About
Expert consultant/witness in over 100 cases with testimony/trial experience. Dr. Barzegar is a licensed professional engineer providing a broad range of services in civil/structural engineering and construction forensics to insurance companies and law firms, construction, energy, mining, and technology industries, utilities, wineries, engineering and architectural firms, governmental and educational institutions, property owners and individuals. With over 30 years of experience in engineering and forensic consulting, structural design, construction project management, university teaching and research, Dr. Barzegar has provided clients with structural analysis and design, condition assessment, damage investigations, failure analysis, construction consulting & management, and expert testimony.
Dr. Barzegar's experience includes buildings, bridges, power plant cooling towers and off-shore steel platforms subjected to earthquakes and extreme winds; investigation of damage in industrial facilities, storage tanks, grain silos, and underground water conduits; blast in underground coal mines; explosion in a chemical plant; effect of demolition, pile driving, and new construction on adjacent structures; single and multi-family residential, commercial and historic buildings, excessive floor vibrations, cracking, settlement, wind, fire, and flooding damage; distress in foundations, retaining walls, slabs and pavements; evaluation of defective concrete/shotcrete/terrazzo and other construction materials; destructive/non-destructive testing; water intrusion damage; contract disputes, accidents, personal/property damage, and failures during construction, amongst others.
Prior to founding Habitat Engineering & Forensics, Dr. Barzegar held positions at Zolman Construction & Development, Struct-Tech Group (design-build company), Rutherford & Chekene Consulting Engineers, and Exponent Failure Analysis Associates in San Francisco Bay Area, California. He has also held faculty positions at Structural Engineering Department of the University of New South Wales (Sydney-Australia) and the Civil Engineering Department at Louisiana State University.
Dr. Barzegar holds a Ph.D. in civil/structural engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and has authored/co-authored over 43 technical articles & reports. He is the recipient of the Alfred Noble Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) for a meritorious technical paper published in the Journal of Structural Engineering. He has also served as an Associate Editor of the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering, and currently serves as a reviewer for a number of technical journals. Dr. Barzegar is a member of several professional organizations including Structural Engineering Institute of ASCE, Forensic Expert Witness Association, American Concrete Institute, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Structural Engineers Association of Northern California, American Institute of Steel Construction, International Code Council, California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Safety Assessment Program Volunteer), California Preservation Foundation, and The Institution of Engineers-Australia.
SPECIALIZATION
- Civil/Structural Engineering & Construction Forensics — Expert Consulting/Witness; Insurance Claims; Third-Party- & Peer-Reviews.
- Condition/Vulnerability/Damage Assessment & Failure Analysis — Buildings, Bridges, Industrial Installations, Towers & Chimneys, Containment/Pressure Vessels, Offshore Platforms, Grain & Granular Material Silos, Elevated Equipment, Cranes, Conduits & Pipelines, Underground Tunneling/Mining Operations, Seals/Stoppings in Coal Mines, Earth-Retaining Structures, Foundations, Slabs & Pavements; Instrumentation & Monitoring
- Construction/Installation Defects/Accidents — Effect of Demolition, Pile Driving, and Trenching on Existing Facilities; Cracking and Settlement Damage; Water Intrusion; Contract Disputes
- Code Compliance; Errors and Omissions; Standards of Care; OSHA Standards
- Premises Liability; Slip-Trip-Fall Accidents (Testing; Coefficient of Friction)
- Engineering Mechanics — Linear/Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis for Extreme/Accidental Events (Seismic, Wind, Explosion, Vibrations, Thermal Effects); Concrete & Composite Materials; Destructive and Nondestructive Testing
- Product/Component Design/Liability Investigations; Failure Simulation and Reconstruction
- Building/Construction Product Evaluation — Structural Components/Materials, Cementitious Products (Concrete, Terrazzo, Repair Materials); Testing/Analysis
- Intellectual Property and Patent Infringement Issues
- Building & Support-Structure Analysis/Design/Construction — Residential, Commercial and Industrial, Blast & Fire-Resistant Installations, Equipment/Piping Support Structures, Fall Protection Systems, Vibration/Earthquake Hazard Evaluation & Retrofit Design; Steel, Concrete, Wood, Brick, Masonry, and Adobe Construction; Remediation & Construction Management