Pejman Sharafi

• PhD
• Professor at Western Sydney University

Corner-supported modular steel building, made of volumetric units, is an efficient construction system for the next generation of industrialised building construction. The mechanical performance of joints, including inter-modular connections and beam-to-column connections, or so-called intra-modular connections, and their effects on the dynamic beh...

Corner-supported modular steel buildings, made of volumetric bespoke prefabricated units, are one of the most efficient construction systems for the next generation of prefabricated prefinished building construction. In these systems, the influence of connections between the units, so-called inter-connections, on the distribution of forces, moments...

Compared with conventional buildings, the design of interconnections in multistory modular buildings requires special attention , due to different load distribution mechanisms, level of redundancy, integration strategies, and the stability requirements, in particular under accidental load conditions. In this paper, the robustness of corner-supporte...

In stability analysis of steel frames, the effective length method requires the calculation of the K-factors, which can be difficult and subject to error in many moment frame configurations and requires significant engineering judgment for some frame types. This is of crucial importance for the design of modular prefabricated buildings, made of vol...

Hybrid cold-formed steel (HCFS) structures are new structural systems in the light steel construction industry offering new possibilities, in particular with regard to the applications in mid-rise construction. The structural performance, sustainability as well as the economic and social costs of these structures are of great importance for decisio...

Hybrid cold-formed steel (CFS) wall panel, composed of square hollow sections (SHS) and CFS open sections, can offer some great advantages with respect to the lateral performance of light steel frames, in particular for applications in mid-rise construction. This paper presents non-linear finite element modelling of hybrid wall panels, calibrated t...

Due to different integration strategies and stability requirements, the robustness analysis of multi-story modular buildings, made of volumetric units, requires collapse capacity analysis of various scenarios, corresponding to the loss of supports and notional removal of a part of ground floor modules. In this paper the results of a parametric anal...

Modular composite panels are being widely used for floors and roofs in prefabricated construction. Scissors shear and punching shear strength are two critical parameters for designing the sandwich panels under concentrated out of plane load. However, there are relatively few studies on scissors shear and punching shear strength of sandwich panels i...

Hybrid shear walls composed of cold-formed steel (CFS) open sections and square hollow sections (SHS) have recently attracted attention for lightweight midrise buildings, as a result of their relatively strong lateral load-bearing performance. A new hybrid CFS shear wall system with SHS truss skeleton is presented in this study in order to improve...

Timber is an isotropic natural construction material with ductile and brittle behaviour in compression and tension, respectively. It is one of the most economical solutions for low-rise residential buildings, in many countries including Australia. Yet, its relatively lower load bearing capacity in compression perpendicular to the grain, and some co...

Relatively low load-bearing capacity of top and bottom plates in light timber framed structures under compression perpendicular to grain and the consequential shortening of vertical elements have resulted in their limited applications in construction of mid-rise buildings. Solutions for the enhancement of the compression perpendicular to grain need...

Light steel framing systems are increasingly used in a variety of low-rise buildings, while are gradually penetrating to the mid-rise residential construction. The increased demand for mid-rise light weight steel frames in recent years has resulted in various research activities being undertaken in order to enhance the performance of these systems...

Composite panels with polyurethane (PU) foam-core and facing materials, such as gypsum, engineered wood or some composite materials, are being used as structural members in building construction. This paper reviews and summarises major research developments, and provides an updated review of references on the structural performance of foam-filled b...

Cold-formed steel (CFS) shear walls are the primary lateral load resisting components in lightweight steel framed (LSF) structures. The development of increasing complex LSF structures, laterally supported by CFS walls, demands sophisticated modelling techniques for design and optimization that typically involves inherent material and geometric non...

This paper investigates seismic collapse potential of a hybrid cold-formed hot-rolled systemin order to quantify the response modification factor (R-factor) through a procedural method proposed in FEMA-P695. A series of hot-rolled steel (HRS) knee-braced frames in conjunction with cold-formed steel (CFS) stud walls are proposed to resist lateral an...

Foam made panels as efficient building elements are becoming a major role player in modular construction with a variety of applications worldwide. However, construction accuracy, technology, and method can have serious effects on the panels’ behavior. In this study, using a unique pneumatic pressure testing rig, bending tests are conducted on the t...

Mobile and rapidly assembled structures play an important role in building temporary and semi-permanent accommodations and shelters in post-disaster management. One of the most efficient construction systems that can be used in rapidly assembled buildings is lightweight panelized systems. Use of rapidly assembled panelized systems is becoming very...

In this paper, the development process of a deployable modular sandwich panelized system for rapid-assembly building construction is presented, and its structural performance under some different action effects is investigated. This system, which includes an innovative sandwich panel and its integrated connections, can be used as structural walls a...

A new lateral force-resisting wall panel is presented for applications in mid-rise prefabricated lightweight steel construction in seismic prone regions. This panelised system is composed of a hot-rolled frame and cold-formed studs and tracks, which works as a lateral force resisting system in lightweight steel framing. The proposed hybrid panel sy...

Lightweight Steel Frames (LSF) made by framing thin gauge cold-formed steel (CFS) into different structural elements such as walls, trusses and joists are commonplace in Australia and many parts of the world. The great progress in the knowledge of CFS structures achieved in the past two decades, together with the modern design and fabrication metho...

In this paper the development process of a deployable modular sandwich panelized system for rapid assembly building construction is presented, and its structural performance under some different action effects is investigated. This system, which includes an innovative sandwich panel and its integrated connections, can be used as structural walls an...

In the majority of ordinary housing development projects, instead of using complex multicriteria decision-making systems, companies still rely on expert knowledge, checklists, or similar tools to decide on an appropriate level of modularization. Generally, in these types of projects the level of modularization is mainly driven by site constraints,...

The seismic design of light steel frames (LSF) can not only rely on the application of cold-formed steel (CFS). Some mixed systems and integrated solutions such as hybrid systems can offer new possibilities, in particular with regard to applications in mid-rise construction. A hybrid solution is to replace some CFS chord studs with hot-rolled squar...

Rapidly assembled structures play an important role in post-disaster housing. This research study introduces a modular non-reinforced foam-filled system for rapidly assembled buildings and studies its structural performance. A novel structural modular construction system using pneumatic formwork is presented and its structural performance as a post...

Purpose The preliminary layout design of structures impacts upon the entire design process and, consequently, the total cost. The purpose of this paper is to select the most economical layouts that satisfy structural and architectural requirements, while considering the reciprocal effects of cost factors and layout variables at the preliminary sta...

The Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) are of substantial technological prominence. They are also extremely rare, because of their low natural existence and their complicated extraction and refining process. To meet the future demand and preserve resources, it is essential to process end-of-life platinum-containing materials, such as catalytic converters...

Maintaining the structural integrity against severe loading conditions and accidental loads is one of the primary concerns when designing multi-storey modular buildings. Connections between the modular units play a central role in providing integrity in modular buildings. This paper describes the development of an innovative interlocking system for...

In this paper, an innovative and efficient sandwich panel is proposed for the structural walls for quickly assembled post-disaster housing, as well as load bearing panels for pre-fabricated modular construction and semi-permanent buildings. This study focuses on the flexural and shear behavior of the innovative sandwich panels, which is composed of...

In this paper, the edgewise and flatwise compressive behaviour of an innovative sandwich panel, mainly developed for quick assembly of post-disaster housing as well as load bearing panels for pre-fabricated modular construction and semi-permanent buildings, is investigated experimentally and by finite element modelling. The panel is composed of two...

Connections represent major challenges in the design of composite structures, mainly because they entail discontinuities in the geometry of the structure and material properties, and introduce high local stress concentrations. Despite some constructability complications, integrated connection could be a reliable solution. In this paper, the structu...

By protecting concrete from penetration of aggressive chemicals, low permeability is one of the most important contributory factors to the concrete’s durability. In this paper the effects of nano-SiO2 particles on concrete permeability are studied through employing the technique of spraying nanosilicon and treatment in the water-diluted nano-SiO2 o...

This study provides a comparison between environmental impacts of the recovery of platinum group metals (PGMs) from the end-of-life catalytic converters by hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical methods. A gate to grave life cycle assessment of a typical three-way catalytic converter manufactured for an Australian passenger car was carried out us...

Automated design methods facilitate the study of the influence of design forms on the buildings' behavior, and help compare the performance of alternative designs more effectively. This paper presents a Unified Matrix Method, as an effective automated method that aids in the search for the best compromised spatial design of multi-story modular buil...

In preliminary layout optimisation problems, it is of great importance how to efficiently represent the structure’s layout so that it could account for the relevant objectives. A unified automated technique is presented for finding the optimum spanning of rectangular floors to simplify the computer-aided conceptual design of multi-storey buildings....

Graph theory based methods are powerful means for representing structural systems so that their geometry and topology can be understood clearly. The combination of graph theory based methods and some metaheuristics can offer effective solutions for complex engineering optimization problems. This paper presents a Charged System Search (CSS) algorith...

In practice, structural optimum geometric design consists of selecting the best combination of a finite number of structural elements and available parameters. It gives the optimum design procedure a combinatorial nature. In this paper, first a bi-objective combinatorial optimisation problem is formulated for the floor spanning design of multi-stor...

The conventional isolation structure with rubber bearings exhibits large deformation characteristics when subjected to infrequent earthquakes, which may lead to failure of the isolation layer. Although passive dampers can be used to reduce the layer displacement, the layer deformation and superstructure acceleration responses will increase in cases...

Shotcrete is now becoming a common area support for ground control in underground construction and tunnels as a stand-alone, or in combination with other support systems such as bolts and screens. Fine dust generated from shotcrete however, involves various risks to the workers’ health and safety. Although dust generation is an inseparable part of...

Pall-typed frictional damper (PFD) has higher capacity of energy dissipation, whereas shape memory alloy (SMA) has excellent superelastic performance. Therefore, combining PFD and SMA together as a brace system has a great prospect in vibration control of structures. This paper investigates the performance of offshore platform with three structural...

Preliminary layout design of buildings has a substantial effect on the ultimate design of structural components and accordingly influences the construction cost. Exploring structurally efficient forms and shapes during the conceptual design stage of a project can also facilitate the optimum integrated design of buildings. This paper presents an aut...

Bridges are fundamental elements in any road network and characterize a major capital asset of community resources. Because of their strategic location over obstacles, any failure may limit and restrict road traffic and cause inconvenience and economic loss. It is therefore important to manage bridge assets, to ensure that all the bridges are maint...

This paper presents an intuitive procedure for the shape and sizing optimizations of open and closed thin-walled steel sections using the graph theory. The goal is to find shapes of optimum mass and strength (bi-objectives). The shape optimization of open sections is treated as a multi-objective all-pairs shortest path problem, while that of closed...

This article presents an automated technique for preliminary layout (conceptual design) optimization of rectilinear, orthogonal building frames in which the shape of the building plan, the number of bays and the size of unsupported spans are variables. It adopts the knapsack problem as the applied combinatorial optimization problem, and describes h...

In this paper, a first-order design sensitivity analysis is presented for dynamics responses of roof sheeting under hailstone impacts. The presented design sensitivity analysis computes the rate of various response changes with respect to the relevant design variable for roof sheeting. For this purpose, exploiting the finite element method, the dep...

The dimensions of trapezoidal roof sheeting supporting solar panels are optimized so that a minimum amount of steel is required for a specific range of wind loads. Sheets of different grades and different thicknesses along with different ranges of wind speeds are considered. In order to simulate the behavior of the corrugated sheets analysis is car...

In many optimum design cases, we look for a set of design variables selected from a given list which assure the optimum of objective function together with satisfaction of the constraints. That is, optimum conceptual design mostly consists of selecting the best combination of a finite number of structural elements and the available parameters. In t...

This paper presents a new methodology for cost optimization of the preliminary layout design of three-dimensional (3D) reinforced concrete (RC) frames. This approach is capable of being easily employed for the optimal layout design of a realistic large RC structure that accounts for constraints imposed by design standards. The new approach consider...

The geometric layout optimization of a structure is a significant stage in a design process, and selecting an appropriate geometric layout can impact all the subsequent stages of the design procedure and the relevant costs. This study presents a heuristic approach for the optimum layout design of two-dimensional reinforced concrete frames in order...

In the design of continuous beams, say bridges, achieving an economical layout is one of the primary objectives, and requires simultaneous consideration of cost and layout variables. This study aims to figure out an explicit methodology for the optimum layout design of multi-span reinforced concrete beams under dynamic loadings in order to optimize...

This paper presents a computer-aided design method for conceptual geometric layout optimization of multispan RC beams for any type of dynamic responses. A key feature of the paper is the development of a new cost-optimization method for geometric layout problems that take both cost parameters and dynamic responses into account to achieve an optimum...

This paper presents a description of a new methodology for the optimum preliminary layout design of reinforced concrete multi-span beams considering the relevant cost elements. First, a new objective function is presented, as an alternative to traditional cost functions for reinforced concrete beams. The ability of being easily employed in layout o...

In this paper, the recently developed meta-heuristic optimization algorithm, known as the charged system search (CSS), is utilized for the problems of facility locations on a network. The CSS is an optimization algorithm that acts on the basis of the interaction between charged particles (CPs) considering the governing laws of Coulomb and Gauss fro...

In this paper the recently developed meta-heuristic optimization method, known as charged system search (CSS), is utilized for optimum nodal ordering to minimize bandwidth and profile of sparse matrices. The CSS is an optimization algorithm, which is based on the governing laws of Coulomb and Gauss from electrostatics and the Newtonian mechanics of...

Purpose For the solution of equations with sparse matrices, the problem of bandwidth reduction is an important issue. Though graph theoretical algorithms are available, the purpose of this paper is to examine the feasibility of ant systems (AS). Design/methodology/approach For band optimization an ant colony algorithm based on AS is utilized. In t...

Efficient application of skyline method for the solution of linear equations arising form finite element analysis, requires a special nodal ordering of their graph models. In this paper a new ant system algorithm is proposed for nodal ordering problem to reduce the profile of sparse matrices. In this algorithm, a local search procedure is included...

Purpose – Medians of a graph have many applications in engineering. Optimal locations for facility centers, distribution of centers and domain decomposition for parallel computation are a few examples of such applications. In this paper, a new ant system (AS) algorithm based on the idea of using two sets of ants, named active and passive ants is pr...

In this paper, nodal ordering for profile reduction is performed using an ant colony optimization. The node priority is expressed as a function of vectors containing the graph connectivity properties. Two methods are proposed for obtaining the priority of nodes to reduce the profile of sparse matrices, which can be viewed as an improvement and exte...

In this paper a simple ant algorithm based on ant system is proposed for nodal ordering problem to reduce the profile of sparse matrices. In this algorithm, a local search procedure is also included to further improve the profiles. The results are compared to those of a graph theoretical profile optimization algorithm. Examples are included to illu...