Academic record
Research, publication, and teaching — from the 2008 master's thesis to the current graduate seminars at the University of Tehran.
In-Plane Behaviour of Unreinforced Masonry Infill in Existing Reinforced-Concrete Frames
MSc, Structural Engineering · University of Tehran, School of Civil Engineering · 2008 · Supervisor: Supervisor name to confirm
Iranian building stock from the 1960s through the 1980s is dominated by reinforced-concrete frames with unreinforced masonry infill. Design practice of the period treated the infill as non-structural — a partition, carrying no load and contributing no stiffness. Under lateral demand it behaves as neither.
The thesis assembled in-plane test data from twelve infilled frame specimens and compared measured stiffness contribution against the values assumed by the codes in force at the time of construction. The gap was consistent and directional: infill raised initial stiffness enough to attract shear the bounding columns were never detailed to carry, then failed in a brittle mode that removed the contribution abruptly once drift passed a threshold.
The practical conclusion carried into the work that followed: assessment of an existing frame cannot treat its infill as absent, and retrofit that ignores the infill's stiffness contribution misplaces the demand it is trying to relieve.
Publications
- 2025
Post-Retrofit Drift Demand in Occupied Residential Buildings: Evidence from Four Staged Interventions
Fatemi, A. · Iranian Journal of Structural Engineering · Journal
- 2024
Sequencing Seismic Retrofit Around Occupancy: A Site-Data Method
Fatemi, A. · National Conference on Earthquake Engineering and Seismology, Tehran · Conference
- 2023
FRP Confinement of Under-Capacity Columns in 1970s Reinforced-Concrete Frames
Fatemi, A. · Journal of Building Rehabilitation · Journal
- 2023
Reading an Existing Structure: Assessment Before Intervention
Fatemi, A. · Practice Notes on Structural Retrofit, University of Tehran Press · Book chapter
- 2022
Steel Eccentric Bracing in Stair Cores: Capacity Gain and Circulation Cost
Fatemi, A. · Iranian Journal of Structural Engineering · Journal
- 2021
Construction-Management Constraints as Structural Design Inputs
Fatemi, A. · National Congress on Civil Engineering, Tehran · Conference
- 2019
Masonry Infill Contribution to Lateral Stiffness in Mid-Rise Concrete Frames
Fatemi, A. · Journal of Building Rehabilitation · Journal
- 2018
Heritage Fabric and Current Code: Retrofit Strategy for Bazaar-Type Masonry
Fatemi, A. · Journal of Architectural Conservation Studies · Journal
- 2016
Quality-Control Failures in Residential Concrete: A Field Survey
Fatemi, A. · National Conference on Concrete Technology, Tehran · Conference
- 2013
Shear Assessment of Existing Concrete Columns Under Revised Soil Classification
Fatemi, A. · Iranian Journal of Structural Engineering · Journal
- 2011
In-Plane Behaviour of Unreinforced Masonry Infill: Experimental Results
Fatemi, A. · Journal of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering · Journal
Teaching
- Structural Retrofit of Existing Buildings2019–present
- Assessment before intervention: reading an existing structure's history and damage, establishing capacity, and choosing a retrofit strategy the building can actually be built through.University of Tehran, School of Civil Engineering · Graduate
- Construction Management and Contract Administration2019–present
- Scheduling, cost control, and contract administration taught from project records rather than standard forms — including the cases where the contract was the thing that failed.University of Tehran, School of Civil Engineering · Graduate
- Reinforced Concrete Design II2021–present
- Detailing and capacity design, with the code read alongside built examples of what its provisions were written in response to.University of Tehran, School of Civil Engineering · Undergraduate
- Site Practice Seminar2020–present
- A term of site visits and drawing reviews on active projects, closing the distance between what the drawing specifies and what the site builds.University of Tehran, School of Civil Engineering · Undergraduate
Supervision & tutoring
Since 2021 the practice has supervised nine master's theses at the University of Tehran, most drawing their case data from live retrofit projects rather than laboratory specimens. Students work on buildings that are being assessed anyway, which means their measurements are checked against an intervention that actually happens.
Weekly tutoring runs alongside the taught courses — roughly forty sessions a term, held in small groups and open to undergraduates outside the courses listed above. The sessions are deliberately unstructured: students bring the calculation, the drawing, or the site photograph they are stuck on.
Supervision extends past the defence where it is useful. Several former students now work on projects the office manages, and the thesis data from those years continues to feed the published retrofit case record.