Faculty

Kalyana Babu Nakshatrala, Ph.D.
Dr. Kalyana Babu Nakshatrala, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Office Location: N124 Engineering Bldg 1, Houston, TX 77204-4003
Phone: 713-743-4418 | Fax: 713-743-4260
Email: knakshatrala [at] uh.edu
Research Website

Education: 

Doctor of Philosophy, Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, May 2007. (Major: Structural Engineering, and Certificate in Computational Science and Engineering)
Master of Science, Applied Mathematics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, May 2007.
Master of Science, Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, May 2002.
Bachelor of Technology, Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, Chennai, India, May 2000.

Professional Experience: 

September 2017 -- present: Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, Texas.
February -- April 2019: Visiting Assosciate, Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, California Institute of Technology.
September 2011 - August 2017: Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, Texas.
April 2012 - present: Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, Texas.
January 2009 - August 2011: Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.
June 2007 - December 2008: Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois.
August 2000 - May 2007: Graduate Research Assistant at Center for Simulation of Advanced Rockets (CSAR), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois.

Students Supervised: 

Doctor of Philosophy

  • Maruti MUDUNURU, August 2015
  • Mohammad SHABOUEI, August 2016
  • Saeid KARIMI, December 2016
  • Can Xu, May 2017
  • Justin CHANG, May 2017
  • Seyedeh Hanie Seyed Joodat, August 2018 [Co-advised with Dr. Roberto Ballarini]
  • FNU Witarto, December 2018 [Co-advised with Dr. Yi-Lung Mo]

 

 

Master of Science (M.S.) with thesis

  • Abhineeth AKKASALE, May 2011
  • Maruti MUDUNURU, May 2011
  • Priyanka GOTIKA, December 2011
  • Justin CHANG, May 2013
  • Nischal MAPAKSHI, August 2017

 

 

Classes: 

CIVE 2330: Statics (SP17, SP18 [two sections])
CIVE 2332: Mechanics of Solids (FA11, SP13, SP14, SP16)
CIVE 7336: Finite Element Methods (SP12, SP15, SP17)
CIVE 7397: Computational Mechanics* (FA12, FA14, FA16, FA18)
CIVE 7397: Mechanics of Porous Media* (FA13, FA15, FA17)
CIVE 6111: Graduate Seminar Series (FA13, FA18)
(* Developed a new graduate-level course.)
Courses Taught at Other Institutions: Statics & Particle Dynamics, Engineering Analysis for Mechanical Engineers, Finite Element Method, Nonlinear Finite Element Method

Research Interests: 

Nakshatrala's general research interest includes mathematical formulation and analysis, and development of computational techniques for problems in structural, solid, and fluid mechanics. His current research interests include degradation/healing of man-made and natural materials, and heterogeneous porous media (both flow and structural aspects).

Nakshatrala's application areas include degradation/healing of civil and aerospace structures and materials, geosciences (contaminant transport, carbon-dioxide sequestration, enhanced oil recovery) and bio-mechanics. The research goal is to develop relevant mechanics, numerical techniques, and mathematical tools to model and study various (steady state and transient) multiscale phenomena. Specific research topics of interest include:

Geomechanics

  • Flow and transport in deformable porous media
  • Constitutive modeling of geomaterials
  • Fracturable porous media

Computational Mechanics

  • Multiscale and stabilized finite elements
  • Coupled problems, structure-structure interaction, fluid-structure interaction
  • Numerical homogenization and upscaling techniques
  • Numerical optimization and sensitivity analysis
  • Applications and numerical techniques for differential-algebraic equations (DAEs)

Continuum Physics

  • Modeling degradation / healing of materials and structures
  • Nonlinear continuum mechanics
  • Thermomechanical constitutive modeling & Implicit constitutive modeling
  • Theory of interacting continua

Applied Mathematics and High Performance Computing

  • Partial Differential Equations (More of a spectator)
  • Maximum Principles
  • Applied Optimization
  • Parallel Computing

Location

Cullen College of Engineering Building 1
Civil and Environmental Engineering
4726 Calhoun Road, Room N107
Houston, TX 77204-4003
Phone: 713-743-4250
Fax: 713-743-4260
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