Bio

Dr. Pour-Ghaz earned his BS in Civil Engineering from Tabriz University, Iran, in 2003. Before pursuing his MS in Civil Engineering, he practiced as a research engineer in the area of nondestructive testing of composites and concrete in a research and development company in Concord, Canada. After receiving his MS degree in 2007 from Carleton University, Canada, he attended Purdue University where he earned his PhD in Civil Engineering with an emphasis in concrete materials in 2011. While at Purdue, he received the William L. Dolch award for outstanding research in material science and the Magoon award for excellence in teaching.

Dr. Pour-Ghaz’s current research interests includes:

Durability of cementitious materials including: corrosion kinetics of steel in concrete, mass transport in concrete, fracture and damage mechanics of concrete, chemical degradation of cementitious materials

Understanding the microstructure and nanostructure of inorganic polymers

Electrical imaging of cementitious material

Simultaneous X-ray, neutron, and electrical imaging of materials

Large-area sensors (sensing skins)

Electromagnetic sensors and sensing techniques

Durability of Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites

Area(s) of Expertise

Dr. Pour-Ghaz studies the durability of reinforced concrete materials and structures, the long-term durability Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites for civil infrastructure, and electromagnetic sensors and sensing techniques. The overall goal of his research program is to contribute to the development of mechanistic service life prediction models that integrate measurement techniques (structural health monitoring and nondestructive testing) for model updating.