Komal Chawla

Research Interests

Her research interest is to study the mechanical, fracture, and vibration characteristics of fiber reinforced polymer composites. During her PhD, she has worked with composites at a wide range of scales. She has started working with single fiber pull-out tests to investigate failure mechanisms at micro-scale as well as fracture behaviour by conducting double cantilever beam tests at meso-scale. She has developed the mathematical models for inherent damping in composites, suggesting that the damping can be significantly enhanced by introducing miniature holes, inserts and optimizing the cross-section with almost negligible alteration in the frequency. To check the model efficiency, she has performed shake table experiments on composite tubes subjected to base excitation. Her postdoctoral research at Thevamaran Lab focuses on the dynamic behavior of architected carbon nanotube foams.

Education

Integrated MTech and PhD, Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India, Aug 2013 – Nov 2019

BTech, Civil Engineering, Rajasthan Technical University Kota, India, Jul 2009 – Jun 2013

Work Experience

Postdoctoral Associate, Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, India, Nov 2019- Sep 2020.

Publications

Journals:

1. Chawla, K., Raju, B., Dakshyani, B., Kancherala, K.B., Mahapatra, D.R. “Micromechanical effect of pores on elastic properties of polymer matrix composites”, Polymer Composites, 2020, 1-22, https://doi.org/10.1002/pc.25919.
2. Chawla, K. and Ray-Chaudhuri, S. “Amplitude dependent damping behaviour of CFRP composite tubes: effect of cross-section” Journal of Sound and Vibration, 2020, 476: 115-313, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsv.2020.115313.
3. Chawla, K. and Ray-Chaudhuri, S. “Mathematical modeling and experimental Study of damping behavior of a cantilever CFRP composite hollow member with metal inserts” Journal of Vibration and Control, 2020 (In Press).
4. Chawla, K. and Ray-Chaudhuri, S. “Damping ratio of the fundamental mode in EPS foam filled CFRP composite tubes”, Curved and Layered Structures, 2020, 7: 178-185 https://doi.org/10.1515/cls-2020-0014.  
5. Chawla, K. and Ray-Chaudhuri, S., “Stress and strain concentration factors in orthotropic composites with hole under uniaxial tension” Curved and Layered Structures, 2018, 5: 213-232, https://doi.org/10.1515/cls-2018-0016.

Conference Proceedings and Presentations:

1. Chawla, K., Ray Chaudhuri, S., Kitey, R. “Interlaminar Fracture Toughness of Short Fiber Reinforced GFRP Laminates”, Structure Integrity Procedia, 2019, 14:571-576, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prostr.2019.05.070.
2. K, Ray-Chaudhuri, S. “Influence of Adhesive Tape on Damping Behavior of Cantilever CFRP Composite Tubes” In Proceedings of EMI International Conference, Lyon, France, 2019.
3. Chawla, K., Ray Chaudhuri, S., Kitey, R. “Interlaminar Fracture Toughness of Short Fiber Reinforced GFRP Laminates”, In Proceedings of Structural Integrity and Exhibition (SICE) Conference, Hyderabad, India, 2018.
4. Bhattacharyya, S. Chawla, K., Ray Chaudhuri, S. “Workability of Offshore Wind Turbine in Post-Earthquake, on a Liquefiable Soil” In 16th Symposium on Earthquake Engineering, Department of Earthquake Engineering, IIT Roorkee, India, 2018.
5. Chawla, K., Ray Chaudhuri, S. “Effect of Cross-Section and Discontinuities on Damping Enhancement in Composites: An Experimental Study”, Book Chapter in Springer International Publishing, 2017, 705-713.  https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-67443-8_62.

Hobbies

Reading, Music, Learning, Traveling