Akbar Pirmoz, PhD, PE

Dr. Pirmoz has nearly two decades of experience in structural engineering and related academic research. He is the president and founder of the company. Before launching Pirmoz Structural Engineering in 2021, he was a project manager at a structural engineering firm in Washington D.C. and was involved with several challenging projects across Mid-Atlantic region and other parts of the world. His engineering experience ranges from microstructure analysis of materials to earthquake-resistant design of tall buildings which covers structural design, performance evaluation, seismic retrofit, construction administration and forensic engineering of a wide spectrum of projects including tall buildings, hospitals, residential and historic buildings, industrial facilities, retaining walls and deep foundations. Many of these projects have been designed against extreme loads such as earthquakes, progressive collapse and flood, demanding advanced structural analyses. One of his featured projects is the structural design of a 36-story hospital with nearly 1.9 million sq.ft. of floor area with steel plate shear walls, special moment resisting frames and rotational friction dampers. His research in structural and earthquake engineering, including material science, steel connections & members, progressive collapse, damped vibration, seismic reliability as well as displacement-based seismic design has been published in several academic journals and conference proceedings. Envisioning the future of high performance materials, he completed his Ph.D. dissertation on the computational simulation of mechanical and electromechanical response of Carbon Nanotube Fibers. He has programmed several finite-element structural analyses codes to overcome the computational limitations of common commercial engineering software in some of his works. He has lectured on Applied Computational Methods in Civil Engineering, a graduate course, at the Catholic University of America (CUA) and on Construction of Metal Buildings at Kamal University. He is also a member of the intelligent material research team at CUA. He is a licensed professional engineer in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.

A+F Engineers Inc. Washington DC, (2017 - 2021):

- University of Delaware Biophar. Innovation Building, 7-story - 200,000 ft2 (structural design & CA)

- Maritime center of excellence in Connecticut, architecturally iconic - 20,000 ft2 (structural design)

- Jacksonville University Basketball Training Center, FL. 14,000 ft2 (structural design & CA)

- University of Pittsburgh transplant building, 2-story - 20,000 ft2 (structural design & CA)

- Retrofit of the historic roof system of the Ford manufactory in Pittsburgh, (structural design & CA)

- Old Congress Heights School, 31,250 sf elementary school, Washington DC, (design review & CA)

- Sand-shed facility for Dulles airport, VA, (structural design)

- WAMATA commercial building, 15-story, (design review of concrete shear walls)

- Georgetown University Law School, Washington DC, (damage assessment of parking floors)

- Audi Field stadium, roof solar panels (design review)

- Finite-Element-Based design of the transfer girder supporting the heaviest column of Audi Field

Projects with non-discloser agreements:

- Existing +25-story residential building, (structural performance evaluation)

- Existing commercial building, single story, VA, (structural performance evaluation)

- An environmental facility with impaired functionality (forensic engineering)

The EOR for these projects was Mr. Dimitrios Frantzis.  

Catholic University of America, Washington DC (research assistant: 2015 - 2017):

- Application of Martian regolith in designing a crew habitat on planet Mars;

- Directing a group of students in their senior design project: structural design of a 12-story building;

- Progressive collapse analysis of post-tensioned and semi-rigid steel frames;

B. A. T. Company, Tehran, Iran; (2013 - 2015):

- Atieh II hospital: 36-story with a total floor area of about 1.9 million ft2. in Tehran, Iran.

- Damoon Darya Hotel, 20-story building - 200,000 ft2. Kish Island in the Persian Gulf. (design review)

- Two residential buildings, 16 & 7-story, special steel moment-resisting systems, Tehran.

- T.A.T Cancer Center, a 16-story hospital in Tehran, design-development phase.

- Jamaran residential building, Tehran, 7-story - 38,400 ft2., (seismic retrofit)

Karshive Faraz Consulting Eng., Tehran, Iran (2011 - 2013):

- Rushd educational-cultural complex in Qoom city - 376,600 ft2. (structural design)

- Ozgol educational-cultural complex in Ozgol district of Tehran - 269,000 ft2. (design review)

- Ozgol mosque (complex architectural design), Ozgol - Tehran - 58,000 ft2. (structural design)

- Ozgol educational center admin building, 9-story Ozgol - Tehran - 23,600 ft2. (design review)

- Zaafaranieh residential, a luxurious building, Tehran, 8-story - 43,000 ft2. Steel framing was considered to carry the gravity loads and composite shear walls (concrete shear walls with embeded steel columns at both ends) were used to resist earthquake loads. The structural design was through Perfromance Based Design concept and using nonlinear pushover analysis of the strucutre. A nonlinear finite element model was created for the analysis of the composite shear walls of the building. The modeling approach was verified using the published laboratory test results of this type of shear wall. 

Naghsh Afarin Mehraaz Consulting Eng., Tehran, Iran (2008 - 2011):

- 540-unit complex, Mashhad city, 12-story - 72,650 ft2. (structural design)

- 708-unit complex, Arak city, 12-story - 74,500 ft2. (structural design)

- 440-unit residential complex, Torbat-e Heydarieh city, 6-story - 43,000 ft2 (structural design)

- Roodaki complex, Urmia city, two 15-story buildings - 120,000 ft2 (structural design)

- Ahmadi residential building, Urmia city, 9-story - 11,480 ft2. (structural design)

School Renovation Organization, Urmia, Iran (2006 - 2008):

- One to four-story school buildings with various plan designs; (Structural design & CA)

- Athletic building, Ushnavieh, Iran (structural design & CA)

- Several retaining walls, Urmia city, (design)

- Also performed retrofit design review of a few exiting school buildings and structural design review of several new school buildings designed by other consulting engineers, West Azerbaijan province

Naghsh Afarin Mehraaz Consulting Eng., Tehran, Iran (2004 - 2006):

- Chabahar residential complex, Chabahar, Iran, 5-story - 53,170 ft2 (structural design)

- Telecommunication Office Building, Urmia, (Seismic retrofit)

Projects for other companies and individual clients (2003-2015):

- Commercial complex, Tehran, 33-Story - 374,400 ft2 (structural design)

- Mirdamad commercial complex, Tehran, 27-Story - 252,800 ft2 (structural design) 

(The credit for the structural design of the above two projects is shared with Dr. Mohammadrezapour. These projects had steel special moment and concentrically braced frames as the lateral load resisting system)

- Hotel Rassan, Tehran, 16-Story - 69,300 ft2 (structural design for Emarat Khorshid Consulting Engineers)

- Seven-Story residential with special reinforced concrete moment resisting frames- 11,860 ft2 (for Mr. K Dehghan)

- Parand residential complex, two buildings with reinforced concrete tunnel-form construction, Tehran, 18-story - 173,300 ft2 & 148,700 ft2(structural design)

-Commercial building in Mahabad, 4-story concrete

- Bazarbash Mosque, Urmia, (structural design)

- Water reservoir in Arak, (structural design)

- Tekab city water refinery facility, (structural design)

- Mehri commercial complex, existing building, 7-story - 26,900 ft2 (Seismic retrofit)

- Urmia Tourist Hotel, 6-story - 53,125 ft2 (Seismic retrofit and feasibility study of adding four new stories)

- Telecommunication Office Building of Khoy and Salmas cities, (Seismic retrofit)

- Urmia Grand Mosque, historic buildings (stress analysis)

- Historic Bardook mosque, Urmia, (crack analysis and rehabilitation)

- Duraqi historical house, Shushtar, Iran, (stress analysis)

- Imamzadeh Ebrahim historic holly shrine, Urmia (crack analysis and rehabilitation)

- Saint Thaddeus historic cathedral, Chalderan, (seismic and stress analysis)

- Seismic retrofit design of a set of five seven-story reinforced concrete residential buildings through nonlinear static pushover analysis and using concrete shear walls

- Seismic retrofit design review for seven fire station buildings

- Not included in the list, are seismic retrofit and structural design of numerous low-rise residential buildings, industrial buildings, pipe racks and other small projects.

1. Simulation of mechanical response of carbon nanotube yarns under uniaxial tensile loading

A Pirmoz, JL Abot, F Avilés

Mechanics of Materials 165, 104144 (2022).

2. Computational Modeling of Mechanical and Piezoresistive Response of Carbon Nanotube Yarns

A Pirmoz

The Catholic University of America (2022)

3. Meso-Scale Computational Simulation of Mechanical Response of Carbon Nanotube Yarns

A Pirmoz, JL Abot, JC Anike

Proceedings of the American Society for Composites—Thirty-third Technical …(2018)

4. Direct displacement-based seismic design of semi-rigid steel frames

A Pirmoz, MM Liu

Journal of Constructional Steel Research 128, 201-209 (2017)

5. Finite element modeling and capacity analysis of post-tensioned steel frames against progressive collapse

A Pirmoz, MM Liu

Engineering Structures 126, 446-456 (2016)

6. Energy-based pulldown analysis for assessing the progressive collapse potential of steel frame buildings

MM Liu, A Pirmoz

Engineering Structures 123, 372-378 (2016)

7. Finite element analysis of extended stiffened end plate link‐to‐column connections

A Pirmoz, P Ahadi, V Farajkhah

Steel Construction 9 (1), 46-57 (2016)

8. On designing of partially restrained bolted angle connections

A Pirmoz

Iranian Journal of Structural Engineering 3 (1), 34-39 (2016)

9. Shear response of castellated steel beams

P Pourbehi, A Pirmoz

International journal of steel structures 15 (2), 389-399 (2015)

10. Load carrying capacity of composite castellated beams

SM Zahrai, B Purdel, A Pirmoz

1st International and 5th National Conference of Steel & Structure, At …(2015)

11. Reliability assessment of compression columns in seismic EBFs

A Pirmoz, MS Marefat

Journal of Constructional Steel Research 104, 274-281 (2014)

12. Nonlinear analysis of damped semi-rigid frames considering moment–shear interaction of connections

R Attarnejad, A Pirmoz

International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 81, 165-173 (2014)

13. Seismic performance of semi-rigid frames with connection dampers

R Attarnejad, MR Ghareshiran, A Pirmoz (2014)

14. A new element for dynamic analysis of non-prismatic semi-rigid frames

R Attarnejad, A Pirmoz

Iranian Journal of Structural Engineering 1 (1), 63-68 (2014)

15. Beam‐attached steel plate shear walls

A Pirmoz

The Structural Design of Tall and Special Buildings 21 (12), 879-895 (2012)

16. The effect of axial beam force on moment–rotation curve of top and seat angels connections

A Pirmoz, F Danesh, V Farajkhah

The Structural Design of Tall and Special Buildings 20 (7), 767-783 (2011)

17. Assessment of load carrying capacity of castellated steel beams by neural networks

S Gholizadeh, A Pirmoz, R Attarnejad

Journal of Constructional Steel Research 67 (5), 770-779 (2011)

18. Performance of bolted angle connections in progressive collapse of steel frames

A Pirmoz

The Structural Design of Tall and Special Buildings 20 (3), 349-370 (2011)

19. Performance of the PR connections under combined Axial-tension and moment loading

A Pirmoz, MM Ahmadi, E Valadi, V Farajkhah, SR Balanoji

Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering 10, 66-73 (2010)

20. The seat angle role on moment-rotation response of bolted angle connections

A Pirmoz, F Danesh

Electronic journal of structural engineering 9, 73-79 (2009)

21. Moment–rotation behavior of bolted top–seat angle connections

A Pirmoz, AS Khoei, E Mohammadrezapour, AS Daryan

Journal of Constructional Steel Research 65 (4), 973-984 (2009)

22. A study of the effect of infilled brick walls on behavior of eccentrically braced frames using explicit finite elements method

AS Daryan, M Ziaei, A Golafshar, A Pirmoz, MA Assareh

American J. of Engineering and Applied Sciences 2 (1), 96-104 (2009)

23. Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis of Semi-Rigid Frames with Bolted Angle Connections

EM M. Mirtaheri, A. Pirmoz

8th International Congress on Civil Engineering, May 11-13, Shiraz …(2009)

24. Behavior of bolted angle connections subjected to combined shear force and moment

A Pirmoz, AS Daryan, A Mazaheri, HE Darbandi

Journal of Constructional Steel Research 64 (4), 436-446 (2008)

25. Nonlinear behavior of castellated beams subjected to moment gradient loading

A Pirmoz, AS Daryan

Special Report, Civ. Eng. Dept., Toosi Univ. Technology (2008)

26. Behavior of bolted top-seat angle connection under combined axial tension and moment loading

EM A. Pirmoz

The 14th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Beijing, China (2008)

27. Behavior of Top-Seat Angle Connections under Combined Tension-Moment Loading

A Pirmoz

1st International Conference on Seismic Retrofitting, Tabriz-Iran (2008)

28. Upgrading of bolted top-seat angle connections performance Adding double web angles

A Pirmoz

1st International Conference on Seismic Retrofitting, Tabriz-Iran (2008)

29. Self-organizing parallel back propagation neural networks for predicting the moment-rotation behavior of bolted connections

E Salajegheh, S Gholizadeh, A Pirmoz

Asian Journal of Civil Engineering 9 (6), 625-640 (2008)

30. Effect of shear force on the initial stiffness of top and seat angle connections with double web angles

F Danesh, A Pirmoz, AS Daryan

Journal of Constructional Steel Research 63 (9), 1208-1218 (2007)

31. Numerical modeling of top and seat angle connections with double web angles

F Danesh, A Pirmoz

9th Canadian conference on earthquake engineering. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (2007)

32. Numerical modeling of bolted angle connections under cyclic loads

ASD A. Pirmoz

5th International Conference on Seismology and Earthquake Engineering (2007)

33. 3D finite element modeling of bolted angle connections under monotonic and cyclic loads

EM A. Pirmoz, A. Saedi Darian

3rd National Congress on Civil Engineering ,(3NCCE, in Persian) (2007)

34. Nonlinear Behavior of Castellated Beams Subjected to Moment Gradient Loading

ASD B . Asgarian, A. Pirmoz

5th International Conference on Seismology and Earthquake Engineering …(2007)

35. Predicting of moment--rotation behavior of bolted connections using neural networks

A Pirmoz, S Gholizadeh

3rd national congress on civil engineering 9, 1881-1886 (2007)

36. Evaluation of nonlinear behavior of bolted connections under dynamic loads

A Pirmoz

M. Sc. thesis, Tehran (Iran): KN Toosi University (2006)

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Zarrin Azar

With a Bachelor's Degree in urban design and experience in fashion and interior design, Ms. Azar has several rules in the company. Her imperative role focuses on setting business developments goals, allocating company’s resources and collaborating in our projects as a BIM specialist.

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