, epub ahead of print.
  • Jia P, Jia J, Nadimi S. Nano-scale pore distribution characterisation of coal using small angle X-ray scattering. Particuology 2023, 81, 73-85.
  • Zhang B, Nadimi S, Eissa A, Rouainia M. Modelling fracturing process using cohesive interface elements: theoretical verification and experimental validation. Construction and Building Materials 2023, 365, 130132.
  • Pedrolli L, Nadimi S, Maramizonouz S, Achiaga Menor B, López A. Kinetic Adhesion Test to Determine Particle Surface Energy. HardwareX 2023, 14, e00437.
  • Maramizonouz S, Nadimi S, Skipper W, Lewis R. Characterisation of Physical and Mechanical Properties of Seven Particulate Materials Proposed as Traction Enhancers. Scientific Data 2023, 10, 400.
  • Maramizonouz S, Nadimi S, Skipper W, Lewis R. Characterisation and Tribological Testing of Recycled Crushed Glass as an Alternative Rail Sand. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part F: Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit 2023, Epub ahead of print.
  • Skipper W, Nadimi S, Gutsulyak DV, Butterfield JG, Ball T, Lewis R. Investigating the effect of different adhesion materials on electrical resistance using a high pressure torsion rig. Wear 2023, 532-533, 205116.
  • Ghadiri M, Liu L, Hassanpour A, Nadimi S. Special Issue of the 16th European Symposium on Comminution and Classification, ESCC 2019. Powder Technology 2022, 399, 116949.
  • Jia P, Nadimi S, Jia J. Quantitative micro mechanical and pore structural characterisation of coal before and after freezing. Fuel 2022, 316, 123421.
  • Angelidakis V, Nadimi S, Garum M, Hassanpour A. Nano-Scale Characterisation of Particulate Iron Pyrite Morphology in Shale. Particle & Particle Systems Characterization 2022, 39(12), 2200120.
  • Kemp N, Angelidakis V, Luli S, Nadimi S. How Do Roots Interact with Layered Soils?. Journal of Imaging 2022, 8(1), 5.
  • Nadimi S, Angelidakis V, Otsubo M, Ghanbarzadeh A. How can the effect of particle surface roughness on the contact area be predicted?. Computers and Geotechnics 2022, 150, 104890.
  • Angelidakis V, Nadimi S, Utili S. Elongation, flatness and compactness indices to characterise particle form. Powder Technology 2022, 396(Part B), 689-695.
  • Maramizonouz S, Nadimi S. Drag Force Acting on Ellipsoidal Particles with Different Shape Characteristics. Powder Technology 2022, 412, 117964.
  • Wang D, de Boer G, Nadimi S, Neville A, Ghanbarzadeh A. A Fully Coupled Normal and Tangential Contact Model to Investigate the Effect of Surface Roughness on the Partial Slip of Dissimilar Elastic Materials. Tribology Letters 2022, 70, 98.
  • Nadimi S, Ghadiri M. Stress and input energy analyses of shearing a particle bed under a centrifugal field. Powder Technology 2021, 394, 575-583.
  • Angelidakis V, Nadimi S, Utili S. SHape Analyser for Particle Engineering (SHAPE): Seamless characterisation and simplification of particle morphology from imaging data. Computer Physics Communications 2021, 265, 107983.
  • Li Y, Otsubo M, Kuwano R, Nadimi S. Quantitative evaluation of surface roughness for granular materials using Gaussian filter method. Powder Technology 2021, 388, 251-260.
  • Lascurain T, Angelidakis V, Luli S, Nadimi S. Imaging the root–rhizosphere interface using micro computed tomography: quantifying void ratio and root volume ratio profiles. EPJ Web of Conferences 2021, 249, 11005.
  • Wang C, Hua Y, Nadimi S, Taleb W, Barker R, Li Y, Chen X, Neville A. Determination of thickness and air-void distribution within the iron carbonate layers using X-ray computed tomography. Corrosion Science 2021, 179, 109153.
  • Li Y, Otsubo M, Kuwano R, Nadimi S, Angelidakis V. DEM modelling of granular materials with real shape morphology. Seisan Kenkyu 2021, 73(5), 355-358.
  • Angelidakis V, Nadimi S, Otsubo M, Utili S. CLUMP: A Code Library to generate Universal Multi-sphere Particles. SoftwareX 2021, 15, 100735.
  • Lopez A, Bruno AW, Nadimi S. CFD modelling of the effect of capillary pressure on retention behaviour of water menisci at inter-particle contacts. EPJ Web of Conferences 2021, 249, 09008.
  • Wang C, Hua Y, Nadimi S, Hu Q, Taleb W, Zhang J, Liu X, Zhang R, Chen X, Neville A, Lia Y. Anti-corrosion characteristics of FeCO₃ and Fe_xCa_yMg_zCO₃ scales on carbon steel in high-PT CO₂ environments. Chemical Engineering Journal 2021, 133484.
  • Ghadiri M, Matsusaka S, Pasha M, Nan W, Hare C, Vivacqua V, Zafar U, Nezamabadi S, Lopez A, Pasha M, Nadimi S. Rheometry of Cohesive Powder Flow. The Micromeritics 2020, 63, 3-12.
  • Nadimi S, Ghanbarzadeh A, Neville A, Ghadiri M. Effect of particle roughness on the bulk deformation using coupled boundary element and discrete element methods. Computational Particle Mechanics 2020, 7, 603–613.
  • Ghadiri M, Pasha M, Nan W, Hare C, Vivacqua V, Zafar U, Nezamabadi S, Lopez A, Pasha M, Nadimi S. Cohesive Powder Flow: Trends and Challenges in Characterisation and Analysis. KONA Powder and Particle Journal 2020, 37, 3-18.
  • Nadimi s, Ghanbarzadeh A, Hassanpour A, Neville A. A discussion on the capability of X-ray computed tomography for contact mechanics investigations. Tribology International 2020, 151, 106433.
  • Skipper WA, Nadimi S, Chalisey A, Lewis R. Particle characterisation of rail sands for understanding tribological behaviour. Wear 2019, 432–433, 202960.
  • Nadimi S, Otsubo M, Fonseca J, O'Sullivan C. Numerical modelling of rough particle contacts subject to normal and tangential loading. Granular Matter 2019, 21, 108.
  • Nadimi S, Fonseca J. Image based simulation of one-dimensional compression tests on carbonate sand. Meccanica : An International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics 2019, 54(4-5), 697–706.
  • Nan W, Pasha M, Bonakdar T, Lopez A, Zafar U, Nadimi S, Ghadiri M. Corrigendum to “Jamming during particle spreading in additive manufacturing” [Powder Technol. 338 (2018) 253–262]. Powder Technology 2019, 347, 255-255.
  • Nadimi S, Fonseca J, Ando E, Viggiani G. A micro finite-element model for soil behaviour: experimental evaluation for sand under triaxial compression. Géotechnique 2019, 70(10), 931-936.
  • Nan W, Pasha M, Bonakdar T, Lopez A, Zafar U, Nadimi S, Ghadiri M. Jamming during particle spreading in additive manufacturing. Powder Technology 2018, 338, 253-262.
  • Nadimi S, Fonseca J. A micro finite-element model for soil behaviour. Géotechnique 2018, 68(4), 290-302.
  • Nadimi S, Fonseca J. A micro finite element model for soil behaviour: numerical validation. Géotechnique 2018, 68(4), 364-369.
  • Nadimi S, Fonseca J. Single grain virtualisation for contact behaviour analysis on sand. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering 2017, 143(9), 06017010.
  • Le BT, Nadimi S, Goodey RJ, Taylor RN. System to measure three-dimensional movements in physical models. Géotechnique Letters 2016, 6(4), 256–262.
  • Fonseca J, Nadimi S, Reyes-Aldasoro CC, OSullivan C, Coop MR. Image-based investigation into the primary fabric of stress transmitting particles in sand. Soils and Foundations 2016, 56(5), 818-834.
  • Nadimi S, Fonseca J. Enhancing soil sample preparation by thermal cycling. Géotechnique 2016, 66(11), 953-958.

• Book Chapter

  • Ghadiri M, Bonakdar T, Nadimi S. Breakage of Particles in Gas Phase. In: Ko Higashitani, Hisao Makino, Shuji Matsusaka, ed. Powder Technology Handbook. CRC Press, 2019, pp.584.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

  • O'Shaughnessy C, Masoero E, Nadimi S, Gosling PD. Topology Optimization with the Discrete Element Method. In: Annual Conference of the UK Association for Computational Mechanics (UKACM 2022). 2022, University of Nottingham: UK Association for Computational Mechanics.
  • Nadimi S, Kemp N, Angelidakis V, Luli S. Observations of root growth in stratified soils at the microscopic scale: Insights from micro-computed tomography. In: European Geophysical Union General Assembly 2022. 2022, Vienna, Austria: EGU.
  • Stirling R, Nadimi S. 16th BGA Young Geotechnical Engineers Symposium (YGES 2022). In: 16th BGA Young Geotechnical Engineers Symposium. 2022, Newcastle upon Tyne.
  • Angelidakis V, Nadimi S, Otsubo M, Utili S. Open-source codes for particle-shape characterisation, simplification and generation in numerical models: From imaging data to polyhedra and multi-sphere particles. In: PARTICLES 2021. 2021, Hamburg, Germany.
  • Angelidakis V, Nadimi S, Utili S. Grain-shape characterisation of railway ballast for various levels of simulation fidelity. In: ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute International Conference 2021. 2021, Durham: ASCE.
  • Angelidakis V, Otsubo M, Nadimi S. Discrete Element Modelling of Triaxial Compression using Multi-spherical Particles: Influence of Clump-Generation Method. In: ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute International Conference 2021. 2021, Durham: ASCE.
  • Barreto D, Rouainia M, Nadimi S. Accounting for particle shape and cement content in DEM modelling of soil behaviour. In: ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute International Conference 2021. 2021, Durham: ASCE.
  • Nadimi S, Bai M, Inkson B, Neville A, Ghadiri M. The role of glidants in interparticle friction. In: International Congress on Particle Technology (PARTEC 2019). 2019, Nuremberg, Germany: PARTEC.
  • Safari M, Nadimi S, Deglon D, Filho L, Souza T. Investigating the Effect of Particle Characteristics on Iron Ore Separation using X-ray Micro Tomography. In: 16th European Symposium on Comminution & Classification (ESCC 2019). 2019, Leeds: University of Leeds.
  • Otsubo M, Liu J, Dutta TT, Kuwano R, Nadimi S. Influence of Particle Shape on Stiffness and Strength Anisotropy of Pluviated Granular Materials. In: VI International Conference on Particle-Based Methods. 2019, Barcelona: International Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE).
  • Nadimi S, Otsubo M. Effect of Grain Morphology on Contact Behaviour. In: VI International Conference on Particle-Based Methods. 2019, Barcelona: International Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE).
  • Nadimi S, Pencheva P, Ghadiri M. DEM Simulation of Mechanofusion System. In: 8th International Conference on Discrete Element Methods. 2019, The Netherlands.
  • Nadimi S, Skipper W, Ghadiri M, Lewis R. DEM Insight on Manipulating Friction by Rail Sanding. In: 8th International Conference on Discrete Element Methods. 2019, The Netherlands.
  • Nadimi S, Fonseca J. A laboratory-based technique for grain size and shape characterisation. In: The XVII European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. 2019, Reykjavik, Iceland: The Icelandic Geotechnical Society.
  • Fonseca J, Nadimi S, Kong D. Image-Based Modelling of Shelly Carbonate Sand for Foundation Design of Offshore Structures. In: Proceedings of the 1st Vietnam Symposium on Advances in Offshore Engineering. 2018, Hanoi, Vietnam: Springer.
  • Nadimi S, Ghanbarzadeh A, Ghadiri M, Neville A. Discrete element modelling of shear deformation of rough particles. In: 6th European Conference on Computational Mechanics (ECCM 6); 7th European Conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics (ECFD 7). 2018, Glasgow, UK: International Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE).
  • Nadimi S, Fonseca J. On the torsional loading of elastic-plastic spheres in contact. In: 8th International Conference on Micromechanics on Granular Media. 2017, Montpellier, France: EPJ Web of Conferences.
  • Nadimi S, Fonseca J. On the tensile strength of soil grains in Hertzian response. In: 8th international conference on micromechanics on granular media. 2017, Montpellier, France: EPJ Web of Conferences.
  • Nadimi S, Di Pasquale L, Fonseca J. Influence of fine fraction on breakage of binary granular materials. In: 19th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. 2017, Seoul, South Korea: International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering.
  • Nadimi S, Divall S, Fonseca J, Goodey R, Taylor RN. An addendum for particle image velocimetry in centrifuge modelling. In: 3rd European Conference on Physical Modelling in Geotechnics. 2016, Nantes, France.
  • Nadimi S, Fonseca J, Barreto D, Taylor RN. A new approach to investigate the particle size effects in centrifuge modelling. In: 3rd European Conference on Physical Modelling in Geotechnics. 2016, Nantes, France.
  • Nadimi S, Fonseca J, Taylor RN. A microstructure-based finite element analysis of the response of sand. In: 6th international symposium on deformation characteristics of geomaterials. 2015, Buenos Aires, Argentina: IOS Press.
  • Nadimi S, Fonseca J, Besuelle P, Viggiani G. A microstructural finite element analysis of cement damaging on Fontainebleau Sandstone. In: 2nd International Conference on Tomography of Materials and Structures. 2015, Québec, Canada: INRS-ETE.
  • Elia G, Rouainia M, Nadimi-Shahraki S. Blind prediction of the seismic response of tunnels. In: World Tunnel Congress (WTC2013) Underground: The Way to the Future!. 2013, Geneva, Switzerland: Taylor & Francis.

• Edited Book

  • Ghadiri M, Nadimi S, Pasha M, ed. 16th European Symposium on Comminution and Classification: book of extended abstracts. Leeds: University of Leeds, 2019.

• Report

  • Skipper W, Nadimi S, Lewis R. Sand consist changes for improved track circuit performance (COF-UOS-03). United Kingdom: Rail Safety and Standards Board, 2021. PB028922.