Bala Ashtakala, PhD

Professor Emeritus, P.Eng., F.ASCE, Professor, Building, Civil, and Environmental Engineering

Biography ∨  Teaching activities ∨  Publications ∨  Participation activities ∨  

Dr. Bala Ashtakala obtained his B.E. degree from University of Madras, M.E. degree from University of Roorkee, India and Ph.D. degree from University of Waterloo, Ontario. He teaches Transportation Engineering courses and conducts research in Transportation Engineering. He is a Professional Engineer in Alberta and a Fellow of American Society of Civil Engineers. He has been with Concordia University since 1982.

He served as an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Civil Engineering at G.N. Engineering College of Punjab University, India.

Dr. Ashtakala received his Ph.D. degree in civil engineering at the University of Waterloo, Ontario in 1969. He was a post- doctorate fellow at the University of Alberta from 1968-1969. He served as Planning Studies engineer and Head of the transportation modelling section from 1969 to 1982 in the Department of Highways, Government of Alberta. He was involved in several major transportation projects, and pioneered the application of computer programs for transportation planning.

Dr. Ashtakala was appointed Associate Professor at Concordia University in 1982 as a specialist in Transportation Engineering. He has published a number of research papers in reputed international journals and presented papers in conferences worldwide. He has chaired several conference sessions in Canada and India. He has given a number of invited lectures in Canada, Japan and India. He has supervised several Master's and Ph.D. students.

Dr. Ashtakala has been serving on several committees of the Transportation Association of Canada and received the Chairman's Award for his contributions to the Strategic Modelling Committee.

He has given 60 media interviews on various transportation topics for TV and radio talk shows, as well as newspaper articles, in Montreal and abroad. He is a professional engineer in Alberta and a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), New York.

Research

Research in Transportation Engineering and Design

• Transportation systems modeling
• Transportation of commodities and hazardous materials
• Pavement design for highways

Undergraduate courses

• CIVI 341 - Civil Engineering Systems
• CIVI 372 - Transportation Engineering
• CIVI 471 - Highway and Pavement Design
• CIVI 474 - Transportation Planning & Design

Graduate courses

• CIVI 6411 - Transportation Planning and Design
• CIVI 6451 - Pavement Design
• CIVI 6401 - Transportation Systems Analysis
• CIVI 6441 - Traffic Engineering
• CIVI 7401 - Design of Transportation Terminals

Selected journal papers

• Ashtakala, B. (1986): "An Empirical Model for Traffic Prediction on Highways", Transportation Forum, Journal of Roads and Transportation Association of Canada, Vol. 2-4, pp. 43-51.

• Ashtakala, B. (1987): "Generalized Power Model for Trip Distribution", Transportation Research, Pergamon Press, U.K., Vol. 218, No. 1, pp. 55-67.

• Ashtakala, B. and Murthy, A.S.N. (1988): "Optimized Gravity Models for Commodity Transportation",Transportation Engineering Journal, American Society of Civil Engineers, New York, U.S.A., Vol. 114, No. 4,pp. 393-408.

• Ashtakala, B. and Poorooshasb, H.B. (1989): "Prediction of Tensile Cracks in Road Pavements", Mathematical and Computer Modelling Journal, Pergamon Press, UK, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 55-60.

• Ashtakala, B. and Eno, Lucy A. (1996): "Minimum Risk Route Model for Hazardous Materials", ASCE Transportation Engineering Journal, New York, Vol.22,No. 5, pp. 350-357.

Selected conference papers

• Ashtakala, Balakrishnamurthy (1983): "An Empirical Model for Provincial Scale Trip Distribution", Roads and Transportation Association of Canada (RTAC) Conference, Edmonton, Canada.

• Ashtakala, B. (1988): "Power Model for Intercity Trip Distribution". Proceedings of International Conference on Road and Road Transport Problems (ICORT-88), New Delhi, India. pp. 479-495.

• Ashtakala, B. and Chemali A. (1992): "Development of Commodity Flow Models from Truck Survey Data". Proceedings of CSCE Annual Conference, Quebec City, Canada. Vol. III, pp. 535-544.

• Ashtakala, B. (1993): " Methodology to Determine Safe Routes for Hazardous Materials Transportation". Proceedings of CSCE Annual Conference, Fredericton, Canada. Vol. III, pp. 567-575.

• Ashtakala, B. and Hoque, A.K.M.M.(1995): "Pavement System with Rubber Tire Chips in Subgrade". Proceedings of CSCE Annual Conference, Ottawa, Canada. Vol. IV, pp.245-254.

• Ashtakala, B. and Jassal, K.S. (1999): "Pothole Formation and Progression". Proceedings of CSCE Annual Conference, Regina, Canada. Vol. IV, pp. 389-398.