Structural Engineering Research & Practice – Then, Now & Beyond

Prof. Nagesh R. Iyer

Distinguished Emeritus Professor, AcSIR & formerly, Director, CSIR-SERC, CSIR Campus, Chennai-
600113

The growth of economy for any country depends on the quantity and quality of its
physical infrastructure. A nation which has a glorious and long past with oldest civilization
will also have to their credit physical assets/infrastructure that is built with traditional
technologies and practices. It also provides opportunities to develop, add and re-model
physical infrastructure keeping up with the changing times, demands and other needs as
a part of development, growth and progress. One of the measures used to judge the
economic and industrial growth of any country is the Engineering Infrastructure made
available or investment made in developing the same. This is therefore an important
theme that touches our lives one way or the other both in rural or urban areas.
Engineering infrastructure covers different sectors such as power plants, manufacturing,
strategic, roads & bridges, railways, ports & harbour, airports, flyovers, office &
commercial complexes, mass housing, communication, etc. If one looks at the
investment by India, this forms the third largest after agriculture and defence.

In pursuance of the decision of the Board of Scientific and Industrial Research and
the Governing Body of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research taken at their
special session held on 14th January 1965, the Structural Engineering Research
Centre (SERC) came into being as an independent National Laboratory on the 10th
of June 1965. The Centre was set up to meet the long felt demand for an
organization which can make the country self-sufficient in structural engineering
skills of a high order in design as well as construction. Rapid industrialization of the
country which has been the goal of our successive Five Year Plans entails a large
volume of building and physical infrastructure activity involving the construction of
several medium office and residential flats, transmission and communication towers,
nuclear pressure vessels railways, bridges, airports, highways, flyovers and a host of
other physical infrastructure. The investigations necessary for the analysis and
design of such structures often involve the use of advanced design aids such as
electronic digital computers and tests on scale models and full scale prototypes. In

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advanced countries, investigations of this kind are usually entrusted to specialized
laboratories.

Just as a new-born child is cuddled and nurtured, fed and clothed, enabled to
explore the world around it and find its feet slowly but surely, and is exposed to the
path of experimenting and learning whilst growing into its adulthood, and
encouraged to blossom forth with its full potential as a fully-grown individual and
shine in this world, … in a somewhat similar fashion, an institution starts off as a
fledgling, is guided into its growth path by visionaries down the timeline, grows step by
step, accumulates experience and knowledge, and becomes a full-fledged institution
which brings to bear a definitive and distinctive impact on its specialist domain.
Such is the story of CSIR-SERC. CSIR-SERC has had the blessing of being steered
by men of high caliber with visionary zeal and meticulous planning, informed decision
making and forecasting trends, staying abreast but thinking ahead of the times,
leapfrogging many a times driven by a desire to innovate and be a pioneer in more
ways than one. Altogether, SERC’s is a protracted tale of agony and ecstasy! This
paper and concurrent presentation deals with the golden legacy of CSIR-SERC that
has kept itself in the forefront of Structural Engineering Research through its
innovative and out-of-the-box solutions.

The commitment by the S&T staff of CSIR-SERC to excellence in R&D is reflected

in the analysis, design and development of construction techniques of many kinds
for large, special / complex structures such as shell roofs, prefabricated products,
transmission line and microwave towers and other tower-like structures, power plant
structures, ships, offshore structures and machine foundations. High strength
deformed bars, funicular shells, fiber reinforced concrete manhole covers,
ferrocement water tanks, service core units, etc., developed by the Centre are being
extensively used in many places in the country. Over the years, several general and
special purpose computer software packages have been developed for computer-
aided analysis, design, and drafting of various structures and structural
components. The activities of the Centre are grouped under the following major
areas.

Ø Earthquake & wind engineering

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 Ø Transmission line towers, Metal structure behavior & Fatigue and fracture
Ø Structural Health monitoring and evaluation & forensic analysis
Ø Computational structural mechanics for analysis and design & software
development
Ø Sustainable materials and composites & retrofitting/rehabilitation of
structures
Ø Structural concrete engineering & technology

Major test facilities are available at CSIR-SERC for heavy structural testing,
structural dynamics, wind engineering, structural health monitoring & NDT,
advanced construction engineering, advanced materials testing including nano-
materials and testing for fatigue and fracture in addition to Tower Testing and
Research Station. CSIR-SERC boasts of state-of-the art facilities some of which are
among the best in the world. This has been possible due to the generous
contributions and support of CSIR and UNDP. CSIR-SERC's major facilities include
v Structural Testing Laboratory
v Structural Health Monitoring Laboratory
v Advanced Seismic Testing & Research Facility
v Advanced Computational Mechanics Facilities
v Tower Testing and Research Station & Steel Structures Research Facility
v Fatigue & Fracture Laboratory
v Wind Engineering Laboratory with state-of-the-art Atmospheric Boundary
Layer Wind Tunnel,
v Advanced Materials Laboratory
v Advanced Concrete Testing & Evaluation Laboratory
v Steel Structures Research Facility
v Knowledge Network Unit (KNU) comprising state-of the art Data Centre with
NKN connectivity and
v Modernised Knowledge Resource Division

Scientists of CSIR-SERC serve in many committees of Bureau of Indian Standards

(BIS) and contribute in the formulation of Codes of practice in various areas of
structural engineering. The Centre has also been publishing the Journal of

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Structural Engineering, quarterly publication since 1973, to disseminate, promote,
and discuss research in structural engineering.

Creativity and innovation are the basic important aptitudes of a scientist in

promoting the science of engineering and taking further into technology
development. With the facilities and expertise available under one roof at CSIR-
SERC, which ranks among the best globally, CSIR-SERC, over the years resolved
to position itself as an important contributor in the field of structural analysis, design,
testing of components of complex structures and provider of innovative solutions to
various real world problems faced by the industries.

To cite a few examples, CSIR-SERC’s innovation on development of cold formed

deformed bars may be regarded as Brown Revolution in the construction industry
and it received Import Substitution Award. Similarly CSIR-SERC has made
significant economic impact through providing an innovative technical solution while
undertaking the Re-engineering of navigational span of Pamban Railway Bridge for
Broad Gauge Conversion during the year 2007 saving over Rs. 800 crores for the
Indian Railways.
CSIR-SERC also provided innovative structural design at the request of German
Red Cross Society for multi-purpose cyclone shelters, taking into account, special
aerodynamic considerations. These cyclone shelters were constructed at 23 sites in
Orissa. It may be mentioned that each of these cyclone shelter has saved nearly
2000 persons (totally around 46000) during the Orissa Super Cyclone in 1999, for
which the Centre received commendation letter from the then Director General,
CSIR, Dr. A. Mashelkar.

At the request of Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), CSIR-SERC has provided
innovative design for suitable profile for lowering the pipeline safely, without
stopping the gas flow, in stages for the Narmada Canal crossing. SERC also
designed and carried out suitable instrumentation using advanced measurement
techniques and methodologies for monitoring the process in the in-service gas
pipeline in the field. This was the first time that the lowering operation of an in-
service gas pipeline was carried out successfully. This has resulted in considerable

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economy as against stopple and by-pass operation usually recommended by
experts abroad for this operation.

Several such challenging problems from industries have been addressed and
innovative solutions have been provided by CSIR-SERC. It is in this context that
CSIR-SERC has been considerably contributing through sustained R&D efforts, on
a continuous basis to the promotion of basic and applied science and engineering,
besides catering to the needs of various sectors such as Civil, Infrastructure, Power,
Energy, Building, Construction and strategic sectors of our country.

There are number of such landmarks that include some of the first of its kind either
in the country or in the world to the credit of CSIR-SERC. Decade wise these are
listed here:
First Decade (1965-1974):
Cold Worked Deformed Bars (1966)- Import substitution Award from Govt of India
Ultimate Strength Design Hand Book (1966)
Construction of Heavy Duty Test Floor (1968)
Structural Use of Fly Ash in Prefabricated Channel Slab Construction (1972)
Journal of Structural Engineering (1973)
Prefabricated Industrialized Construction (1974)
Handbook of Machine Foundations ( 1974)
Ferrocement Grain Storage Bins, Water Tanks,
Service Core Units, and other Products (1974- continuing)
Un-reinforced Funicular Brick Shell Roof (12.5 m x 12.5 m) (1969)
Mono Block Prestressed Concrete Railway Sleepers (1970-78)
Model and Prototype Testing of Concrete Pressure Vessels (1971-79)
Second Decade (1975-1984):
Low cost Housing Technologies (1975)
Rehabilitation of Fire Damaged Buildings (1975 - continuing)
Health Assessment, Repair and Rehabilitation of Buildings and Structures (1975 - continuing)
Fibre Reinforced Concrete Manhole Covers (1977)
Engineering of Structures for cyclone disaster mitigation (1977 - continuing)
Experimental Facilities for three-Dimensional Photo-elasticity, Moire-technique, Laser Holography
etc., for Testing of Models (1978 - continuing)
Funicular Shells and Moveable Form Work (1979) Space Grid Roof (1979)
Special Purpose Software - OSTA, CODES, FINEART, etc. (1981 - continuing)

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Setting up of Tower Testing and Research Facility and Testing of Transmission Line Towers (1982 -
continuing)
Licensing of Analysis and Design Software to Spread the Message of Use of Computers for
Structural Design among Civil Engineering Community (1984)
Use of Polymer impregnated Ferrocement Panels with Stainless Steel Bolts for Light Beacon Towers
(1984)

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Third Decade (1985-1994):
Pile Dynamics (1985)
Seismic Qualification Testing of Industrial Components ( 1985)
Laced Reinforced Concrete Construction Techniques for Blast Resistant Design of Structures (1987
- 1994)
Blast Pen Structure in Steel (1989)
Fatigue Testing and Evaluation {1989 - continuing)
Non-Linear analysis for Reinforced Concrete Shells (1990 - continuing)
Parallel Processing for solving Complex and Large Sized Structural Engineering Problems (1990 -
continuing)
Standardization of Test Procedures for Evaluation of Corrosion Damage in Concrete Structures
(1991 - continuing)
Full-Scale Dynamic Testing of Turbo Generator Pedestal (1992)
Setting up of World Class Atmospheric Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Test Facility and Wind Tunnel
Tests on Models of Buildings and Structures (1992) - continuing)
Risk and Vulnerability Analysis for Natural Disaster Mitigation including Earthquakes and Cyclones
using Expert Systems and Artificial Neural Network and Stochastic Finite Element Analysis ( 1992 -
continuing)
Lowering of in-service Gas Pipe Line (1994)
Aerodynamically Shaped Cyclone Shelters (1997)

Fourth Decade (1995-2004):

Development of Bubble Shaped Dome for Parliament Library Building in Fibre Reinforced High
Performance Concrete (2001)
Controlled Blasting for Blast Foundation (2002)
Fibre Optic Sensors in Civil Engineering Applications (2002)
Development of Support Towers for Wind Energy Generators (2003)
Teaching Manual for Steel Structures (2004)
Seismic Base Isolation, and Development of Passive Energy Dissipation Devices (2004)
High Performance Concretes (HVFC, HPC, SCC) (2004)
The Golden Decade (2005-2014):
Contribution to 'SARAS' [Small 14-seater transport aircraft] Project (2005)
Full Scale Testing of Railway Bridge (2005)
Seismic Evaluation and Retrofitting of Multi-storeyed RC Buildings (2005)
Setting up of world class Advanced Seismic Testing and Research Laboratory (2007)
NDTE & Forensic Analysis of Structures (2006 & continuing)
Analysis and design of superstructure of Navigational Span of Pamban Railway Bridge (2007)
Wind Tunnel Studies on Natural Draught Cooling Towers including Interference Effects (2006 &
continuing)
Remote health monitoring scheme for civil engineering structures (2007)

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Performance Evaluation of Prototype Bridges (2008 & continuing)
Geopolymer Concrete Blocks/Pavers
UHPFRC (Ultra High performance Fibre Reinforced Concrete)
Development of PSHA map of India
Fatigue Ratcheting Studies on Piping Components of Power Plants
M. Tech (PGRPE) program on Engineering of Structures through the Academy of Scientific &
Innovative Research (AcSIR)
Light weight prefabricated seismic resistant building using expanded polystrene
Synthesis of alternative binder and aggregate / filler / fibre from waste materials
Performance evaluation of railway bridges under increased axle loads - Innovative methodology for
evaluation of longitudinal force
Development of Seismic Resistant and Energy Efficient Prefabricated Building System
Performance Evaluation of Assembled Model of G + 7 Cold Rolled Steel Framed Structure
Development of Impact Resistant Panels
Performance Evaluation of Composite Antenna Cabin under Shock Loads
Development of Laced Steel-concrete Composite System
Cold-formed Steel Beam-column Connection for Affordable Housing
Establishment of Training & Development Complex based on Green Concepts for Technical Events
and for AcSIR activities
Shake Table Studies on Brick Masonry Buildings Retrofitted with Polyfunctional Textile
Flexural Strengthening of RC Beams using Fabric Reinforced Concrete (FABcrete)
Development of pultrusion technique for the production of fabric reinforced concrete
GFRP- Steel Hybrid Towers for Power Transmission and communication

Structural engineers have traditionally planned, designed and built what society
required in the way of housing, transportation, water and energy supply, other
infrastructure, air quality, response to natural disasters, and land use. Yet, it is
unlikely that yesterday's technologies will suffice for tomorrow's challenges. A large
amount of investment is proposed to be made in the coming years towards the
development of physical infrastructure. The following new initiatives are undertaken
by CSIR-SERC to meet the challenges and provide sustainable solutions:

Ø Development of sustainable materials & construction technologies including

nano/engineered materials
Ø Integrated building management system & health management of
infrastructure
Ø Light-weight and pre-engineered construction panels for fast construction &
use in rural areas

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 Ø Construction materials replacing (part / full) a) cement, b) high energy
intensive steel by ‘Green’ steel, metals & composites.
Ø Work towards development of geopolymer concretes, Ultra high strength
concretes, etc. for durable and efficient structures
Ø Biomimetic/ Bio-inspired materials of construction & pavements
Ø National Facility for Materials, Mechanics & Sensors (NAFAMMS)
Ø Non-conventional energy (wind, solar and hybrid) structures
Ø Energy efficient buildings & infrastructure
Ø Effective waste utilization including construction & demolition waste
Ø Design of structures against natural and man-made disasters
Ø Innovative infrastructure management system
Ø CSIR-800/MSME cluster programs

Knowledge generated from some of the above initiatives/programs are proposed to

be transferred appropriately to the national mission programs such as i) planning &
development of smart cities, ii) Make in India, iii) Green & eco-friendly environment
with sustainable habitat, iv) Swachha Bharat, v) high-speed bullet trains, and so on.

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