Mahavir Singh

Mechanical engineer and researcher with 10+ years of experience, including 1.5 years in industry, 1.5 years of teaching, PhD research and current postdoctoral work at Purdue University. Expertise in product design and structural behavior of materials under extreme temperatures and a broad range of loading rates, from quasi-static to shock. Recognized through best thesis and paper awards. Skilled in technical writing, mentoring, and solving complex mechanics problems.

• Mahavir Singh, Krishna N Jonnalagadda, February 2022, “An Apparatus and Method for Simultaneous In-Situ Measurement of Thermal Field and Displacement Fields”, Indian Patent, Application No: 202211010210.
• Mahavir Singh, Krishna N Jonnalagadda, March 2022, “An Apparatus for Thermal and Mechanical Characterization of a Specimen and a Method Thereof”, Indian Patent, Application No: 202211015036

• M Singh, KN Jonnalagadda, Exploring the origin of PLC bands in Hastelloy using in situ thermo-mechanical experiments, International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, 2025, vol. 294, 110271, doi: 10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2025.110271
• M Singh, PK Sahu, S Sampath, KN Jonnalagadda, Fracture Toughness of Freestanding Plasma Sprayed Yttria Stabilized Zirconia Coatings via In Situ Tensile Experiments, Journal of European Ceramic Society, Oct. 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2023.10.074
• M Singh, KN Jonnalagadda, An In-Situ Investigation of the Strain Partitioning and Failure Across the Layers in a Multi-Layered Steel, Experimental Mechanics, Mar. 2024, doi: 10.1007/s11340-024-01042-4
• N Deka, M Singh, KN Jonnalagadda, Localized strain evolution and accumulation at the notch tip of an aluminum single crystal under cyclic loading, Fatigue Fract Eng Mater Struct, vol. 46, no. 6, pp. 2299–2318, Mar. 2023, doi: 10.1111/FFE.13999
• HL Harjono, S Ravva, M Singh, H Huang, V Tomar, Data Science Assisted Cohesive Finite Element Modeling of Impact Behavior of AP-HTPB Crystal Binder Composite, Strain, Sept. 2023, doi: 10.1111/str.12465
• S Karmarkar, M Singh, V Tomar, An Analytical Model to Evaluate the Volumetric Strain in a Polymeric Material Using Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy, Journal of Non-destruction Evaluation, June 2024, vol. 43, 80, doi: 10.1007/s10921-024-01095-4
• JVR Vajja, A Serov, M Sudarshan, M Singh, V Tomar, In Operando Health Monitoring for Lithium-Ion Batteries in Electric Propulsion Using Deep Learning, Batteries, 2024, vol. 104, Part A, doi: 10.1016/j.est.2024.114524
• M Sudarshan, R Gautam, M Singh, RE Garcia, V Tomar, A comparative analysis of the influence of data-processing on battery health prediction by two machine learning algorithms, Journal of Energy Storage, Dec. 2024, vol. 10(10), 355, doi: 10.3390/batteries10100355
• M Singh, KN Jonnalagadda, In-Situ High-Temperature Mechanical Behavior of Air Plasma Sprayed Thermal Barrier Coatings 8YSZ (under review JECS)
• M Singh, S Yoon, A Dhiman, DD Dlott, V Tomar, Elastic-Plastic Shock Propagation in Solids Using Time-Gated Mechanical Raman Spectroscopy (under review JAP)

• Title - Development of an In-Situ Thermo-Mechanical Setup to Study Coatings and Multi-Layered Materials
• Advisor: Prof. Krishna N Jonnalagadda
• In-Situ High Temperature Mechanical Setup with Simultaneous Thermal and Optical Imaging
• Designed and built a novel setup for in-situ, simultaneous, and fast measurement of thermal and deformation fields through wavelength separation at very high temperatures (~ 1200 C) in a vacuum/environmental chamber. With novel reflectors and sensors being optically parallel to specimen, the system produced unprecedented high-resolution of 2-5 μm with superior contrast by novel dual filtering and capability of testing polished specimen under a complex combination of thermal and mechanical loading.
• Development of In-Situ High Temperature Mechanical Setup with Controlled Flux Heating
• Developed an alternative heating system to simulate the controllable heat flux boundary conditions on specimens inside a novel environment chamber. The beam was modified to generate the uniform temperature conditions on the specimen surface by passive feedback from the thermal profiles.
• Thermo-Mechanical Behavior of 8YSZ Thermal Barrier Coatings at High Temperature
• Captured In-situ Mechanical Behavior of fragile TBC coatings (300um thick) in uniaxial loading conditions at high temperature (~1200 C). Explained heterogeneity, strain field around a hole, modulus, healing of microcracks, failure prediction through the hot spot in thermal images. Studied the effect of processing parameters and the behavior of thermally cycled coatings to estimate the failure of coatings in-service.
• High-Temperature Behavior of Ni-Based Superalloys (Hastelloy X, CM247LC)
• Explained in-depth formation of PLC bands, localized shear fields their travel along the loading axis in the high-temperature behavior of Hastelloy X. Carried thermography analysis and explained the role of the temperature image to dictate false strains and their frequency in the high-temperature deformation field measurement. Studied mechanical behavior of directionally solidified superalloy CM247LC at room/high temperatures.
• In-situ Mechanical Behavior of Multi-Layered Steel with High-resolution Dual Scale Imaging
• Presented a special specimen preparation along with novel speckle pattern generation to in-situ observe the individual layers (thickness 50-100 μm) at dual scale (1-10 X magnification). Explained the strain partitioning and strain-induced phase transformation of austenitic steel.

Title – Design and Modification of SHPB to Characterize Soft Materials under High Strain Rate Loading.

Advisors: Prof. Sitikantha Roy, Prof. S. Pradyumna
Problem Description – Tissues like intervertebral discs undergo dynamic loading during activities like jumping and running, leading to cumulative damage over time and often necessitating replacement. High impedance mismatch in soft materials prevents accurate testing using conventional SHPB systems, highlighting the need for a redesigned apparatus tailored to their mechanical characterization.
Contributions –

• Designed and built SHPB for testing of soft intervertebral tissues undergoing dynamic loading in running and jumping. Capability of testing polymeric materials having modulus < 1GPa.
• Added two different bars of 12mm and 16mm readily interchangeable to accommodate loading range with easy replacement, direct velocity measurement of striker at the exit of the barrel, and a laser-based alignment.
• Calibrated and benchmarked the setup to extract the high strain rate behavior of PTFE material at various strain rates.
• Cash Prize Award for Best Industrial Based Design for the year 2012-2013.

• Best Paper for 2025 Dynamic Behavior of Materials at SEM 2025 Annual Conference
• Best Poster Presentation, 3rd Place at 15th International Conference on Fracture, June 2023
• Best M. Tech Project, IIT Delhi for the batch 2011-2013
• Josh of Aravali, IIT Delhi for the year 2012-2013
• Best Incoming Student, Aravali Hostel, IIT Delhi for the year 2011-2012
• Merit Certificate in "Haryana Gaurav Purushkar" for the year 2004 (State level academic award)

• Secured All India Rank 677 in GATE-2011 and All India Rank 967 in GATE-2012 from over 100k students.
• Received scholarship from Ministry of Human Resources and Development (2011-2013 & 2016-2021)

• Fracture Toughness in Porous Ceramic Coatings, 2024 SEM, Vancouver, WA, USA, June 3-6, 2024.
• Sub Surface Adhesive Interface Fracture Front Mapping Using Terahertz Spectroscopy, 2024 SEM, Vancouver, WA, USA, June 3-6, 2024.
• Non-destructive Evaluation of Defects and Inclusions in Composite Structures Using Terahertz Time Domain Analysis, TMS 2024, March 3-7, 2024.
• In-situ Full-field Imaging of Hypervelocity Impacts and Shock Compression Deformations Using Time-resolved Raman Spectroscopy, TMS 2024, March 3-7, 2024.
• Full Field Measurement of Shock Compression Deformation Across the Crystal Binder Interface Using Time Resolved Raman Spectroscopy, ICF15, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, June 11-16, 2023.
• Shock Compression Deformations Studies Across Interface Using Time Resolved Raman Spectroscopy, 23rd APS-SCCM, Chicago, USA, June 18-23, 2023.
• Structural Study of AP-HTPB Composite Under Impact Loading, ICF15, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, June 11-16, 2023.
• In-situ Mechanical Behavior of Multi-Layered Steel, SICE 2020 e-Conference, Mumbai, India, 11-13 and 18-20 December 2020.
• In-Situ Thermomechanical Behaviour of Thermal Barrier Coatings at High Temperature, 2019 SEM, Reno, Nevada USA, June 3-6, 2019.

• Earned Best Paper recognition in dynamic behavior of materials division of society of experimental mechanics, 2025
• Presented research on experimental mechanics and shock deformation at international conferences like, SEM 2025, APS, ICF15, SEM 2024 etc
• Earned Best Thesis Award in MTech at IIT Delhi, 2013
• Trained 5+ graduate students on laboratory techniques and research fundamentals.