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Staff Overview

Moez Louati

Lecturer/Researcher in Water Transport and Distribution

Moez Louati

Moez Louati received his PhD in 2016 from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) in civil and environmental engineering. He is dedicated to accelerating the development of smart cities by developing an innovative technology to save water and energy and assist in rendering urban water infrastructures sustainable, resilient and adaptive. His expertise encompasses pipeline defect detection and condition assessment, hydraulic transients and acoustics, pipeline hydraulics, and water supply and distribution systems’ design. Moez’s research interests include: Fluid Mechanics of Waves; Water Loss Management; Computational Fluid Dynamics; Smart Water Infrastructure; Machine Learning and Optimization, Education and Capacity Building.

Moez was awarded the HKUST scholarships for four years to pursue his PhD at HKUST where he received the SENG PhD Fellowship Award and SENG Overseas Research Award. His B.Eng in Electro-Mechanical Engineering (2007-2010) and MPhil in Renewable Energy (2009-2011) were obtained from the National School of Engineering of Sfax-Tunisia (ENIS), mechanical engineering department. He obtained his professional engineering chartership from the Hong Kong Institute of Engineers (HKIE). Moez has over 10 years of experience in the fields of fluid mechanics of waves, hydraulic transient, and smart urban water systems; and acquired ample experience in analytical analysis, modeling, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), experimental work, machine learning and HPC. His research has made valuable contribution to pipeline defect detection and condition assessment. During his PhD, Moez discovered the fundamental connection between waves in pressurized pipe system and Bragg resonance. His PhD thesis was nominated to the Straub Award.

Upon completion of his PhD, Moez has worked on a theme-based RGC project entitled: ‘Smart Urban Water Supply System’, where he conducted the first experimental proof of time reversal in damped pipe system using high frequency waves. He served as the research tasks coordinator, and the lab-field facilities manager. Afterwards, Moez continued in leading and collaborating in other research and R&D projects. Moez has departed from HKUST after 8 years of service to join IHE-Delft. However, he maintains an Adjunct Associate Professor role at HKUST to sustain his collaboration.

Moez contributes to consultancy and advisory services for water utilities. He has conducted numerous field tests in Hong Kong in collaboration with water supplies and drainage services departments (WSD & DSD) on several DMAs and rising mains systems, and he has designed three water lab facilities. He is also driven by an innovative spirit, having contributed as a co-inventor on five patents. Furthermore, in 2023, he received HKUST’s tech-ship startup fund and co-founded Hyele Limited, a startup company developing novel technology for pipeline condition assessment. The startup is successfully incubated at the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park. Currently, he serves as a fellow member of the HKUST founders’ club.

Internationally, Moez is a member of the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR), where he serves as the chair of the Africa Division, past chair of the working group on Transient Flows, Assistant Editor of the Journal of Hydraulic Research, and a member of the Educational and Professional Development committee. In addition, Dr. Louati has served and still serving as co-organizing chair of international symposiums, conferences and capacity building programs.

Publications

A complete list of publications can be found in Google Scholar.