Good day, Dr. Dhanaji Sukhadeo Chavan. I'm Arjun. I've had a look through your background and your professional record. I'm interested in hearing more about your work and how you see yourself fitting in here with our faculty. Ready to start?

So good afternoon, I am Doctor Danaji Sukhdev Chawan. I have obtained my PhD from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. My specialization was geotechnical engineering and into that very specific, to be very specific, I worked in the field of.

PhD I did postdoc at IIC Bangalore only for two years and there too I worked in the field of geotechnical earthquake engineering Prior joining PhD. I did my Mtech in Geotechnical engineering from IIT Kanpur and they're also my specialization was geotechnical engineering and during my masters thesis.

I again worked in the field of geotechnical earthquake engineering.

So presently I have been serving as Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Walchand College of Engineering, Sangli and here I have been teaching courses like Earthquake Engineering, Structural Mechanics, Finite element method maintenance and rehabilitation of structures to name a few.

Thank you, Professor Chavan, for summarizing your academic and professional journey. Let's focus on verifying your skills comprehensively. To start, could you walk me through your specific contributions or achievements during your postdoc, especially in geotechnical earthquake engineering?

Yeah, so during my post doc I worked on.

Site response analysis of liquefiable stat stratified ground and as a part of that research I perform finite element simulations and that work got published in a very reputed journal called as Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering. Along with this I also worked on.

Consultancy projects related to soil nailing. And.

The design of the stone columns.

Uh, etcetera.

Understood, Professor Chavan. It seems your post-doctoral work was quite comprehensive, spanning both advanced research and practical applications. Let’s discuss further your teaching experience. Among the courses you've taught, such as Earthquake Engineering and Structural Mechanics, how do you ensure students not only grasp theoretical concepts but are also prepared for real-world challenges in these fields?

OK, so let us take example of the earthquake engineering so.

In the class I tell students why is it essential to learn this course? Because this is a bit advanced course and nowadays we all are aware of aware that all over the globe at least one or two earthquake keep happening.

In this corner or that corner of the.

At least some basic understanding of this course. So during earthquake, in the beginning of the earthquake engineering course, I gave them example of the booze earthquake which happened in 2001 in India and I told them the devastating effects of those.

Globe so that's why it is essential that the students should have.

Devastating effects of that earthquake. So prior also.

Earthquake happened in India, for example, Kilari earthquake was there, then one earthquake happened in Koyna region, Koena Dam region and quite few earthquakes keep happening in Japan. So I gave them these examples and I tell them they are devastating effects. OK, which hampers the buildings, which hampers the bridges, which hampers the dams.

And that's how I create interest in them regarding the subject.

That's an excellent approach, Professor. Connecting theoretical knowledge to real-world disasters helps students grasp the significance of earthquake engineering on both a practical and societal level. Beyond these introductory discussions, how do you integrate hands-on or analytical components, like experiments or simulations, to deepen their understanding of earthquake-resistant design principles?

OK.

So to begin with, I tell them some basics of the earthquake engineering.

Which are required in the analysis? For example, what is single degree of freedom system and?

What are the different uh.

Resisting components in that single degree of freedom system and then how to use these single degree of freedom?

Responses to model the real real life structures such as residential building.

So so in in let me explain it further. So for example, single degree of freedom system is there actually. So earthquake is external force and the resisting force is a stiffness.

So.

And damping and then inertia force. So this is what is in the analytical model. If we take the real example, real life example that is say building, then when earthquake happens, that earthquake force is the external force and it will be registered by the inner cell force of the building. It will be registered by the stiffness of the building components. It will be registered by the inertia as way so.

That's how I.

Try to correlate theory and.

Real life example and I I give them examples of this dashboards or dampers which are used in real life structures to reduce the effect of the earthquake on the real life structures such as.

Building or bridge?

That's a very cohesive methodology, Professor Chavan. By bridging the gap between theoretical models like the single degree of freedom system and real-world applications such as buildings or bridges, you're fostering a deep and practical understanding among students. Now, let's focus on your experience guiding student projects and research. Could you describe a specific project you guided and how you supported the students in addressing its challenges?

Yeah. So I so far I have guided.

B.Tech.

And layer projects. So this year my Btech project group is working on ground improvement using stone columns, and last year my students worked on the.

Improving the stability of the slopes using the.

Soil nails and before that they worked on the.

They worked on the finite element simulations. They used finite element simulations.

To get the vertical and horizontal stresses in the ground due to the overridden pressure. So the domain is wide actually. So here let us take example of this year's BTEC project.

Vet. So in the beginning I explained them them. What is the stone column? When is it used and what are its advantages? What are its disadvantages? For example, it is fast.

It is economical and then I told them how what are the approaches used in design of the stone columns. So one is empirical approach, another one is finite element approach. So this year I have encouraged them to use empirical approach and perform some parametric study.

There, for example, first consider the single soft layers ground, then consider two or three layered soft ground, then vary the diameter and length of the stone columns, then vary their length and see what happens to the ground when it is subjected to the overburden pressure. And that's how students are moving on.

That sounds like an excellent way to challenge and guide your students, Professor Chavan. By introducing them to both empirical and parametric study methods, you're fostering a well-rounded approach to research and problem-solving. Moving forward, I’d like to better understand your experience with research publications. Could you highlight one of your most notable publications in a reputed journal, specifically covering its contributions to the field?

The paper is titled as Seismic analysis of nailed the soil slopes considering interface effects and the paper got published in very reputed journal titled as Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering. So this is very good contribution from my side I will say actually so this paper for first thing is paper performs finite element simulations.

Yeah, yeah, I would like.

It uses advanced constitute models to model the soil stress and response then.

It investigates effect of the interface modeling. When I say interface modeling, I mean that interface between the soil and nail. So there are two different approaches. One approach is to model this soil and nail interface as a perfectly bonded.

This is first approach and 2nd approach is.

Providing interface element at the interface of the soil and nail in first approach which is called as perfect bonding. In that case at the interface the vertical and horizontal displacement of the soil and nail load is same. So it is a kind of fixed.

However, in the second case, when we provide interface elements, the sliding sliding between the soil and nail is allowed, and the second approach is more realistic. So I investigated these two approaches of modeling the.

Nailed soil slope and in the end I found that though first approach is a simple to model second approach.

Which gives more realistic response? Can I say response? I mean the deformation pattern at the end of the earthquake.

Thank you for elaborating, Professor Chavan. It's evident that your work on the seismic analysis of nailed-soil slopes addresses a critical gap in understanding realistic soil-structure interaction during seismic events. Providing comparative insights into the interface modeling approaches enriches both foundational research and practical applications in the field. Let’s now look at your industry project or consultancy experiences. Could you share a significant consultancy project you were involved in and explain how your expertise contributed to its success?

Yeah, I will give you example of one of the consultancy projects I handled during my postdoc and that project was about the providing remedy for the railway embankments because one of the railway embankment near the Belgaum in Karnataka had failed before.

Its use itself, so the client approached us and we.

Went through that topic carefully and then we came to know that we we, we, we came to know that without reinforcement, without reinforcement that embankment may not be stable in future also. So there I performed limited equilibrium analysis for. Reinforced embankment now as a reinforcement I used.

Soil nails Soil nails of diameter around 25 MMM and depending upon the location its length varied from 4m to 8m. So I used a software called as Jio Studio for that analysis. I performed limit equilibrium analysis and found out the factor of safety for an embankment without reinforcement and with.

That is with nails and in the end I realized that when nails of diameter 25 MMM and certain length are provided, factor of safety is above 1.3 and that's how.

Embankment could be stable when it will be reinforced with nails and we suggest we submitted that report to the railway department actually.

Later on, they implemented that, uh, our solution successfully at the site and now that embankment is safe, uh, to allow the, uh, passage of the trains.

That client was railway and.

That's an impressive example, Professor Chavan. Your expertise in stability analysis and the use of soil nails clearly provided a practical and effective remedy for a critical infrastructure challenge. The successful implementation of your recommendations by the railway department speaks to the impact and reliability of your work. Lastly, to round out the evaluation—your resume indicates a Ph.D. with a specialization in geotechnical engineering. Could you summarize the key focus of your doctoral research and any notable outcomes or contributions it made to the field?

So during my PhD I perform both experimental as well as numerical investigations. As a part of the experimental investigation high performance cyclic triaxial test. So which are very advanced tests so I perform cyclic tracksyl test on air injected desaturated triaxial specimens, so.

My objective was to desaturate the saturated triaxial specimen by injecting air.

That is reducing their degree of saturation and see how they perform during the cyclic loading. What happens to their liquefaction resistance? So from my experimental work, I came to know that when degree of saturation is reduced from 100 to around 80, then liquefaction resistance of the sand increases significantly. So that was the one of the major findings from my experimental.

Work and another beauty of the work is that for a desaturation I used air which is abundantly and freely available. So this approach of mitigating the liquefaction is effective. At the same time it is environment friendly. Then next part of the my work was performing numerical simulations. So I perform finite element simulations in advanced software which is called as.

Open seats and there I modeled the ground with various degrees of saturation of the soil. Degree of saturation 100° of saturation 90° of saturation 85 and I investigated what happens when degree of saturation goes down. So there I came to know that when degree of saturation goes down, a liquefaction resistance goes up, which is good. But when degree of saturation is very low around.

80 Then sometimes there is site amplification as well.

Your doctoral research covers a significant and innovative area, Professor Chavan. The combination of advanced experimental methods like cyclic triaxial tests alongside numerical simulations clearly establishes a strong foundation in geotechnical earthquake engineering. Demonstrating that air injection can effectively mitigate liquefaction in both an environmentally friendly and cost-effective way is a remarkable contribution, especially while also addressing the nuances of site amplification. This concludes the skills evaluation phase. Let me proceed. Please allow me a moment.

To begin, Professor, could you share which fundamental concept in Earthquake or Structural Engineering you most enjoy teaching and why?

So I enjoyed teaching them difference between.

What is difference between magnitude and Indian city? So this is one thing then I enjoy teaching them different terminologies such as epicenter.

Focus every central distance.

Then I enjoy teaching them.

Response and formulation of the single degree of freedom system.

One more thing, one more thing I enjoy is to explain different types of earthquake waves, body waves, then surface waves. So explaining students these different types of views in effective way is also joyful for me.

I see, Professor. Thank you for that detailed response; it speaks to your passion for breaking down foundational concepts. Let's move forward.

Professor Chavan, I noticed you have an extensive background in geotechnical engineering, and your post-doctoral projects on the "Design of reinforced earth wall for Green Corridor Project, Lucknow" and "Stability analysis and remedial measures for failed railway embankments in Hubli region" are particularly compelling. Could you delve into one of these projects, highlighting the core research question and how your approach contributed to solving a practical engineering challenge?

Yeah. So that nailed soil slope problem actually. So it is a real life problem and.

Real life problem and.

They are though I used limit limit equilibrium method which is very established. The challenging part there was choosing the input soil parameters carefully because while designing the nailed embankment. One input, one one of the major inputs is the C and five parameters of the soil.

Right, that we need. So we received a laboratory report from one of the lab regarding the soil test and we realized that those soil parameters were erroneous. So keeping my experience in view, keeping my mentors experience in view. We chose those soil parameters, for example C and Phi on our own.

And successfully modeled that problem in Zoo Studio and successfully implemented that in at the site as well.

Thank you for sharing, Professor Chavan. It's clear you handled a significant challenge in carefully selecting key soil parameters when the provided data proved unreliable. Could you elaborate on how you ensured the validity of the parameters you selected? Additionally, how did you convey the importance of this adjustment to stakeholders involved in the project?

Because from yeah, since I and my mentor both had worked extensively in the soil mechanics field. So we had some idea of what parameter particular soil has, the range we were knowing and the C and five parameter we received from the lab. They were not fitting in that range.

For example, they had given see that is cohesion parameter very high more than 65 KP and which was really unrealistic. So keeping in view the site soil at the site and our experience, instead of taking 65, we took lower value and that we. Communicated to the client and convinced him as well.

I see. It sounds like your expertise and familiarity with realistic soil parameter ranges were pivotal in addressing the issue. Communicating these adjustments to the client must have required both technical precision and clarity. How did you translate such technical concepts into language that ensured the client understood and trusted your judgment?

Yeah. So in simple words, I told them that the soil is not very stiff. So if it would have been very stiff, then C value would have been high. But the soil which is used for the embankment is relatively soft and for soft soils usually.

Sea is small. That's how I convinced.

That's a succinct and effective way to communicate a complex concept. Bridging technical depth with simplicity demonstrates strong pedagogical ability, which is key for this role. Let me now move forward.

Our scheduled time for the interview is now up. Before we conclude, do you have any questions related to the role or the company?

No, I don't have any question. Thank you very much.

Professor, could you walk me through implementing an active learning strategy, like a Flipped Classroom model, for a large-enrollment Structural Engineering course, but without relying on slides? How would you make it engaging and effective?

Yeah, so I can give one.

Well problem to the students entire class and ask them to go through it, solve it and during the next turn I may call them forward and explain what they have done so. That that involves the students and makes them work.

Sincerely.

Thank you for that explanation, Professor. Now, let's explore a specific scenario. How would you approach mentoring graduate students at VIT University, specifically guiding them toward producing high-impact research publications in Structural Engineering? Could you detail your strategy, particularly in fostering their critical thinking and research methodology?

Yeah, I would like to already have extensively worked on soil structure interaction problems.

So they're also at VIT. I can start with finite element simulations, where a student can use advanced software such as Open Sys and they can model superstructure as well as they can model soil. And since I have adequate experience.

So I can guide them effectively, I can encourage them effectively to work on these this type of problems and.

I can encourage them to write papers as well, since already I have around 9 journal publications and around 6 conference publications. So publication that experience also I do carry. So I will start with mostly with the entertainment simulations. Then I will slowly move towards the experimental work depending upon the research facility available at the pit.

So I may use uh.

Advanced cyclic triaxial test to work to extend the work of my PhD.

Understood, Professor. Thank you for sharing your approach. Lastly, let’s discuss assessment methods. How would you design evaluation tools for such Structural Engineering coursework and research guidance, to measure genuine competence beyond traditional standardized testing?

Evaluation of the students you mean.

Yes, precisely. How would you evaluate students’ actual understanding and competencies in Structural Engineering, in a way that goes beyond the conventional standardized exams?

So one thing which I love is I keep on asking the questions so.

How much they have under understood that is what I will try to look for. So I will I may ask basic questions and from that I will see whether they have conceptual clarity or not or they are just.

Understood,

Moving on without proper understanding. So this is one way of assessing their basic understanding. Another way is when a student will do some research and he or she will come to me. I will ask.

I will ask questions on the interpretation of the results and the way they interpret the findings. That will tell me whether it is just the contribution.

Of the advanced machine or student has also put in some his thought.

Thank you for sharing your assessment approach, Professor. That concludes this section. Just a moment.

Professor, how would you systematically approach improving the research output per faculty in the Structural Engineering department, particularly to meet high-level accreditation standards?

Time is up! Ending the interview now.