Dr Ali Nokhbatolfoghahai

PhD, MSc, BSc

  • Lecturer in Digital Twins
Ali Nokhbatolfoghahai

Background:

Ali Nokhbatolfoghahai is a Lecturer in Digital Twins in the Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering at Â鶹ֱ²¥ University.

Before joining Â鶹ֱ²¥ University in 2026, he was a Research Associate in the Department of Aeronautics at Imperial College London, where he worked on UKRI-funded research focused on structural health monitoring and digital twin technologies for advanced composite structures, in collaboration with Rolls-Royce and the National Composites Centre (NCC). His research involved the development of acoustic emission and ultrasonic sensing approaches for damage detection and characterisation, with particular applications to composite pressure vessels and aerospace structures.

Prior to Imperial, Ali was a Postdoctoral Researcher at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), where he worked on automated inspection and structural health monitoring of composite structures, including the development of ultrasonic and data-driven methods for wind turbine blade inspection.

He received his PhD in Aerospace Engineering from Sharif University of Technology. During his doctoral studies, he spent one year (2018–2019) at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), where he conducted part of his PhD research.

Ali’s research focuses on the development of intelligent and trustworthy Digital Twins for structural integrity and health monitoring of advanced engineering structures. His work combines experimental mechanics, structural dynamics, ultrasonic NDT, structural health monitoring, physics-based modelling and artificial intelligence, with particular interests in real-time structural state estimation, physics-informed AI, adaptive Digital Twins and intelligent sensing.

Academic Background:

  • PhD in Aerospace Engineering, Sharif University of Technology (doctoral research partly undertaken at TU Delft)
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, Aerospace Department, Delft University of Technology (2020–2023)
  • Research Associate, Aeronautics Department, Imperial College London (2023–2026)

Qualifications:

  • PhD in Aerospace Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Iran
  • MSc in Aerospace Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Iran
  • BSc in Aerospace Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Iran

Outline of main research interests:

My research focuses on the development of intelligent and trustworthy Digital Twins for structural integrity monitoring and lifecycle assessment of advanced engineering structures. I am particularly interested in combining physics-based modelling, experimental sensing, and artificial intelligence to enable Digital Twins that can continuously monitor, update, and adapt as structural condition evolves.

My main research interests include:

  • Digital Twins for structural health monitoring and lifecycle assessment
  • Ultrasonic and acoustic emission NDT/SHM
  • Physics-informed and data-driven AI for structural integrity assessment
  • Adaptive and uncertainty-aware Digital Twins
  • Intelligent sensing and Edge AI for scalable SHM
  • Structural dynamics, experimental mechanics and vibration-based monitoring
  • Advanced composite structures

Selected Publications:

  • Nokhbatolfoghahai, A. et al. (2022). “Use of Dictionary Learning for Damage Localization in Complex Structures.” Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 180, 109394.
  • Nokhbatolfoghahai, A. et al. (2020). “Using the Hybrid DAS-SR Method for Damage Localization in Composite Plates.” Composite Structures, 247, 112420.
  • Nokhbatolfoghahai, A. et al. (2021). “Evaluation of Sparse Reconstruction and Delay-and-Sum Damage Imaging Methods for Structural Health Monitoring under Different Environmental and Operational Conditions.” Measurement, 169, 108495.
  • Cheng, L., Nokhbatolfoghahai, A. et al. (2025). “Data-Level Fusion of Acoustic Emission Sensors Using Deep Learning.” Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, 36(2), 77–96

External collaborators:

  • Imperial College London
  • Delft University of Technology (TU Delft)
  • Rolls-Royce
  • National Composites Centre (NCC)
  • University of Bristol
  • University of Gent

External roles and appointments:

  • Honorary Researcher, Department of Aeronautics, Imperial College London