• April 2024: Manish completed a consulting project entitled "Capacity expansion of intake well at GIDC pumping station at Rundh" sponsored by GIDC Jhagadia. The team was led by Dr. Udit Bhatia, and it included Professors Pranab Mohapatra and Shailesh R Gandhi. Priya, Anagha, Anushree, Krishnaveni and Anirudh provided significant help.
• March 2024: Manish delivered talks entitled "Design and construction of resilient hospitals" at IIT Gandhinagar as part of the Capacity Building Programme of Project Implementation Unit Engineers (Health Division) of the Government of Gujarat conducted by Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management.
• March 2024: Shashank's patent application entitled "A system for 3D printing of a concrete structure" is granted (Patent No.: 518855). This patent deals with printing concrete with very low initial yield strength through controlled heating of printed layers. Heating can lead to a very sharp rise in buildability of printed layers without substantially affecting strength and shrinkage parameters.
• March 2024: Manish delivered a talk entitled "Print, heat and reinforce: A perspective on the role of 3D concrete printing in structural engineering" at IIT Bombay as part of the International Workshop on 3D Concrete Printing – Present & Future Prospects organized by IIT Bombay and Indian Concrete Institute (Mumbai chapter).
• January - March 2024: Manish delivered talks entitled "Building codes, construction and safety" at IIT Gandhinagar as part of the Certificate Course (Hybrid) on Disaster Risk Reduction and National Security conducted jointly by Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management and Rashtriya Raksha University.
• December 2023 - February 2024: Manish delivered a series of lecture entitled "Disaster resilient school infrastructure" at Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management as part of the Capacity Building Program for Architects, Engineers and Technical Resource Persons of Samagra Shiksha on Resilient Schools.
• November 2023: Manish named as a co-chair of the World Housing Encyclopedia (see additional details).
• November 2023: Manish completed a consulting project entitled "Site-specific response spectra and compatible ground motions for Kunjwani to Sidhra, and Domel to Katra sections of National Highway 44 under Bharatmala Pariyojna" sponsored by APCO Infratech Pvt. Ltd. Anirudh provided significant help. The work was done in collaboration with Professors Utsav Mannu and Shailesh R. Gandhi, and their teams of students.
• October 2023: Harsha Engineers International Limited sponsors the MTech thesis of Jeet to develop a class of sliding-based seismic isolation bearings (additional details). Dr. Sriharitha Rowthu will serve as a co-advisor.
• October 2023: Manish completed a consulting project entitled "Inspection and retrofit of platform level pier arms for Thaltej Gam Station of Ahmedabad Metro Rail Project, Phase - I" sponsored by the Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation. Chaman and Anirudh provided significant help.
• October 2023: Manish delivered a talk entitled "Structural engineering and resilience of built infrastructure" at Gujarat Technological University at part of the AICTE Training and Learning Academy Faculty Development Program (ATAL – FDP) on Advances in Earthquake Engineering & Structural Resilience.
• September 2023: Manish delivered a talk entitled "Protecting industrial infrastructure using seismic isolation technology" at Power Management Institute of National Thermal Power Corporation as part of the seminar on "Seismic and Vibration Protection Systems for Nuclear Power Project".
• September 2023: Manish delivered a talk entitled "Effect of cyclones on buildings" at Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management, Gandhinagar, as part of the Training Programme on Cyclone and Earthquake Resistant Construction of Critical Infrastructure for the engineers of the state government.
• August 2023: Anirudh's and Salim's paper entitled "Influence of seismic isolation on the earthquake response of internal components in a fast reactor" published in Nuclear Engineering and Design journal. Component responses in the fast reactor were found to reduce by an order of magnitude due to seismic isolation.
• July 2023: Shashank's patent application entitled "An apparatus and method for 3D printing of concrete structures" is granted (Patent No.: 436854). This patent deals with horizontal spanning of concrete layers during the printing process. The concept has been demonstrated at laboratory as well as industry scale.
• June 2023: Anirudh successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled "Analysis of seismically isolated fast reactors considering fluid-structure interaction." It involved development of closed-form analytical solutions for fluid-shell system representing the reactor vessel of the prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR) under commissioning at Kalpakkam, India. Further, a simplified model was developed that helped quantify the influence of seismic isolation.
• May 2023: Manish delivered a talk entitled "An inside-the-box research story" as part of the Summer Research Internship Program (SRIP) 2023 at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar.
• May 2023: Manish served as a West Zone Jury Committee member for the All-India Students' Competition on the design of an archery training center organized by Institute for Steel Development and Growth (INSDAG).
• May 2023: Chaman filed a provisional patent application entitled "Apparatus to form a reinforced concrete structure and a method thereof" with the India Patent Office. The idea was developed in collaboration with Dr. Madhu vadali.
• April 2023: Aslam, Maitreyee, Anirudh and Chaman conducted Resist-A-Quake competition for high school students as part of the G20 IGNITE event, wherein simple building models were tested under ground shaking using a small-scale shaking table developed in-house. Ran also put a small-scale 3D concrete printing set-up for display during the event.
• March 2023: Manish delivered a talk entitled "Influence of heating on 3D printed concrete with low initial yield strength" at the International Conference on Asian Scenario on Infrastructural Development (ASID) 2023 organized by the Nagpur chapter of Indian Concrete Institute.
• February 2023: A workshop on analysis and design of seismically isolated structures was organized at IIT Gandhinagar on February 27-28. It saw participation from students, faculty members, structural engineering consultants, and delegates from Indian nuclear establishments. The workshop was sponsored by Harsha Engineers International Limited and CSI.
• February 2023: The team comprising Chaman and Manish was selected for a Nidhi Prayas grant from the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India to develop a method for reinforcing the 3D printed concrete layers.
• February 2023: Anirudh submitted his PhD thesis entitled "Analysis of seismically isolated fast reactors considering fluid-structure interaction" for review.
• January 2023: Manish delivered a day-long training session (in the run-up to the seismic isolation workshop) at the Southern Region Headquarters of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in Hyderabad. Different aspects of earthquake engineering, and role of structural engineering in the power sector were covered.
• January 2023: Manish completed a project sponsored by the Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC), which involved technical audit of select structural members and bearings in the elevated and underground sections of the E-W and N-S corridors. Chaman, Maitreyee, Aslam and Anirudh provided significant help.
• December 2022: Anirudh's paper entitled "Dynamic analysis of a partially-filled cylindrical–conical–cylindrical shell representing a pressure vessel" published in Thin-Walled Structures journal.
• December 2022: A collection of articles by Andrew Charleson on Earthquake-safe Building posted at NICEE website. Original articles are posted at World Housing Encyclopedia page. Manish modified the first article to suit the Indian context.
• November 2022: Shashank's company MiCoB delivers 3D printed concrete bunkers and habitats for Indian Army along border with China. The bunkers were first developed and tested in a firing range by MiCoB, IIT Gandhinagar and Indian Army. Additional details: The Hindu, Indian Express, Economic Times, Hindustan Times, The Print.
• November 2022: Sujit's paper entitled "Experimental and numerical study of a plasterboard suspended ceiling system with “free” perimeter supports" published in ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering.
• September 2022: A workshop on Resilience of Power and Allied Lifeline Infrastructure Systems was organized. Topics related to infrastructure resilience, integration of structural engineering with infrastructure engineering in the context of cyclones and power transmission network, wind engineering, structural testing of towers, and power infrastructure management at national and regional levels were discussed.
• September 2022: Manish served as a panel member in the sessions on intelligent transportation systems (chair: Engineer-in-Chief, Indian Army) and 3D concrete printing in the 9th Civil Engineering Conference in the Asian Region (CECAR9), Goa.
• September 2022: Manish joined the CED32 working group of Bureau of Indian Standards on 3D printed concrete structures.
• August 2022: Manish served as a reviewer in the selection for the first cohort of Quad Fellows.
• August 2022: Manish completed a consulting project on preliminary assessment of structural health of Surendranagar railway station building in collaboration with Professors Shailesh Gandhi and Udit Bhatia. Abhishek provided significant help in the project.
• July 2022: Amay defended his MTech thesis, where he developed a small-scale sliding isolation bearing. A steel surface roughness of 0.03 micrometer could be achieved. Detailed tribological tests were performed. A coefficient of friction of 0.1 could be achieved at 20 MPa pressure.
• July 2022: Abhishek defened his MTech thesis on sloshing in fixed-base and seismically isolated liquid retaining tanks. The sloshing height was significantly affected by the height of fluid and whether the tank was isolated.
• June 2022: Manish received an appreciation letter from the Dean of Academic Affairs at IIT Gandhinagar for performance in a course.
• June 2022: Manish participated in Socio-Technological Aspects of Seismic Disaster and Mitigation Conference 2022 at IIT Guwahati, and presented Amay's work on the development of a small-scale sliding bearing. Manish also chaired a technical session, and a session of invited lectures.
• June 2022: Manish completed a consulting project with L&T, Construction, Ahmedabad entitled "Installation acceptance tests for radio tower at Ahmedabad Metro Rail Project, Phase-I." Chaman provided significant help.
• June 2022: Anirudh's paper entitled "Vibration analysis of a system of partially-filled interconnected cylindrical shells representing a fast reactor" published in Journal of Fluids and Structures.
• May 2022: Surender's work covered by prominent media platforms: IIT Gandhinagar, IANS, Weeklyvoice, MENAFN, The Hindu BusinessLine, Indian Express, Economic Times, NDTV, India Today, The New Indian Express, Telegraph, MSN, Science Reporter [CSIR], OdishaTV, Newsroom Odisha, The Sentinel, Rajasthan Patrika, Navbharat Times, IBC24, Live Hindi Khabar, Telugustop, Andhram, New Kerala, GSTV, TV9Gujarati, PIB, Divya Bhaskar.
• April 2022: Surender's paper on cyclone preparedness strategies for power transmission networks published in International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. A representative fragility curve was used to understand functionality of the Odisha's transmission network.
• April 2022: Manish served on the panel of judges for the National Award Competition for Students 2021 organized by Institute for Steel Development and Growth (INSDAG). The theme for the competition was "Iconic steel roof structure over an open-air theater and stage."
• March 2022: Swathy joins Civil Engineering department at IIT Bombay as Assistant Professor.
• February 2022: Aslam, Amay, Anirudh, Maitreyee, Chaman and Abhishek showcased Earthquake Corner in the Science Awareness Program at IIT Gandhinagar as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. The exhibits (e.g., shaking table, friction-damped system) were developed by undergraduate and graduate students over the years.
• January 2022: Manish presented a talk entitled "Print, heat and expand: An overview of 3D concrete printing at IIT Gandhinagar" at the University of Victoria. This presentation was based on Shashank's PhD work.
• December 2021: Manish was nominated as a member (alternate) of CED 39 committee of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
• November 2021: Manish completed a project on the assessment of deterioration in the concrete surfaces at Dholera project site. The project was sponsored by Dholera Industrial City Development Ltd. (DICDL). Swathy and Chaman provided significant help. The work was done in close collaboration with Dr. Udit Bhatia and his team.
• September 2021: Manish joined Earthquake Engineering Research Institute's World Housing Encyclopedia committee.
• September 2021: Swathy joined our group as an Early Career Fellow. She works in the field of civil engineering materials with focus on heritage structures.
• August 2021: General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of the Southern Command of the Indian Army presented the Commendation Card to Manish for contributions towards the development of 3D printed defense structures. Details: IIT Gandhinagar, Outlook, Hindustan, NBT, PIB.
• August 2021: Ankush defended his MTech thesis. He found that the presence of masonry infill improves the collapse performance of code-compliant RC frames, particularly when infill is placed uniformly and its strength is moderate. Accordingly, R factor can be somewhat increased and collapse margin ratio will still be in the acceptable range.
• July 2021: Salim defended his MTech thesis, wherein he developed a simplified model for a representative fast breeder reactor (similar to the reactor currently under development at IGCAR, Kalpakkam) and evaluated the effectiveness of seismic isolation in terms of reduction in accelerations.
• July 2021: Parthesh's paper entitled "Aerodynamic forces on a high-voltage delta-configuration lattice transmission tower segment" published in Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics.
• June 2021: Manish Kumar completed a consulting assignment with Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation. It involved technical audit of select structural components. Parthesh and Chaman provided significant help.
• April 2021: Surender completed his MTech thesis on the effectiveness of alternate strategies to improve the performance of power transmission network under realistic cyclone scenarios in the state of Odisha.
• April 2021: Himanshi completed her MTech thesis on response of infilled RC frames with failure in masonry panel dominated by sliding shear.
• March 2021: Department of Science and Technology sponsored a project to develop seismic isolation bearings for earthquake protection of structures. Investigators of the project are Drs. Sriharitha Rowthu, Durgesh C. Rai and Manish Kumar.
• March 2021: Parthesh completed his MTech thesis. The work included wind tunnel tests and CFD studies on a segment of a high-voltage lattice transmission tower.
• September 2020: Manish completed a consulting assignment with All India Radio to evaluate verticality and twist in a 175 m tall guyed-tower. Shashank and Parthesh provided significant help.
• September 2020: Manish Kumar delivered a lecture entitled "Confined masonry construction" in the webinar organized by Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management, Gandhinagar.
• September 2020: Papers of Ankush and Hrishikesh (infilled frames), Sujit (non-structural components), and Anirudh (fluid-structure interaction) published in 17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering.
• August 2020: Manish Kumar delivered a lecture entitled "A context-based perspective on the future of earthquake-resistant design in India" in the webinar organized by BIET, Jhansi as part of TEQIP-III.
• July 2020: Manish Kumar delivered a lecture entitled "Effect of earthquakes on buildings" in the webinar organized by Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
• July 2020: Manish Kumar delivered a lecture entitled "Seismic risk: characterization and mitigation" in the webinar organized by MITS, Gwalior as part of TEQIP-III.
• June 2020: Manish Kumar gave a talk entitled "Effect of cyclone on buildings" in the webinar organized by Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
• April 2020: Shashank Shekhar developed in a team a protoype low-cost ventilator. Details can be seen here: Ventilator Video.
• January 2020: Manish Kumar delivered a talk entitled "Structural retrofit and structural risk mitigation" at Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
• December 2019: Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS) approved a proposal to understand the efficacy of seismic isolation in a fast breeder reactor. This work will be carried out at IIT Gandhinagar in collaboration with IGCAR, Kalpakkam.
• September 2019: Shashank Shekhar and Manish Kumar filed a provisional patent application for a method for concrete printing.
• August 2019: Manish Kumar visited Beijing University of Technology, China and delivered talks on seismic isolation of nuclear power plants and modeling and analysis of masonry-infilled reinforced concrete frames.
• June 2019: The paper authored by Rajdeep Ghosh (former MTech student at IIT Gandhinagar) and Manish Kumar received an Honorable Mention Paper Award at the 13th NAMC.
• June 2019: Manish Kumar participated in 13th North American Masonry Conference (NAMC) at Salt Lake City, United States, and presented two papers.
• June 2019: NUREG/CR-7254 published by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The report is a revised version of the PhD thesis of Manish Kumar.
• June 2019: Manish Kumar delivered a talk entitled "Construction: safety and sustainability" at Electrotherm India Limited Engineers' Meet.
• May 2019: Manish Kumar presented a talk on compliance of seismic codes in the design of buildings in India in the Open House as part of a project sponsored by World Bank.
• March 2019: Manish Kumar presented a talk on seismic isolation of nuclear power plants at Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research (IGCAR), Kalpakkam.