PhD Research

Aim of the PhD

“To explore the applicability of the Contour Method for gaining insights into the spatial distribution of residual stress within polymer composite structures.”

in simple words,

The research aims to enhance manufacturing processes and product design in the polymer composite industry. By improving these areas, it helps evaluate product durability and lifespan, highlighting the importance of recognizing material limitations to support sustainable design.

Supervisory Team

  • Prof. John Bouchard

    The Open University, England

  • Dr. Foroogh Hosseinzadeh

    The Open University, England

  • Dr. Fabien Lefebvre

    Technical Centre of Mechanical Industries, France

  • Dr. Damien Guillon

    Technical Centre of Mechanical Industries, France

The improvement of more efficient and optimised polymer composite structures for use in aerospace and automobile sector is a sine qua non for a low-carbon society and growth of sustainable manufacture industry. By effectively managing residual stress, polymer composites can achieve enhanced performance, durability, and reliability in real-world applications.

Praveen is working on characterising residual stress in polymer composites funded by CETIM - France at The Open University - Milton Keynes under the supervision of Dr. Foroogh Hosseinzadeh and Prof. John Bouchard. His research interest primarily lies in the area of Structural Integrity Assessment such as Fatigue, Fracture Mechanics and Residual Stress Measurement.

His PhD work involves investigating the unified approach to characterise the residual stress and identify new manufacturing process that introduces beneficial residual stress in composite structures using contour method at the Stress Map laboratory of The Open University - Milton Keynes. Understanding the bulk residual stress is essential to avoid over-conservative design and to ensure the structure is without any premature cracks or defects. Thus, it helps optimising the composite structures by reducing their weight and thereby decreasing the carbon footprint.

Although there is no requirement of art in his PhD, it is solely experimental and simulation based research sponsored by French based company – Technical Center of Mechanical Industries (CETIM). Inspired from polymath Leonardo Da Vinci, Praveen fervently believes that there must be a culture of cross pollination between art and engineering and research. Investing in high-quality artistic activities will encourage researchers to think creatively and to build creative procedural understanding. It allows one the flexibility to use their Creativity in Innovation and Innovation in their Creativity. Also offers an opportunity to discover and assess various creative novel concepts. And finally, to establish one selves as a creative researcher.

Residual Stress in Composites

List of International Conferences

1)  K R Praveen, F Hosseinzadeh, J P Bouchard, F Lefebvre, D Guillon (2024), Quantification of Mesoscale Residual Stress in Crossply Laminar Polymer Composites using Contour Method, Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composites Conference – International Composite Summit, Milton Keynes - UK.

2)  K R Praveen, F Hosseinzadeh, J P Bouchard, F Lefebvre, D Guillon (2024), Contouring Residual Stress: A New Frontier for Polymer Composite Characterization, 9th International Conference on Advanced Experimental Mechanics, British Society of Strain Measurement (BSSM), University of Liverpool - UK.

3)  K R Praveen, F Hosseinzadeh, J P Bouchard, F Lefebvre, D Guillon (2024), Contouring Residual Stress: A New Frontier for Polymer Composite Characterization, 9th International Conference on Fracture of Polymers, Composites and Adhesives, European Structural Integrity Society - Les Diablerets, Switzerland.

4)  K R Praveen, F Hosseinzadeh, J P Bouchard, F Lefebvre, D Guillon (2023), Cutting Edge Solutions: Viability of Abrasive Waterjet Machining to Characterise Residual Stress using Contour Method in Polymer Composites, 17th International Conference on Polymer Science and Technology – IIT Guwahati - India.

5)  K R Praveen, F Hosseinzadeh, J P Bouchard, F Lefebvre, D Guillon (2023), Potential Cutting Techniques for the Application of Contour Method in Carbon Fibre Reinforced Cross-Ply Laminate, 6th International Conference on Material Design and Applications: ICMDA6 - Chiba University, Japan.

6)  K R Praveen, F Hosseinzadeh, J P Bouchard, F Lefebvre, D Guillon (2022), Advancing the Contour Method for the Measurement of Residual Stress in Polymer Composites, 11th International Conference on Residual Stress – Nancy, France.

7)  K R Praveen, F Hosseinzadeh, J P Bouchard, F Lefebvre, D Guillon (2019), Simulation of Contour Method to Back Calculate Residual Stress in Polymer Composites, Fifth Postgraduate Experimental Mechanics Conference, BSSM: Sheffield Hallam University - UK.

8)  K R Praveen, S S Mishra, P Babu, A Spagnoli, A Carpinteri, (2017) Multiaxial Fatigue Assessment of Welded Connections in Railway Steel Bridge under Constant and Variable Amplitude Loading, 9th New York City Bridge Conference - New York, USA.

9)  K R Praveen, S S Mishra, P Babu, A Spagnoli, A Carpinteri, (2017) Multiaxial Fatigue Damage Assessment of Welded Connections in Railway Steel Bridge using Critical Plane Approach, 7th International Conference on Fatigue Design - Senlis, France.

List of Publications

1)  K R Praveen, F Hosseinzadeh, J P Bouchard, F Lefebvre, D Guillon (2024), Breaking Boundaries: Pioneering Residual Stress Characterization in Polymer Composites through the Contour Method, Nature Communications (in review).

2)  K R Praveen, F Hosseinzadeh, J P Bouchard, F Lefebvre, D Guillon (2024), Contouring Residual Stress: A New Frontier for Polymer Composite Characterization, Proceedings of 9th International Conference on Advanced Experimental Mechanics, British Society of Strain Measurement (BSSM).

3)  K R Praveen, F Hosseinzadeh, J P Bouchard, F Lefebvre, D Guillon (2023), Advancing the Contour Method to Characterise Residual Stress in Asymmetric Laminar Composites, Journal of Theoretical, Computational and Applied Mechanics (in print).

4)  K R Praveen, F Hosseinzadeh, J P Bouchard, F Lefebvre, D Guillon (2022), Advancing the Contour Method for the Measurement of Residual Stress in Polymer Composites, open science, https://hal.science/hal-04058709.

5)  K R Praveen, S S Mishra, P Babu, A Spagnoli, A Carpinteri (2018), Multiaxial Fatigue Assessment of Welded Connections in Railway Steel Bridge under Constant and Variable Amplitude Loading, Journal of Bridge Structures, Volume. 14, Pages 21-33.

6)  K R Praveen, S S Mishra, P Babu, A Spagnoli, A Carpinteri (2017), Multiaxial Fatigue Damage Assessment of Welded Connections in Railway Steel Bridge using Critical Plane Approach, Procedia Engineering - Elsevier, Volume-213 Pages 776–787.

Memberships

1) Associate member of The Welding Institute - UK

2) Life member of Society for Failure Analysis - India

3) British Society for Strain Measurement - UK

Technical Talk, India

Topic: Structural Integrity Assessment - Fatigue Design and Residual Stress Measurement

Art description,
1) Raw tomato representing structure without residual stress
2) Ripen tomato illustrating structure with balanced residual stress
3) Residual stress relieved by fracture in the tomato.

The talk was held on 23rd February 2022 at Bangalore Institute of Technology, India introducing my research work using an artwork. The painting helped getting the attention of non-specialist audience and communicating the research in a simpler way.

France Conference

Presenting PhD research work virtually at 11th International Conference on Residual Stresses held in France.

For more details about the programme

USA Conference

Presenting Research Work on Multiaxial Fatigue Assessment of Railway Steel Bridge at 9th NewYork City Bridge Conference.

Japan Conference

3D Print Model (Poly Lactic Acid polymer) demonstrating the Contour Method – an experimental method to quantify the residual stress in a material. Model a) & b) shows contour cut in stress free material with and without cutting artefact and Model c) contour cut in stressed material

For any technical consultancy works, technical talks/workshops feel free to drop an enquiry. Follow the LinkedIn profile for more details of academics.