Technical Interests
Earthquake Engineering, Structural Dynamics, Performance Based Earthquake Engineering, Computer Methods in Structural Analysis and Design, Engineering Education
Related to Doctoral Research
Seismic Performance Evaluation of Wood Frame Shear Wall Structures
Advisor: Prof. Finley Charney
Duration: August 2013 - February 2017
Ensemble of light frame wood buildings in various archetype design space with different structural configurations, seismic designs and intended usage are evaluated for various levels of performance at different seismic hazard levels.
Various pushover procedures are applied to study the expected ductility and over-strength behavior of buildings in the archetype design space.
Incremental dynamic analysis with different suites of ground motions and intensity scales are used in OpenSees to study the performance of the buildings in the archetype design space to multiple levels of seismic hazards.
Studying the sensitivity of the performance to different levels of damping in the building, various levels of uncertainties associated with evaluation, various load displacement response characteristics of the shear walls.
Assessment of seismic floor accelerations in wood shear wall buildings with various design characteristics.
Multiple Ground Motion Response Spectrum Match Tool for Use in Linear Response History Analysis
Advisor: Prof. Finley Charney
Duration: October 2013 - February 2014
Developed an interactive computational tool ('Spectrum Match Toolkit ') to perform response spectrum match of upto 3 pairs of ground motion acceleration records as per the requirements of ASCE 7-10 and 2015 NEHRP Provisions.
Available free of cost, the tool can be used as an educational tool to teach subjects related to Earthquake Engineering, can be employed as a research tool to study building response to various ground motion parameters.
The tool can generate a variety of target spectrum (ASCE 7 Spectrum, Uniform Hazard Spectrum, Conditional Mean Spectrum) from the geographical coordinates of the building location for multiple levels of damping.
Tool can generate a combined acceleration time history from individual matched ground motion records which can produce seismic response equivalent to the envelope of responses produced by individual matched records.
Evaluating the Sensitivity of Fragility Curves Using Incremental Dynamic Analysis and Endurance Time Method
Advisor: Prof. Finley Charney
Duration: February 2013 - May 2013
Designed and developed an archetype design space for mid rise steel moment frame buildings and light frame wood shear wall buildings.
Evaluated the uniformity of Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA) by performing a sensitivity study based on various seismic design parameters including building site characteristics, damping of the structure, ground motion scaling methods employed and ground motion source characteristics.
Fragility curves for all the above building and ground motion characteristics are developed using Endurance Time (ET) method and compared results with IDA.
Related to Master of Science Research
Development of Prototypical Finite Element Analysis Engine for Static and Dynamic Analysis of 3D Frame Buildings
Advisor: Prof. Finley Charney
Duration: January - May 2012
Formulated the finite element program for static and dynamic analysis of frame buildings in Matlab.
Finite element program can perform static analysis for a wide range of gravity and lateral load type; perform modal analysis; perform linear response history analysis and response spectrum analysis.
Development of Educational Modules for Matrix Structural Analysis and Structural Dynamics
Advisor: Prof. Finley Charney
Duration: July - December 2011
Developed educational modules in Matlab and Mathcad for topics related to Matrix Structural Analysis and Structural Dynamics to be used in graduate level classes in Virginia Tech.
Developed interactive visuals and graphics to help students learn Matrix Structural Analysis and Structural Dynamics.
Related to Undergraduate Research
Experimental Study on the Effects of the Partial Replacement of Cement by Steel Slag
Advisor: Prof. Ravindra Gettu
Duration: May - July 2009
Summer Fellowship Program at Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Investigated the scope of partially replacing cement with steel slag in preparation of mortar and concrete.
Physical and chemical properties of cement with steel slag was compared with pure cement.
Various samples of cement paste and cement mortar was prepared by replacing 0 to 60% cement with steel slag.
Studied setting time, soundness, workability, strength and durability of various samples made with the partial replacement of cement with steel slag.
Community Planning, Designing and Infrastructure Development of ‘Kothi’ region in Calicut, Kerala, India
Advisor: Prof. N. Ganesan
Duration: August 2009 - May 2010
Senior Year Project
Developed site plans for land and infrastructure development in 'Kothi' region in Calicut for 125 individual families.
Developed buildings plans and designs for individual houses to be constructed in the locality.
Designed a community hall to be constructed as a metal building
Designed the road, waste water drainage systems for the community
Designed a conical shaped ovehead water tank to be used to supply drinking water to the community.
Experimental Verification of the First and Second Mode Frequencies of a Two Story Steel Structure using Shake Table
Duration: August 2008 - October 2008
Presented as part of Tathva 08 (annual technical competition of National Institute of Technology Calicut (NIT Calicut)
Assembled a two story steel building with rigid joints and rigid diaphragms
Analytically derived the frequencies and mode shapes of the building
Verified the analytical results using a shake table