Overview
Background
Fully funded PhD Scholarship is currently available: https://study.uq.edu.au/study-options/phd-mphil-professional-doctorate/projects/unsteady-turbulence-dynamics-pulsatile-pipe-flow
Dr Navid Freidoonimehr is a Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering within the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering at The University of Queensland and an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Fellow. He completed his PhD at the University of Adelaide in 2021. His research spans biofluid mechanics, cardiovascular haemodynamics, and unsteady/pulsatile flow, with an emphasis on translating engineering insight into clinically meaningful cardiovascular diagnostics.
Navid Freidoonimehr’s research sits at the interface of engineering and clinical practice, with a strong focus on coronary artery physiology. His work integrates computational modelling (e.g., CFD and haemodynamic/diagnostic indices) with experimental fluid mechanics (benchtop flow loops, pressure–flow measurements, and flow visualisation) to quantify how lesions and microvascular resistance shape coronary physiology and how these effects can be captured with improved diagnostic approaches.
Alongside his cardiovascular program, Dr Freidoonimehr leads a DECRA project inspired by human heart pulsation that investigates how controlled flow pulsation can reduce energy consumption in pipelines, aiming to develop practical strategies for more efficient fluid transport in engineered systems. Before joining The University of Queensland, he held research and fellowship positions at the University of Adelaide, as a postdoctoral researcher (2021-2024), and Queensland University of Technology, as a Heart Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow (2024-2025).
Availability
- Dr Navid Freidoonimehr is:
- Available for supervision
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering, Bu-Ali Sina University
- Masters (Coursework) of Mechanical Engineering, Bu-Ali Sina University
- Doctor of Philosophy of Mechanical Engineering, University of Adelaide
Research interests
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Cardiovascular biofluid mechanics
Understanding blood flow in the cardiovascular system is essential for improving diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery disease. This research investigates coronary haemodynamics in diseased arteries, with emphasis on coronary stenosis (including tandem lesions) and microvascular dysfunction/spasm. The work integrates experimental flow-loop studies with computational modelling to develop clinically meaningful physiological and diagnostic insights.
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Pulsatile and unsteady flow
Many natural and engineered systems operate under unsteady or pulsatile conditions, where flow acceleration and phase effects can change losses and transport mechanisms. This research studies pulsatile flow physics using theory, experiments and numerical modelling. Applications range from coronary haemodynamics to engineered fluid systems where pulsation can be leveraged to improve performance.
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Computational and experimental fluid dynamics
Developing robust models and measurements is central to translating fluid dynamics research into impact. This research focuses on combining computational fluid dynamics, reduced-order modelling, and laboratory experiments to quantify complex flows, validate mechanisms, and generate interpretable metrics that support decision-making in biomedical applications.
Research impacts
My research aims to create practical, clinically relevant tools that help improve cardiovascular diagnosis and patient management, especially in conditions where standard measures can be unreliable or incomplete (e.g., microvascular dysfunction/spasm and tandem coronary stenoses).
How it makes a difference:
- Better diagnostic interpretation: I develop hydrodynamic and resistance-based approaches to quantify coronary microvascular behaviour during provocative spasm testing, supporting clearer assessment of vasomotor dysfunction.
- Improved decision-making for complex lesions: My work on tandem stenoses helps clarify how physiology indices (e.g., pressure-based measures) can be affected by lesion interaction and microvascular resistance, information that can guide intervention strategy and reduce uncertainty.
- Translation through clinician–engineer collaboration: My projects are embedded in interdisciplinary teams with cardiology collaborators, enabling research questions and outputs to stay aligned with real clinical workflows and constraints.
Works
Search Professor Navid Freidoonimehr’s works on UQ eSpace
2020
Journal Article
Transitional turbulent flow in a stenosed coronary artery with a physiological pulsatile flow
Freidoonimehr, Navid, Arjomandi, Maziar, Sedaghatizadeh, Nima, Chin, Rey and Zander, Anthony (2020). Transitional turbulent flow in a stenosed coronary artery with a physiological pulsatile flow. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering, 36 (7) e3347, e3347-7. doi: 10.1002/cnm.3347
2020
Journal Article
An experimental model for pressure drop evaluation in a stenosed coronary artery
Freidoonimehr, Navid, Chin, Rey, Zander, Anthony and Arjomandi, Maziar (2020). An experimental model for pressure drop evaluation in a stenosed coronary artery. Physics of Fluids, 32 (2) 021901. doi: 10.1063/1.5139701
2019
Journal Article
Brownian motion effect on heat transfer of a three-dimensional nanofluid flow over a stretched sheet with velocity slip
Freidoonimehr, N. and Rahimi, Asghar B. (2019). Brownian motion effect on heat transfer of a three-dimensional nanofluid flow over a stretched sheet with velocity slip. Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry, 135 (1), 207-222. doi: 10.1007/s10973-018-7060-y
2018
Journal Article
Analytical approximation of MHD nano-fluid flow induced by a stretching permeable surface using Buongiorno's model
Ajam, Hossein, Jafari, Seyed Sajad and Freidoonimehr, Navid (2018). Analytical approximation of MHD nano-fluid flow induced by a stretching permeable surface using Buongiorno's model. Ain Shams Engineering Journal, 9 (4), 525-536. doi: 10.1016/j.asej.2016.03.006
2018
Journal Article
Effect of Heat Transfer on the First and Second Law Efficiency Analysis and Optimization of an Air-standard Atkinson Cycle
Hajipour, A., Rashidi, M. M., Ali, M. E., Freidoonimehr, N. and Fallahian, M. (2018). Effect of Heat Transfer on the First and Second Law Efficiency Analysis and Optimization of an Air-standard Atkinson Cycle. High Temperature, 56 (3), 433-438. doi: 10.1134/S0018151X18030227
2018
Journal Article
Eulerian solution of subcooled flow boiling of nanofluidwater-al2o3 in a sinusoidal vertical channel
Nasiri, Mohammad, Rashidi, Mohammad M., Freidoonimehr, Navid and Abelman, Shirley (2018). Eulerian solution of subcooled flow boiling of nanofluidwater-al2o3 in a sinusoidal vertical channel. Journal of Porous Media, 21 (1), 65-81. doi: 10.1615/JPorMedia.v21.i1.40
2018
Conference Publication
Effect of degree of stenosis on the pulsatile flow pressure drop in a coronary artery
Freidoonimehr, N., Chin, R., Arjomandi, M. and Zander, A. (2018). Effect of degree of stenosis on the pulsatile flow pressure drop in a coronary artery. Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society.
2017
Journal Article
Entropy analysis of convective MHD flow of third grade non-Newtonian fluid over a stretching sheet
Rashidi, M. M., Bagheri, S., Momoniat, E. and Freidoonimehr, N. (2017). Entropy analysis of convective MHD flow of third grade non-Newtonian fluid over a stretching sheet. Ain Shams Engineering Journal, 8 (1), 77-85. doi: 10.1016/j.asej.2015.08.012
2017
Journal Article
Exact-solution of entropy generation for MHD nanofluid flow induced by a stretching/shrinking sheet with transpiration: Dual solution
Freidoonimehr, Navid and Rahimi, Asghar B. (2017). Exact-solution of entropy generation for MHD nanofluid flow induced by a stretching/shrinking sheet with transpiration: Dual solution. Advanced Powder Technology, 28 (2), 671-685. doi: 10.1016/j.apt.2016.12.005
2017
Journal Article
Analytical approximation of heat and mass transfer in MHD non-Newtonian nanofluid flow over a stretching sheet with convective surface boundary conditions
Freidoonimehr, Navid, Rashidi, Mohammad Mehdi, Momenpour, Mohammad Hossein and Rashidi, Saman (2017). Analytical approximation of heat and mass transfer in MHD non-Newtonian nanofluid flow over a stretching sheet with convective surface boundary conditions. International Journal of Biomathematics, 10 (1) 1750008. doi: 10.1142/S1793524517500085
2016
Journal Article
Homotopy simulation of micro-scale flow between rotating disks
Freidoonimehr, N. and Rahimi, Asghar B. (2016). Homotopy simulation of micro-scale flow between rotating disks. Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering, 38 (8), 2333-2344. doi: 10.1007/s40430-014-0286-0
2016
Journal Article
MHD stagnation-point flow past a stretching/shrinking sheet in the presence of heat generation/absorption and chemical reaction effects
Freidoonimehr, N., Rashidi, M. M. and Jalilpour, B. (2016). MHD stagnation-point flow past a stretching/shrinking sheet in the presence of heat generation/absorption and chemical reaction effects. Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering, 38 (7), 1999-2008. doi: 10.1007/s40430-015-0456-8
2016
Journal Article
Comment on "effects of thermophoresis and Brownian motion on nanofluid heat transfer and entropy generation" by M. Mahmoodi, Sh. Kandelousi, Journal of Molecular Liquids, 211 (2015) 15-24
Freidoonimehr, Navid and Rahimi, Asghar B. (2016). Comment on "effects of thermophoresis and Brownian motion on nanofluid heat transfer and entropy generation" by M. Mahmoodi, Sh. Kandelousi, Journal of Molecular Liquids, 211 (2015) 15-24. Journal of Molecular Liquids, 216, 99-102. doi: 10.1016/j.molliq.2016.01.007
2016
Journal Article
MHD stagnation point flow heat and mass transfer of nanofluids in porous medium with radiation, viscous dissipation and chemical reaction
Mabood, F., Shateyi, S., Rashidi, M. M., Momoniat, E. and Freidoonimehr, N. (2016). MHD stagnation point flow heat and mass transfer of nanofluids in porous medium with radiation, viscous dissipation and chemical reaction. Advanced Powder Technology, 27 (2), 742-749. doi: 10.1016/j.apt.2016.02.033
2016
Journal Article
Performance evaluation of an irreversible Miller cycle comparing FTT (finite-time thermodynamics) analysis and ANN (artificial neural network) prediction
Mousapour, Ashkan, Hajipour, Alireza, Rashidi, Mohammad Mehdi and Freidoonimehr, Navid (2016). Performance evaluation of an irreversible Miller cycle comparing FTT (finite-time thermodynamics) analysis and ANN (artificial neural network) prediction. Energy, 94, 100-109. doi: 10.1016/j.energy.2015.10.073
2016
Journal Article
Analytical modeling of MHD flow over a permeable rotating disk in the presence of soret and dufour effects: Entropy analysis
Freidoonimehr, Navid, Rashidi, Mohammad Mehdi, Abelman, Shirley and Lorenzini, Giulio (2016). Analytical modeling of MHD flow over a permeable rotating disk in the presence of soret and dufour effects: Entropy analysis. Entropy, 18 (5) 131, 131. doi: 10.3390/e18050131
2015
Journal Article
Study of nonlinear MHD tribological squeeze film at generalized magnetic reynolds numbers using DTM
Rashidi, Mohammad Mehdi, Freidoonimehr, Navid, Momoniat, Ebrahim and Rostami, Behnam (2015). Study of nonlinear MHD tribological squeeze film at generalized magnetic reynolds numbers using DTM. PLoS ONE, 10 (8) e0135004. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0135004
2015
Journal Article
Second law of thermodynamics analysis of hydro-magnetic nano-fluid slip flow over a stretching permeable surface
Jafari, Seyed Sajad and Freidoonimehr, Navid (2015). Second law of thermodynamics analysis of hydro-magnetic nano-fluid slip flow over a stretching permeable surface. Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering, 37 (4), 1245-1256. doi: 10.1007/s40430-014-0250-z
2015
Journal Article
Analytical modeling of entropy generation for Casson nano-fluid flow induced by a stretching surface
Abolbashari, Mohammad Hossein, Freidoonimehr, Navid, Nazari, Foad and Rashidi, Mohammad Mehdi (2015). Analytical modeling of entropy generation for Casson nano-fluid flow induced by a stretching surface. Advanced Powder Technology, 26 (2), 542-552. doi: 10.1016/j.apt.2015.01.003
2015
Journal Article
Dual solutions for MHD Jeffery-Hamel nano-fluid flow in non-parallel walls using Predictor Homotopy Analysis Method
Freidoonimehr, N. and Rashidi, M. M. (2015). Dual solutions for MHD Jeffery-Hamel nano-fluid flow in non-parallel walls using Predictor Homotopy Analysis Method. Journal of Applied Fluid Mechanics, 8 (4), 911-919. doi: 10.18869/acadpub.jafm.67.223.23941
Funding
Current funding
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Navid Freidoonimehr is:
- Available for supervision
Looking for a supervisor? Read our advice on how to choose a supervisor.
Available projects
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Unsteady turbulence dynamics in pulsatile pipe flow
A fully funded PhD scholarship is available for a domestic student to undertake research in experimental fluid mechanics, with a focus on the physics of turbulent pulsatile pipe flow.
Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
FUNCTIONAL INVESTIGATION OF CORONARY ARTERIES WITH TANDEM LESIONS
Principal Advisor
Media
Enquiries
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