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Engineering

Photo of Dr Prakash Kripakaran

Dr Prakash Kripakaran

Senior Lecturer

 P.Kripakaran@exeter.ac.uk

 (Streatham) 6581

 01392 726581


Overview

Prakash is academic lead for the civil and structures research group at Exeter. He is a fellow of the Alan Turing Institute. He is also a member of the vibration engineering section and the centre for water systems. He is programme lead for MSc Civil Engineering.

Prakash received his undergraduate degree in civil engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and his Masters and PhD in civil engineering from North Carolina State University in the USA. Prior to joining Exeter, he worked briefly as a post-doctoral researcher at the applied computing and mechanics laboratory at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland.

Research

Prakash’s research interests are broadly in the design and management of bridge structures and other civil infrastructures. He is particularly interested in the application of novel technologies like drones/UAVs, BIM, AR/VR and computer vision as well as state-of-the-art computing techniques based on AI/data analytics for civil and structural engineering problems such as structural design, bridge management, infrastructure resilience to flooding and structural health monitoring.

Prakash has significant experience in

  • the experimental and numerical modelling of flow and scour (erosion) around hydraulic structures such as bridge piers;

  • the use of applied computing techniques including machine learning and data mining for civil and structural engineering applications;

  • the development of finite element modelling-based and data-driven strategies for interpreting measurements from bridge structural health monitoring; and

  • the application of heuristic and mathematical optimization methods for structural design problems (e.g. design of trusses and moment-resisting steel frames).

Below is a list of recently completed projects. 

  • Risk assessment of masonry bridges under flood conditions: Hydrodynamic effects of debris blockage and scour, EPSRC grant (£634k): Flooding-induced scour is a leading cause of bridge failures around the world. Scour effects can be further worsened by debris accumulations. This EPSRC-funded project examined the scour consequences of debris accumulations via experiments and numerical modelling. The project developed a novel method for assessing debris-induced scour risk that is currently being embedded within UK national guidance for bridge practitioners. Further details can be found here

  • Embedding techniques for assessing debris-induced scour within practice, EPSRC IAA grant (£35k): This EPSRC impact acceleration award project, partly funded by Devon County Council, transferred knowledge outcomes of aforementioned EPSRC project to practice. It led to a novel practical method for assessing the risk of formation of debris accumulations at bridges using satellite imagery and historical bridge inspection data. The method was trialled on Devon County Council's portfolio of over 3,000 bridges, and is now included within the revised scour assessment standards of Highways England. 

  • Fatigue monitoring in metallic bridges, PhD (Jalil Kwad): This project, undertaken in collaboration with Devon County Council, investigated the fatigue damage due to vehicle loading in metallic bridges under traffic loading. The Bascule Bridge in Exeter served as a case study, and strain and acceleration data were collected both under quasi-static conditions and during a planned load test using appropriate field instrumentation. A key outcome is a hybrid approach for tracking in-situ fatigue damage at a weld detail through integrating real-time field deformation data with high fidelity (numerical) connection model.

  • Temperature effects in bridges, PhD (Rolands Kromanis): Dealing with the thermal influence on structural response is critical to detect anomalies from measurements collected by bridge  monitoring systems. This project explored the use of machine learning techniques for modelling thermal response, and signal processing techniques for subsequently detecting anomalous events from measurement time series devoid of thermal response. This novel temperature-based measurement interpretation approach was trialled on a laboratory truss structure and a NPL footbridge. Importantly, the importance of thermal movements was illustrated on the bearings of the Cleddau bridge using field data. 

  • Detecting delimitation of externally-bonded FRP in concrete structures using ultrasonic methods, £5k, IStructE award: This project investigated the application of nonlinear ultrasonics for structural assessment in collaboration with Theta Technologies. The research award from the IStructE was employed for evaluating the strength of externally-bonded FRP retrofits using nonlinear ultrasonics. 

MSc Dissertations 

I also regularly supervise MSc dissertations on topics related to civil infrastructure monitoring and management, with a few examples listed below.

  • Optimisation of metal lightweight infill walls with finite element modelling, Eirini Marinaki (2019-20)

  • Predicting bridge pier scour using empirical equiations,  Yuchen Yao (2019-20)

  • Wavelet based damage detection of expansion joints, Zhehui Qian (2018-19)

  • TMDs for vibration control in cable-stayed bridges, Xinghai Deng (2018-19)

  • Modelling structural behaviour of multi-span masonry arches, Scott Trowbridge (2018-19)

  • Debris-induced scour around bridge piers, Antoneta Verushi (2018-19)

Academic and Industry links

Prakash is on the editorial board of the following journals: Advanced Engineering Informatics, Frontiers in Built Environment - Structural Sensing, Control and Asset Management, and Proceedings of the ICE - Engineering and Computational Mechanics. He is a member of the EPSRC peer review college, and a reviewer for several leading journals such as engineering structures, computers and structures, and journal of civil structural health monitoring.

Prakash has strong links with industry stakeholders ranging from asset owners such as Network Rail, Highways England and Devon County Council to consultants (e.g. JBA Consulting Ltd, HR Wallingford, Bill Harvey Associates) to stakeholder groups such as ADEPT and CIRIA. His work on debris-induced bridge scour has been incorporated in bridge management procedures of Devon County Council and within UK national guidance for scour risk assessment of road bridges. 

Prakash has active research links with a number of overseas universities and research institutions such as IISc Bangalore (India), Stony Brook (USA), and Twente university and Norwegian Geotechnical Institution in Europe.  

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Publications

Copyright Notice: Any articles made available for download are for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the copyright holder.

| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2003 | 2002 |

2024

2023

  • Jayasinghe A, Momoh E, Hajsadeghi M, Orr J, Vinai R, Kripakaran P, Evans K. (2023) Participating Formwork with CFRP Textile for Shape-Optimised Concrete Beams: Opportunities and Challenges, fib Symposium, pages 505-512.
  • Jayasinghe A, Momoh E, Hajsadeghi M, Orr J, Vinai R, Kripakaran P, Evans K. (2023) Participating Formwork with CFRP Textile for Shape-Optimised Concrete Beams: Opportunities and Challenges, 3rd fib Symposium on Concrete and Concrete Structures, Turin (italy), 10th - 10th Nov 2023. [PDF]
  • Panici D, Kripakaran P. (2023) Characterising the importance of porosity of large woody debris accumulations at single bridge piers on localised scour.

2022

2021

2020

2019

  • PANICI D, KRIPAKARAN P, DENTITH K. (2019) ASSESSING DEBRIS-INDUCED SCOUR AT PIERS IN REAL-WORLD PRACTICE: A CASE STUDY, 38th IAHR World Congress, 38th IAHR World Congress - "Water: Connecting the World", DOI:10.3850/38wc092019-1793. [PDF]
  • Panici D, Kripakaran P, Dentith K. (2019) Embedding techniques for assessing debris-induced scour within practice, University of Exeter.
  • Kahraman R, Riella M, Tabor GR, Ebrahimi M, Djordjevic S, Kripakaran P. (2019) Prediction of flow around a sharp-nosed bridge pier: Influence of the Froude number and free surface variation on the flow field (dataset). [PDF]
  • Kwad KJE. (2019) Estimating fatigue life of steel bridges using continuous response monitoring: Methodology and applications.

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

  • Kromanis R, Kripakaran P. (2014) Kriging models for compensating thermal response in measurements from bridges monitoring, 22nd UK Conference on Computational Mechanics (ACME2014), University Of Exeter, Exeter, Uk, 2nd - 4th Apr 2014.
  • Kromanis R, Harvey B, Kripakaran P. (2014) Evaluation of quasi-static temperature effects on the Cleddau bridge from continuous monitoring, Structural Faults + Repairs 2014 & 15th European Bridge Conference, Imperial College, London, Uk, 9th - 11th Jul 2014.
  • Kromanis R, Kripakaran P. (2014) Integrated Analysis of Vehicular and Thermal Effects Within a Structural Health Monitoring System, 6th World Conference on Structural Control and Monitoring (6WCSCM), Barcelona, Spain, 15th - 17th Jul 2014.
  • Kripakaran P, Armitage P. (2014) Detecting delamination in FRP retrofitted concrete structures using nonlinear ultrasonics, Structural Engineer, volume 92, no. 6, pages 46-50.
  • Kromanis R, Kripakaran P. (2014) Predicting thermal response of bridges using regression models derived from measurement histories, Computers and Structures, volume 136, pages 64-77, DOI:10.1016/j.compstruc.2014.01.026.

2013

2012

  • Kromanis R, Kripakaran P. (2012) Support vector machines for anomaly detection from measurement histories, European Group for Intelligent Computing in Engineering, EG-ICE 2012 - International Workshop: Intelligent Computing in Engineering.
  • Kromanis R, Kripakaran P. (2012) Support Vector Machines for Anomaly Detection from Measurement Histories, International Workshop: Intelligent Computing in Engineering, Herrsching, Germany, 4th - 6th Jul 2012.

2011

2010

2009

  • Goulet JA, Kripakaran P, Smith IFC. (2009) Estimation of modelling errors in structural system identification, Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure - Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure, SHMII 2009.
  • Goulet J, Kripakaran P, Smith IFC. (2009) Considering Sensor Characteristics during Measurement-System Design for Structural System Identification, ASCE Conf. Proc, volume 346, no. 41052, pages 8-8. [PDF]
  • Goulet J, Kripakaran P, Smith IFC. (2009) Considering sensor characteristics during measurement- system design for structural system identification, ASCE Computing Conference, Austin, Texas, Proceedings of Computing in Civil Engineering, pages 74-82.
  • Goulet J-A, Kripakaran P, Smith IFC. (2009) Estimation of modelling errors in structural system identification, Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure - Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure, SHMII 2009.
  • Goulet J, Kripakaran P, Smith IFC. (2009) Structural identification to improve bridge management, 33rd IABSE Symposium, Bangkok, Thailand, 9th - 11th Sep 2009.
  • Kripakaran P, Saitta S, Smith IFC. (2009) A process model for structural identification, EWORK AND EBUSINESS IN ARCHITECTURE, ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTIO N, pages 59-66. [PDF]
  • Kripakaran P, Smith IFC. (2009) Configuring and enhancing measurement systems for damage identification, Adv. Eng. Informatics, volume 23, pages 424-432, article no. 4, DOI:10.1016/j.aei.2009.06.002.

2008

  • Kripakaran P, Smith IFC. (2008) Damage identification in truss bridges using multiple models, 15th EG-ICE Workshop on Intelligent Computing in Engineering (ICE08), Plymouth, Uk, 2nd - 4th Jul 2008.
  • Kripakaran P, Gupta A, Matzen VC. (2008) Computational framework for remotely operable laboratories, Eng. Comput, volume 24, pages 405-415, article no. 4, DOI:10.1007/s00366-008-0089-y.
  • Saitta S, Kripakaran P, Raphael B, Smith IFC. (2008) Improving system identification using clustering, Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, volume 22, no. 5, pages 292-302, DOI:10.1061/(ASCE)0887-3801(2008)22:5(292).
  • Smith IFC, Kripakaran P. (2008) Model based reasoning for life-cycle structural engineering, Life-Cycle Civil Engineering - Proceedings of the 1st International Symposium on Life-Cycle Civil Engineering, IALCCE '08, pages 959-964, DOI:10.1201/9780203885307.ch149.

2007

  • Kripakaran P, Saitta S, Ravindran S, Smith IFC. (2007) Optimal Sensor Placement for Damage Detection: Role of Global Search, 18th International Conference on Database and Expert Systems Applications (DEXA 2007), 3rd - 7th Sep 2007, 18th International Conference on Database and Expert Systems Applications (DEXA 2007), DOI:10.1109/dexa.2007.4312906. [PDF]
  • Kripakaran P, Ravindran S, Saitta S, Smith IFC. (2007) Measurement system design using damage scenarios, Congress on Computing in Civil Engineering, Proceedings, pages 615-623, DOI:10.1061/40937(261)73.
  • Kripakaran P, Ravindran S, Saitta S, Smith IFC. (2007) Measurement System Design Using Damage Scenarios, ASCE Conf. Proc, volume 261, no. 40937, pages 73-73. [PDF]
  • Ravindran S, Kripakaran P, Smith IFC. (2007) Evaluating reliability of multiple-model system identification, Bringing ITC Knowledge to Work, Maribor, Slovenia, 26th - 29th Jun 2007, Proceedings of the 14th European Group for Intelligent Computing in Engineering (EG-ICE) Workshop, pages 643-652.
  • Kripakaran P, Gupta A, Baugh JW. (2007) A novel optimization approach for minimum cost design of trusses, Computers and Structures, volume 85, no. 23-24, pages 1782-1794, DOI:10.1016/j.compstruc.2007.04.006.
  • Kripakaran P, Saitta S, Ravindran S, Smith IFC. (2007) Optimal Sensor Placement for Damage Detection: Role of Global Search, DEXA Workshops, pages 302-306, DOI:10.1109/DEXA.2007.35. [PDF]
  • Kripakaran P, Saitta S, Ravindran S, Smith IFC. (2007) SYSTEM IDENTIFICATION: DATA MINING TO EXPLORE MULTIPLE MODELS, PROCEEDINGS OF THE 3RD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON STRUCTURE HEALTH MONITORING & INTELLIGENT INFRASTRUCTURE: STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING & INTELLIGENT INFRASTRUCTURE. [PDF]

2006

  • Kripakaran P, Gupta A, Matzen V. (2006) Software architectures for remotely operable civil engineering laboratories, ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings.
  • Kripakaran P, Gupta A. (2006) Computational approaches for decision support in structural performance evaluation, 17th Analysis and Computation Specialty Conference, volume 2006, DOI:10.1061/40878(202)17.
  • Kripakaran P, Gupta A, Matzen VC. (2006) Software architectures for remotely operable civil engineering laboratories, 2006 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Chicago, Illinois, 18th - 21st Jun 2006.
  • Kripakaran P, Gupta A. (2006) Computational Approaches for Decision Support in Structural Performance Evaluation, ASCE Conf. Proc, volume 202, no. 40878, pages 17-17. [PDF]
  • Kripakaran P, Gupta A. (2006) MGA - A Mathematical Approach to Generate Design Alternatives, EG-ICE, volume 4200, pages 408-415. [PDF]

2005

2003

  • Kripakaran P, Gupta A, Kumar GM, Baugh JW. (2003) New GA Approaches For Pipe Support Optimization, 2003 ASCE Structures Congress and Exposition, Seattle, Washington, 29th May - 1st Jun 2003.

2002

  • Gupta A, Kripakaran P, Kumar SV, Baugh JW. (2002) Optimizing seismic response of secondary systems on workstation clusters, 2002 ASCE Structures Congress and Exposition, Denver, Colorado, 4th - 6th Apr 2002.

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Further information

PhD/Postdoc positions

I encourage interested PhD applicants and researchers to get in touch with me via email.

CSC-Exeter PhD Scholarships: 

We have a number of PhD scholarships jointly funded by the China Scholarship Council and the University of Exeter. Please visit the following website: https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/funding/award/?id=4233. I encourage interested applicants to contact me via email (p.kripakaran@exeter.ac.uk).

EPSRC funded PhD studentships: 

We have a number of PhD scholarships funded by the EPSRC. Please visit  following website: https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/funding/award/?id=4345. I encourage interested applicants to contact me via email (p.kripakaran@exeter.ac.uk).

Below are some other opportunities for obtaining funding for PhD studentships and postdoctoral research.

I am happy to support and work with enthusiastic applicants on proposals to seek funding for studentships from external funding bodies (national councils, EU etc).  

PhD Topics 

I am keen to supervise PhD students interested in topics related to structural design and management of civil infrastructure. Below are a list of potential PhD topics.

  • Machine learning techniques for structural health monitoring
  • Resilience of civil structures to extreme events such as flooding and storms
  • Experimental studies on scour and erosion around hydraulic structures including bridge piers
  • Impact forces from water-borne debris with bridges
  • Fluid-structure interaction at offshore structures such as wind turbine monopiles
  • Computational modelling of free surface fluid flow
  • Design optimisation of steel structures 
  • BIM and Augmented Reality for enhancing productivity in construction

Current PhD students

  I am first supervisor for the following students 
  • Edmond Gabriel Ewah (2021-), Experimental and numerical modelling of large wood debris collisions with bridge structures
  • Anmar Al-Adly (2022-), Physics-informed machine learning approaches for structural health monitoring of bridges
  • Vik Reid (2021-), Vortex-induced vibration in offshore power cables

I am second supervisor for the following students

  • Saugat Sharma (2023 - ), Approaches coupling CFD and DEM for modelling erosion, QUEX studentship
  • Hojune Ann (2020 - ), Computer vision for structural health monitoring
  • Hiba Talmoust (2023 - ), Evaluating embodied and operational carbon of mechanical and electrical systems to deliver Net Zero Buildings

Former PhD students

  • Jalil Kwad (2019) (Now academic at Anbar university, Iraq)
  • Rolands Kromanis (2014) (Now academic at Twente University)

Postdoctoral researchers

  • Diego Panici (2019 - 2020) (Now academic at University of Exeter)
  • Recep Kahraman (2015-2018) (Now at HiETA technologies)
  • Mohsen Ebrahimi (2015-2018) (Now at Mott MacDonald)

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