Prof.Parag

Prof. Parag Ravindran

Mechanics of viscoelastic materials

Prof. Parag Ravindran

Research Areas

The primary focus is on understanding the time dependent mechanical response of materials to mechanical, chemical and thermal loads.

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Phd Scholars

Ms Students

  1. M. N. Sreerag (co-guided Mr. S. Renjith) – Research Area: Viscoelasticity
  2. Swaroop Sonawane ( co-guided with Prof. Narasimhan Swaminathan) – Research area: Blood flow under certain pathological conditions.
  3. Vijay Hajare ( co-guided with Prof. Prabhu Rajagopal) – Research Area: Wave Propagation in Viscoelastic Media.

Research

The primary focus is on understanding the time dependent mechanical response of materials to mechanical, chemical and thermal loads.

  1. In essence we develop relations between quantities that describe the deformation and measures of the stress in a three dimensional setting in a thermodynamically consistent manner.
  2. Viscoelastic materials are of interest in variety of settings.
  3. We primarily work on modeling of polymer composites, biological tissues and sand asphalt mixtures

 

Modeling of Soft Tissues

  1. In essence we develop relations between quantities that describe the deformation and measures of the stress in a three dimensional setting in a thermodynamically consistent manner.
  2. The goal here is to develop a class of constitutive relations within a thermodynamic framework to model the mechanical response of soft tissues when subjected to external stimuli (mechanical and chemical), and to validate it with experimental data from the literature.
  3. The external stimuli drives growth, remodeling and degradation. A phenomenological model, that can describe the growth and remodeling of soft tissue, within the framework of constrained mixtures has been developed.
  4. The model developed is applied to some simple boundary value problems.
  5. The assumption is that the production and removal of collagen is responsible for growth and remodeling of the tissue.

  6. Work is under way to extend the applicability of the model.

Modeling of Polymeric Composites

  1. Robust models for polymeric composites are great interest in engineering. In this context, a study was undertaken to understand the coupling between mechanical loading and thermal response.
  2. Thermomechanical coupling offers the scope to non-invasively determine material characteristics.
  3. The external stimuli drives growth, remodeling and degradation. A phenomenological model, that can describe the growth and remodeling of soft tissue, within the framework of constrained mixtures has been developed.
  4. The model developed is applied to some simple boundary value problems.
  5. A model was developed and calibrated using available experimental data.

  6. Qualitative agreement was obtained between model predictions and experimental data for different ply orientations. The model predicts that temperature rise in glass-epoxy composites depends on the elongation rate.

  7. Another area of interest within the context of modeling polymeric viscoelastic material, is the role of inhomogeneity and the possibility of approximating such materials by a homogenized model.

  8. We have also studied the response of carbon fibre reinforced epoxy composites to cyclic loading. The response in the direction transverse to the loading direction is an important indicator of damage under certain conditions.

  9. In another interesting study a model was developed and used to the study the mechanical response of rubber during vulcanization. The model predicts the expected improvement in the mechanical properties of rubber after vulcanization. Such models are potentially very useful in the tire industry.

Mechanics of Asphalt Based Materials

Asphalt is a widely used engineering material. It has a long history of usage. Asphalt is obtained as by-product of the petroluem refining process and is itself a mixture of several constituents whose composition depends on processing conditions and crude source. The asphalt in the field is mixed with fillers and larger aggregates of different gradations (depending on usage), and put to use for pavement making. The pavement endures large mechanical loads and other challenging environmental conditions. Under these conditions, prediciting its response is a diffcult task. The need for robust models cannot be over-emphasized in the current scenario of limited resourses and environmental constraints. We have developed a nonlinear viscoelastic model within a thermodynamic framework for sand-asphalt mixture.

Currently an area of importance is reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) material. Cold Inplace Recycling (CIR) is particularly promising technique due to its environmental friendly nature. We have also attempted to model such materials and understand their performance vis-a-vis traditional asphalt based materials.

Projects

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Facilities

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Collaboration

  1. Dr. Seungik Baek, Associate Professor, Michigan State University, https://engineering.msu.edu/faculty/Seungik-Baek
  2. Prof. K. R. Rajagopal, Texas A&M University, https://engineering.tamu.edu/mechanical/profiles/rajagopal-kumbakonam.html

Publications

  1. G. Mallikarjunachari, T. Nallamilli, P. Ravindran, and M. G. Basavaraj, Nanoindentation of clay colloidosomes, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, Volume 550, 167-175, August 2018.
  2. K. Nivedya, A. Veeraragavan, Parag Ravindran, J. Murali Krishnan, An investigation on the influence of air voids and active filler on the mechanical response of bitumen stabilized material, Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, 30(3), pp. 04017293-1 to 04017293-13, March 2018.
  3. Mythravaruni, P. Ravindran, The effect of oxidation on the mechanical response of isolated elastin and aorta, ASME Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, 141(6), pp. 061002-1 to 061002-9, 2019.
  4. S. Mini, P. Ravindran, C. V. Krishnamurthy, K. Balasubramaniam, Experimental and numerical investigation of second harmonic generation by creep induced micro-voids, Experimental Mechanics, 60, 1017–1032, 2020.
  5. Parthasarathy, S. Thampi, P. Ravindran, M. G. Basavaraj, Further Insights into Patterns from Drying Particle Laden Sessile Drops, Langmuir, 37, 14, 2021, 4395–4402.
  6. Sadagoapan, Parag Ravindran, H S N Murthy, “A continuum model for predicting strain evolution in carbon fiber reinforced composites subjected to cyclic loading”, Sadhana, 47(3),2022, 1-9.
  7. Narasimha Rao, Pullela Mythravaruni, Kavitha Arunachalam, Parag Ravindran, Mechanical response of polyacrylamide breast tissue phantoms: formulation, characterization and modeling, Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, Accepted.
  8. Dinesh Parthasarathy, Santhan Chandragiri, Sumesh P. Thampi, Parag Ravindran, Madivala G. Basavaraj, Experimental and theoretical study of inward particle drift in contact line deposits, Soft Matter, Accepted.
  9. P. Mythravaruni, P. Ravindran, Coagulation of blood: influence of chemical reactions on rheological response, Coagulation of blood: influence of chemical reactions on rheological response

Social Impact

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