Mujib Rahman

Professor in Civil Engineering Aston University

  • Birmingham

Professor Rahman is a Chartered Engineer with more than twenty years’ experience in academics and industry.

Contact

Aston University

View more experts managed by Aston University

Spotlight

2 min

Pothole project to pave way to smoother roads

Joint research project will combine effort and expertise of pavement engineers, material scientists and computational fluid dynamics experts Project to look at improving quality, longevity and accessibility of the highway network Aston University will be working with University of Nottingham and seven other industrial partners including Highways England and the Road Surface Treatment Association A project which will be the driving force behind the redesigning of roads and changes in road repairs could revolutionise the way potholes are repaired, and road surfaces are designed. The three-year collaboration, ‘Prevention and Management of Road Surface Damage’, is being led by Mujib Rahman, professor in civil engineering, Department of Civil Engineering at Aston University and Dr Nick Thom of the University of Nottingham. The project will combine the efforts and expertise of pavement engineers, material scientists and computational fluid dynamic experts from both universities. The research aims to improve the design and construction of roads to minimise surface damage caused by water freezing and thawing, and general wear and tear from traffic. It also will be looking at how to change the science behind road repairs and maintenance. Research will be looking at two main elements: Enable the design of roads to prevent surface damage from water and environmental factors Introduce a change in the management of road repair and create a more durable repair of the road surface. . Professor Rahman said that smoother roads were critical to the nation as the 250,000 miles of paved road, valued at £750 billion, which is the network for deliveries of goods and services across the UK. But he added potholes and damage to roads had become ‘increasingly problematic’ for all users. “We want to drive out the pothole epidemic that has overcome the UK in recent years. Due to record breaking rainfall, extreme cold weather and tight financial constraints on highway authorities, this situation has become much worse. This has been combined with the lack of longevity in some repairs” he said. Dr Nick Thom, from the Nottingham Transportation Engineering Centre Research Group, said: “The expected deliverables are material specifications and maintenance guidelines designed – like a Covid vaccine – to stop this disease of the road in its tracks. In the main this will be about doing better with currently-used resources, but, given the expected slump in future oil production with consequent loss of bitumen supplies, the search will also be on for alternative viable high-performance products.” The project has been funded by Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) and will be running until March 2024. Supporting it will also be ADEPT, Highways England, Transport for London, Nottinghamshire County Council, Cooper Technology and the Road Surface Treatment Association (RSTA).

Mujib Rahman

Media

Social

Biography

Mujib is a Chartered Engineer with more than twenty years’ experience in academics and industry. Mujib’s research career began in early 1999, as a research assistant in the construction robotics centre at the City University London, working on a multi-disciplinary project funded by the EC 4th Framework programme that focused on hydro-erosion for the repair of in-situ concrete (HEROIC). From September 2000 to August 2003, he worked in the Nottingham Transportation Engineering Centre (NTEC) at the University of Nottingham, initially as a research assistant, then being promoted to research associate, where he also completed his doctoral research on the fundamental characterisation of dry process modified asphalt mixtures in 2003 (awarded in 2004).

Following the completion of his doctoral research, Mujib spent five years in the industry. During the first three years (2003-2006), he worked as a senior pavement and material engineer at Jacobs UK Ltd served as a project manager and lead engineer and co-ordinated a pavement design team for several high-profile design and rehabilitation projects for national and international clients. In 2005, Mujib completed his professional review and become a Chartered Engineer. In 2006, Mujib joined TRL Limited as a senior researcher and engineer. Here he was responsible for various consultancy and R&D projects, notably for the Highways England and Department for Transport.

Mujib has gained extensive research experience on the fundamental characterisation of asphalt and concrete materials, non-destructive based evaluation of civil engineering infrastructures, protection of porous construction materials, and condition data analysis. Mujib is presently serving as a chairman of Editorial board for ICE transport Journal, an associate editor for Advances in Materials Science and Engineering, and Editorial member of International Journal of Pavement and Journal of Advances in Civil and Environmental Engineering and also a member of several national and international technical committees. He is also serving as an external examiner for Architectural Technology Programme at Ulster University and advisor for North South University Bangladesh. Several of his former students are currently faculty members at universities in the UK and around the world.

Areas of Expertise

Bridge Engineering
Highway Engineering
Engineering
Civil Engineering
Roads and Pavements

Accomplishments

Highly Commended Award

2018

Remediation and protection of masonry structures with crystallising moisture blocking treatment, International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation, Emerald

Education

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology

BSc

Civil Engineering

1995

City University London

MSc

Civil Engineering Structures

1998

University of Nottingham

PhD

Civil Engineering

2003

Affiliations

  • ICE transport Journal : Chairman of the Editorial Board
  • Advances in Materials Science and Engineering : Associate Editor
  • International Journal of Pavement : Editorial Member
  • Journal of Advances in Civil and Environmental Engineering : Editorial Member

Media Appearances

Stronger concrete developed for use in extreme conditions

New Civil Engineer  online

2019-10-04

“Currently, most available protective additives in concrete reduce its compressive strength,” said Seyed Ghaffar, an assistant professor at Brunel’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, who authored the paper alongside colleagues Mujib Rahman, Omar Abo Madyan and Mazen Al-Kheetan.

View More

Scientists Create New Salt-Resistant Concrete

Asharq Al-Awsat  online

2019-07-31

Speaking about the possibility of using this concrete mix in regions other than Europe, Dr. Moujib Rahman, co-author of the study, told Asharq Al-Awsat: "This concrete can be used in the making of bridges, pavements, highways, houses, ports, and infrastructures or any surface that usually sees heavy rainfalls or salt precipitations."

View More

Articles

An improved interface temperature distribution in shallow hot mix asphalt patch repair using dynamic heating

International Journal of Pavement Engineering

This study focuses on the issue of hot mix asphalt patch repairs, the performance of which is greatly reduced by repair edge disintegration. This is caused by low interface temperatures which result in poor repair bonding between fill material and host pavement. Twenty-four pothole repairs, 45 mm in depth, comprising 12 static and 12 dynamic repairs heated for 10 min 15 s and 21 min 49 s, respectively have been investigated. Dynamic heating has been completed using an experimental infrared heater. Temperatures were measured at 11 locations on the repair interfaces during the pouring and compaction of the fill mix.

View more

Resistance of hydrophobic concrete with different moisture contents to advanced freeze–thaw cycles

Structural Concrete

This article is aimed at investigating the long‐term performance of three original hydrophobic materials, namely, sodium acetate, fluoropolymer, and silicone resin. Their performance was compared with traditional silane when applied to fully dry concrete, fully saturated concrete, and concrete with 2 and 4% moisture content. A recently developed freeze–thaw process, which is based on temperature and humidity variations, was employed in this study to assess the durability of applied materials. The outcomes of the adopted freeze–thaw system were compared with the results obtained from running a conventional freeze–thaw test.

View more

Thermal Analysis of Hot Mix Asphalt Pothole Repair by Finite-Element Method

Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part B: Pavements

Traditional repair methods tend to suffer from inadequate net interface heating because the combined effect of placing hot fill mix in a cold, old pavement leads to inadequate net temperature levels. The outcome of this is low durability and limited life. In contrast, the outcome of placing hot mix in a controlled, preheated host pavement is substantial increased working life. To understand repair heating, this study ran heat transfer finite-element models for the cases of (1) hot mix asphalt (HMA) placed in an ambient temperature pothole, (2) the heated pothole recess, and (3) HMA placed in the preheated pothole recess.

View more

Show All +