One Ph.D position open in the Computational Mechanics Group IIT Kanpur

We are looking for a PhD student willing to work on fracture mechanics of plant stems. This will involve multiscale constitutive modelling of plant cell walls and fibres. The role of cellulose in determining the highly directional strength and stiffness of cell walls is of particular importance. We also plan to conduct nanoindentation experiments on plant cell walls to directly determine their stiffness.

The candidate must have a good background in solid mechanics, continuum mechanics, Finite Element techniques and fracture mechanics. She/he will also need to learn electron microscopy and nanoindentation. Some of the experiments will, most probably, be done elsewhere, and may require travel.The candidate will also have to understand the plant stem microstructure,its growth dynamics and functionalities.

Interested candidates can write to Dr.Sumit Basu (sbasu@iitk.ac.in) by 31st October 2023. Please note that you will have to clear the IITK admission process to the PhD programme before you can start work on the project. Please see the https://www.iitk.ac.in/me/ page for details of the admission process.