Civil Engineering Department at Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati is one of the most vibrant departments of the institute with largest number of faculty and students. Structural Engineering is one of the five specializations offered by the department, and earthquake engineering is one of the primary focuses within this specialization. Faculty members are also working in other research areas related to structural mechanics, fracture mechanics, finite element analysis, durability of structures, construction management and non-destructive testing.

Guwahati is located in one of the most seismically active regions of India (seismic zone V). Out of the four great earthquakes in India in last 110 years, two have occurred in Assam with devastating effects. Therefore, working towards earthquake safety of the region is a natural choice for the young faculty members of structural engineering specialization. The faculty members are involved in training the practicing engineers, students, and other stake holders on earthquake resistant design. Within a short period of time, IIT Guwahati has been able to build up the necessary infrastructure for carrying out advanced research in earthquake engineering and has been equipped with state-of-the-art scientific and engineering instruments. IIT Guwahati is also actively involved in the outreach and training activities undertaken by different Government and Non-Government organizations (NDMA, MHA, NPEEE, UNDP, etc). Large number of sponsored research projects and consultancy work has been undertaken by the Structural Engineering faculty of the institute and many projects are currently in progress.

 

Facilities

The Structural Engineering Laboratory in the department of Civil Engineering at IIT Guwahati is one the best structural engineering laboratories currently existing in India. The laboratory serves a wide spectrum of activities covering those related to teaching, research, development, and consultancy. The primary activities include ambient vibration studies, experimental studies on model/prototype of structural elements and assemblies under various static and dynamic loading conditions. The Structural Engineering Laboratory also offers technical services for testing and research on the structural behavior and properties of materials.

The laboratory is equipped with servo-controlled hydraulic MTS actuators (100T, 25T, and 10T compression capacity) and required data acquisition systems, which are used for cyclic testing of reinforced concrete and steel specimens. A uniaxial shake table of 5T vertical load carrying capacity, maximum stroke of ± 500 mm, and maximum horizontal acceleration of ± 2g is also available in the laboratory for simulating actual ground motions to understand the behavior of structures under dynamic loading. Other major equipments include a 100T electronic UTM, a 200T CTM, Servo-control hydraulic jacks, LVDTs, Electrical strain gauges, accelerometers, etc.

Sophisticated equipments to perform Non-destructive tests like Ultrasonic pulse wave, Rebound hammer, Permeability, Half-cell potential, Resistivity, Potentiometric Titrator, Resonant frequency, Digital pH meter, Rebar locator, etc are also available and used extensively in various activities. The concrete laboratory, which is also a part of structural engineering laboratory, is equipped with all the equipments required for moderate-scale manufacturing and testing of specimens. Following figures show some of the facilities available in the structural engineering laboratory.

The department has procured various state-of–the-art software required for Linear and Nonlinear Analysis of Structures (SAP2000, ABAQUS, ANSYS), Project Planning, Scheduling, Project Control (PRIMAVERA).

 

Overview of Structural Engineering Laboratory at IIT Guwahati

 

Testing of a two storey RC building model on Shake Table

 

Reaction walls and reaction frames in Structural Engineering Laboratory

 

 

Research

Currently research is carried out in different areas of structural engineering and faculty members and students are engaged in many analytical and experimental research activities. Primary areas of specialization and research interests of structural engineering faculty are:

• Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering
• Seismic Strengthening and Retrofitting of Structures
• Structural Health Monitoring, System Identification, and Damage Detection
• Wavelet Analysis
• Structural Mechanics
• Fracture Mechanics
• Finite Element Analysis
• Constitutive Modeling and Nonlinear Behaviour of Structures
• Durability of Structures
• Non Destructive Testing
• Wind Induced Vibration and Control
• Construction Management
   

 

Details of Completed and Ongoing Research Projects (last 5 years)
 

Automated Mesh Generation for the Simulation of Three Dimensional Forging, Department of Science & Technology, along with Prof. C.V. Ramakrishnan of IIT, Delhi , INDIA. (Completed)

Study of de-lamination in FRP composites under low velocity impact using adaptive finite element method, Center for Development of Advanced Computing. (Completed)

Verification test of a prototype base isolated two storied R.C.C. framed building subjected to actual earthquakes, BRNS.

Studies on seismic behavior of buildings with soft-storey based on pseudo-dynamic testing, MHRD.

Development of software for optimal shape design of Aircraft Structures, AR&DB.
Optimum design of laminated FRP composite structures, MHRD.

Optimization of laminated fibre reinforced plastic composites on parallel platform, Department of Science & Technology.

Study of the performance of magneto rheological damper for mitigation of wind and seismic induced vibration in tall building, MHRD.

Effect of mix parameters on strength and durability aspects of concrete, Sponsored by IIT Guwahati, under Startup Research Grant.

Equivalent Diagonal Strut Properties for Masonry Infills in RC Frames, Sponsored by Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India under Fast Track Scheme for Young Scientist.

Retrofitting of Masonry Infilled RC Frames, Sponsored by IIT Guwahati, under Startup Research Grant.

 

 

People

Faculty

Anjan Dutta (Professor)

    Finite Element Mesh Generation
    Optimization
    Control, Health Monitoring and Retrofitting of Structures

 

Arbind K. Singh (Associate Professor)

    Information Technology in Construction Engineering
    Object-Oriented Programming
    Constitutive Modelling

 

Arunasis Chakraborty (Assistant Professor)

    Dynamic and Random Vibration
    System Identification and Damage Detection
    Vibration Control
    Wavelet Analysis

 

Bulu Pradhan (Assistant Professor)

    Durability Studies in Concrete
    Corrosion of Steel Reinforcement and Protection Measures
    High Performance Concrete
    Non Destructive Testing of Concrete Structures
    Construction Management

 

Hemant B. Kaushik (Assistant Professor)

    Earthquake Resistant Design
    Nonlinear Behaviour of Structures
    Retrofitting of Structures
    Finite Element Modeling

 

Kaustubh Dasgupta (Assistant Professor)

    Earthquake Engineering
    Design of Reinforced Concrete Structures
    Retrofitting of Structures

 

Konjengbam Darunkumar Singh (Assistant Professor)

    Structural Analysis and Design
    Finite Element Method
    Fracture and Fatigue Mechanics

 

Laishram Boeing Singh (Assistant Professor)

    Construction Management
    Infrastructure Management
    Construction Finance

 

Sajal K. Deb (Professor)

    Passive and Semi-Active Control

    Performance Based Seismic Design

    System Identification & Structural Health Monitoring

    Seismic Damage Assessment

 

Sudip Talukdar (Professor)

    Structural Dynamics

    Bridge Engineering

    Wind Induced Vibration & Control

    Non Destructive techniques

 

Scientific Staff

Arun Ch. Borsaikia (Scientific Officer)

    Concrete Technology
    Damage Identification and Health Monitoring
    Non-Destructive Evaluation of Structural Components

 

Kumar Pallav (Scientific Officer)

    Structural Analysis and Design
    Finite Element Method
    Earthquake Engineering
 

 

Students

Doctor of Philosophy (In Progress)

 

Arun Borsaikia

    Health Monitoring of Structures using System Identification

    Supervisor: Anjan Dutta and S. K. Deb

 

Abdul Munim Choudhury

    Study of Size Effect on RC and Retrofitted Beam-Column Joint Under Cyclic     

    Loading

    Supervisor: Anjan Dutta and S. K. Deb

 

Kumar Pallav

    Seismic Microzonation of Imphal City

    Supervisor: S.T.G. Raghukanth and K. Darunkumar Singh

 

Comingstarful Marthong

    Rehabilitation of Damage Beam-Column Joint By Epoxy Resin Injection And FRP 

    Wraping

    Supervisor: Anjan Dutta and S. K. Deb

 

 

MASTER OF TECHNOLOGY (In Progress)

 

To be updated soon...

 

Information

Students

Doctor of Philosophy (Completed)

2008

    Study of Rheological Behavior of High Performance Concrete
    Aminul Islam Laskar; Supervisor: S.Talukdar
 

Master of Technology (Completed)

To be updated soon...

 

Details of Capacity Building Programs Conducted (last 5 years)
 

QIP Short term course on “Recent trends in analysis and design of highway bridges”, at IIT Guwahati, Dec 2-4, 2004

Training Course on Earthquake Risk Management under NPCBEERM, at IIT Guwahati, Feb 22-March 12, 2005 & April 18-May 7, 2005 (First Batch)

Training Course on Earthquake Risk Management under NPCBEERM, at IIT Guwahati, May 16-June 4, 2005 & June 9-July 9, 2005 (Second Batch)

Training Course on Earthquake Risk Management under NPCBEERM, at IIT Guwahati, May 8- May 26, 2006 & June 19 to July, 7 2006 (Third Batch)

QIP Short Term Course on “Advances in Concrete and Masonry: Materials and Mechanics”, at IIT Guwahati during 16-20 June 2008

Workshops on “Earthquake Resistant Technology”, Organized by Revenue and Disaster Management Department, Government of Assam in Guwahati, 27-28 February 2009; 08-09 December 2008; 05-06 August 2008.

Consulting Projects

To be updated soon...