PhD in Engineering, Cardiff University, UK (2014 - 2018)
- Identify technical and conceptual challenges that limit the current understanding of soft tissues
- Forge multi-disciplinary collaborations to identify novel and innovative methodologies to derive new and valuable experimental data
- Design novel investigations and experimental rigs to enable focused interrogation of soft tissue biomechanical behaviour
- Present and publish data in peer-reviewed journals and leading international conferences
BEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering, University of Salford, UK (2009 - 2013)
- 1st Class (Honours) undergraduate degree awarded
- The major project focussed on industrial management and composite failure criteria, with important concepts relating to multi-material modelling being transferable in considering soft tissue mechanics
- Relevant theories studied included: Solid mechanics, experimental theory and designs, data analysis, emerging technologies, hyper-elastic and viscoelastic material behaviour, statistical analysis
Diploma in Professional Studies, University of Salford, UK (2011 - 2012)
- Evidence of a professional approach to industrial experience opportunity embedded within the degree programme
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of disability and death in the UK and worldwide. The British Heart Foundation estimate CVD causes a £19bn annual economic impact when considering the cost of premature death, lost productivity, hospital treatment and prescriptions. Normal growth and remodelling, because of ageing, is an underpinning phenomenon in all forms of CVD.
A child will have a greater capacity for homeostatic, adaptive changes in myocardial compliance and ventricular pump function as compared to an elderly individual with an aged, stiffer heart. The prevalence of acquired heart disease (e.g. coronary heart disease, which can lead to myocardial infarction), particularly in the elderly population, means that this is the dominant public health problem in our society. Computational modelling provides a platform for forward and inverse analysis of cardiac mechanics with fluid-structure interaction (FSI) enabling the integration of multi-scalar structure-function, and fluidic, data. Combined with the ever-increasing computational power, FSI presents an emerging opportunity for investigating CVD-based, patient-specific interventions. Such personalised procedures have already delivered enhanced outcomes across other clinical specialities (e.g. Trauma & Orthopaedics).
This emerging capability is being exploited to enhance CVD understanding, with examples including improved knowledge of myocardial infarction, evaluation of novel graft materials, and assessing the vulnerabilities of atherosclerotic arteries to plaque. The value of such simulations is a function of accurately representing tissue behaviour, via constitutive models; however, there are no established clinical protocols for measuring these properties in vivo, necessitating mathematical approximations. The anisotropic, hyperelastic mechanical response of normal myocardial tissue is now represented using several structure-based constitutive models. Phenomenological models derived from the Fung-based exponential constitutive framework reproduce transversely isotropic or orthotropic mechanical behaviour, motivated by knowledge of the gross microstructure and stress-strain relationships measured from excised myocardium.
Other sophisticated constitutive models such as Ogden, Holzapfel and Gasser include 2D and 3D fibre dispersion, fibre dispersion with rotational symmetry, and non-symmetric fibre dispersion. Some of these laws have been extended to consider growth and remodelling (G&R) phenomenologically, to provide a measure of age-specific behaviour (critical for patient-specific simulation). The development of new G&R viscoelastic constitutive models to enable the prediction of age-specific tissue properties is currently limited by a paucity of underlying experimental data. Generating new experimentally based G&R laws promises to enable the simulation of age-specific tissue behaviour and thereby unlock a revolution in patient-specific cardiac treatment.
Dr Faizan Ahmad's research is focussing on generating these age-specific experimental data, via biomechanical, macro-and-microstructural, and histochemical analyses. These novel data will enable the development of sophisticated age-dependent constitutive models, based on the adaptive G & R that occurred from neonatal to adulthood. Such models will accurately simulate the heart tissue at a specific age, which should prove valuable to other researchers, bioengineers, and clinicians to develop novel interventions and treatments for CVD.
Industrial positions
SAVIOUR ENGINEERING SERVICES LTD, Derbyshire UK – Project Engineer (2013 – 2014)
- Water treatment and Sewage treatment pipework design
- Industrial Pipework design, Producing BOMs / drawings
- Stress analysis/Flow simulation analysis
- Design Sustainability Report
- High-level Design/Installation analysis, calculations, and factors of safety
DIRINLER DOKUM (Manufactures of BOSCH AND SIEMENS), Izmir Turkey – Design and Stress Engineer (2011 – 2012)
- Designing of the gearbox of the ship for Siemens Germany
- Designing of gearbox of the windmill for Siemens Germany
- Stress and deformation analysis
- Quality control
AYMAS RECYCLING MACHINERY, Izmir Turkey– Design and Stress Engineer (2011)
- Reverse Engineering of Recycling machine
- Stress and Deformation Analysis
- Quality control
ATALAN Group (AEROSPACE AND AUTOMOTIVE), Izmir Turkey– Design and Stress Engineer (2011)
- Designing Revetec Engine Parts
- Stress Analysis
- Piston and Crank Shaft Analysis
- Aircraft interior stress analysis for Turkish Airlines
