Specialisation:

Structural Engineering

Teaching areas: 

Advanced structural analysis; Structural health monitoring; Analysis and Design of Machine Foundations;  Structural Mechanics; Structural Dynamics; Reinforced Concrete (RC) and Steel Design; Design of Industrial Structures.

Major Professional Contributions:

Prof. Suresh Bhalla, a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, is Professor (Higher Administrative Grade) at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, IIT Delhi, and founding President and Fellow, Indian Structural Health Monitoring Society (ISHMS). An internationally acclaimed researcher in the field of structural health monitoring (SHM), he is well-known for his original, sustained and ground breaking India-centric research contributions that bridge fundamental research, technology translation from lab to field and policy influence. Prof. Bhalla also works in the field of vibration control, piezoelectric energy harvesting, assessment and conservation of heritage structures and Indian Knowledge System (IKS) inspired carbon negative construction technology. Prof. Bhalla’s cutting edge research dovetailed to engineered bamboo as a credible carbon negative construction material strongly aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 9, 12 and 13. Prof. Bhalla’s numerous publications display outstanding metrics, with more than a third of his research papers displaying a citation percentile of over 80% (implying strong impact), a sixth displaying over 90% (implying excellent impact) and one publication touching 100% (most impactful in the field). Prof. Bhalla has received consistent recognition (both year wise and entire career) among top 2% of world scientists since 2020. Prof. Bhalla is the only Indian scientist to feature among top 20 SHM scholars worldwide in the list prepared by ScholarGPS, advanced scholarly cum academic analytics platform,  based on research productivity, impact and quality. Prof. Bhalla’s over ten product/ process inventions have resulted in the incubation of three deep technology startups related to structural health monitoring, energy dissipation devices and carbon negative construction technology. As founding President of the Indian Structural Health Monitoring Society (ISHMS), Prof. Bhalla spearheaded the preparation of basic SHM guideline document which is now referred by the industry and the government bodies in India. Over a short period of time, Prof. Bhalla has immensely contributed towards institution building, nurturing next generation of SHM technologists, technology translation and establishing strong academic-industry partnerships. Prof. Bhalla is the recipient of several national, international and institutional awards, such three best paper awards, National Science and Technology Board of Singapore's gold medal, award of teaching excellence and IIT Delhi's silver medal.

Consultancy Areas:

Structural Health Monitoring; Vibration Control; Machine Foundations; Energy Dissipation Devices; Carbon negative construction technology.

Operational Start-ups:

1. Sanrachna Prahari (P) Ltd (https://spplindia.org/)

2. IKS Technologies (P) Ltd (https://www.ikstech.co.in)

3. Richter Resilience (P) Ltd (https://richteresilience-213.my.canva.site/)

Sector Associated With:

Prof. Bhalla is well-known for his ground breaking research related to the electro-mechanical impedance (EMI) technique and the piezo-based experimental/ operational modal analysis (OMA) for civil-structures, especially catapulting transition from lab to field.

Prof. Bhalla has extensively worked towards the adaptation of the piezo-based SHM for reinforced concrete structures, rebar corrosion monitoring, piezoelectric energy harvesting, biomedical SHM and piezo-bond-structure modelling

Prof. Bhalla has developed and introduced SHM course at post graduate level and has been formally teaching the subject to successive batches since 2011.

Prof. Bhalla is the Co-PI of the ambitious Virtual Labs project of the Ministry of Education (MoE), which aims to disseminate knowledge, arouse curiosity and promote learning about cutting edge technologies to budding engineers and scientists.

Prof. Bhalla has also been the founder mentor of the “Smart Structures and Dynamics Lab” at IIT Delhi.

Prof. Bhalla is the founding President of the Indian Structural Health Monitoring Society (https://www.ishms.org.in)

As founding President of the Indian Structural Health Monitoring Society (ISHMS), Prof. Bhalla spearheaded the preparation of basic SHM guideline document which is now referred by the industry and the government bodies in India.

Prof. Bhalla’s over ten product/ process inventions have resulted in the incubation of three deep technology startups related to structural health monitoring, energy dissipation devices and carbon negative construction technology. 

Prof. Bhalla has completed several R&D projects sponsored by prestigious organization like Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO), Department of Science and Technology (DST/ SERB), Ministry of Education (MoE) and prestigious industrial corporations.

Prof. Bhalla is consultant to several industry majors in the field of SHM, offering them very practical and cost-effective SHM solutions covering static as well as dynamic sensing. 

Prof. Bhalla is member of the BIS workgroup working towards a BIS standard on structural health monitoring (CED37/WG5).

Sectors Interested to Offer Service:

Infrastructure safety and sustainability

Professional Experience

(1)   August 2024-Present: Professor (Higher Administrative Grade), Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India.

(2)   January 2017-August 2024: Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India.

(3)   December 2010-January 2017: Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India.

(4)   December 2004-December 2010: Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India.

(5)   March 2004-December 2004: Project officer, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Project: Comprehensive Structural Monitoring of Underground Structures During Construction and Operation, sponsored by Defence Science Technology Agency (DSTA), Singapore, under Underground Technology and Rock Engineering (UTRE) programme.

(6)   July 1996-December 2000: Structural Design Engineer, Structural Engineering Department, Engineers India Ltd, Delhi.

Design Experience: Experience in carrying out detail engineering in two refinery projects, one non-ferrous metal project and three pipeline projects. Major types of structures analysed, designed and detailed include technological structures, industrial sheds, water retaining structures, pipe-racks, gantry girders, sub-station buildings, control rooms and machine foundations.

(7)   July 1995-July 1996: Management Trainee, Structural Engineering Department, Engineers India Ltd., Delhi.

Keywords

Structural health monitoring; Sensors; Piezoelectric sensors; Concrete vibration sensor (CVS); IKS inspired carbon negative construction technology; Sustainability; Infrastructure safety; Biomedical engineering and bio-mechanics; Vibration control; Machine Foundations; Fibre reinforced bamboo composite (FRBC); Concrete vibration energy harvester (CVEH)