Research

During my doctoral research, I delved into the fascinating realm of Photo/thermo-responsive liquid crystal polymer thin films, under the guidance of Professor Ratna Kumar Annabattula (IIT Madras) and Professor Narasimhan Swaminathan (IIT Madras). Employing molecular dynamics simulations, I crafted a sophisticated computational framework. This framework unveiled the intricate relationship between density reduction and light-source intensities, a phenomenon not easily accessible through experiments. The journey extended to finite element methods and analytical modelling, enabling precise predictions of the actuation and bending curvature of liquid crystal polymer films. Setting up a new lab allowed me to conduct experiments for fabrication, characterization, and actuation studies.

My master's thesis focused on the intriguing subject of tunable three-dimensional shape changes in thermal-responsive liquid crystal thin films from Aug. '18 to May '19, supervised by Prof. Ratna K Annabattula. Simulations in Abaqus explored soft-actuator applications, revealing novel behaviour in tapered films. The research also proposed hypotheses for rocking behaviour on hot plates, subsequently verified through finite element simulations.

In another significant research endeavour spanning from June '16 to Feb. '20, I explored the thermo-mechanics of granular assemblies. I developed a thermal discrete element model to simulate heat transfer in pebble beds, accompanied by an analytical model for estimating effective thermal conductivity. The integration of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) significantly reduced computational costs. A hierarchical model linking macro-scale finite elements with micro-scale discrete elements demonstrated its efficiency in analyzing tritium breeder pebble beds, especially evident in the heat transfer analysis of a full-scale breeder unit consisting of 10+ million pebbles.