IIT Kharagpur under the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (MHRD), Government of India organized a one week ISTE STTP workshop for coordinators on Introduction to Structural Engineering from 28th Sep– 2nd Oct’2015 at IIT Kharagpur. Mr. Malasani Gopichand, Assistant Professor- Department of Civil Engineering, attended the workshop on behalf of Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon (Remote Centre 1299).

The objective of this workshop was to focus on Structural Engineering across several domains of design and analysis of structure for establishing safe and stable structural systems.

Prof. Souvik Bhattacharya, Deputy Director, introduced & welcomed all distinguished speakers and the coordinators attending the event from several corners of India.

1st Day (28th September’ 2015)

Prof. Raja Datta, Coordinator NMEICT & Professor of Electronics at IIT Kharagpur gave an overview on NMEICT and its mission to train 10 thousand teachers (T10KT) across the nation and said that the success of the program depends upon the engagement of coordinators in learning and the way it’s going to be conducted at Remote Centers later.

Prof. S. K. Bhattacharyya, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Kharagpur, motivated participants through his lecture highlighted on the topics that requires constant professional guidance from trained faculties and how the IIT curriculum does this in a scientific way.

Prof. Baidurya Bhattacharya, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Kharagpur, discussed on topics like reliability based analysis of design and partial safety factor used in IS codes and defined that modern structures require more critical and complex designs, the need for accurate approaches to assess uncertainties in loads, geometry, material properties, manufacturing processes and operational environments has increased significantly. Reliability assessment techniques help to develop safe designs and identify where significant contributors of uncertainty occur in structural systems.

He explained that the reliability of steel structures design is dependent on the partial safety factor values, which are specified by the design standards. Partial safety factors are basic indicators, which determine structural dimensions in relation to loading. The probabilistic assessment of reliability is performed as a parametric study in the first part of the numerical analysis. The probability of failure is analyzed in dependence on values of partial safety factors of material, permanent loading and longtime variable loading. Partial safety factors are considered as fuzzy numbers with triangular membership functions in the second part of the numerical analysis.

Dr. Sushanta Chakraborty, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Kharagpur put emphasis on how the analysis is used in design of Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) and how to teach the design aspects in more practical manner and continued the design aspects of RCC and laboratory facilities of concrete testing lab. The advanced research topics like earthquake subjected building analysis using shake table were also discussed.

2nd Day (29th September’ 2015)

Prof. Baidurya Bhattacharya discussed about structural analysis. He said that structural analysis incorporates the fields of applied mechanics, materials science and applied mathematics to compute a structure's deformations, internal forces, stresses, support reactions, accelerations, and stability. The results of the analysis are used to verify a structure's fitness for use, often saving physical tests. Structural analysis is thus a key part of the engineering design of structures. The discussion further continued to advanced design philosophies like Reliability design methods and further advances in that field.

At the end of the regular lecture session a visit made to HIJLI detention camp and Nehru museum of sciences.

3rd Day (30th September’ 2015)

Dr. Sushanta Chakraborty elaborated few important points on RCC design (Limit state method vs Working stress method). He stated that The Working, Allowable or Permissible stress method is an elastic design method. In this design method, members are designed to never go beyond their elastic range. While the Limit State or Load Resistance Factor design uses the ultimate strength of a member, beyond initial yielding, to determine the allowable strength.

Prof. S. K. Bhattacharyya, stressed upon the new innovation in Design and how to use IS code. He added that in India, Bureau of Indian standard (BIS) is the apex body which is responsible to set the guidelines for engineering design, materials and working procedures. For civil engineering activity it has been publishing the IS codes with the joint approval of civil engineering council. We ought to follow the IS guidelines while carrying out the construction activity and also explained that why IS code is just a prescription to check safety and further innovation needed in design.

4th Day (01stOctober’ 2015)

Prof. S. K. Bhattacharyya started with introduction to steel structures and design aspects and explained in detailed about connections. The subjective discussions about tension members and compression members design were took place and talking about changes in IS: 800-2007 vs IS: 800-1984 particularly in design of tension members and compression members and the causes.

5th Day (02ndOctober’ 2015)

Prof. S. K. Bhattacharyya ended his lecture series talking about advancement in steel structures design and further research scope. The following Q&A session is very interesting where discussion about problems in teaching of steel structures design. Professor S. K. Bhattacharyya ended the session with a strong positive quote “It is an honour to be working with you as a partner”.

Prof. Baidurya Bhattacharya explained the advances that are happening in the fields of design as reliability based design methods and research behind partial safety factor like probability density functions. This session ended with discussion with high end research topics.

Prof. S. K. Bhattacharyya ended the whole workshop after taking the technical feedbacks about the workshop and further scope in field of teaching.

The workshop came to an end with valedictory remarks by Prof. Sabyasachi Sengupta and Prof. O. P. Sha. Certificate of participation was distributed among the participants after the completion of the session.