Prof. Ajay Kapoor   Associate Dean (Research)

Qualifications

• PhD in Engineering from Cambridge University
• MTech in Mechanical Engineering from IT, BHU, Varanasi, India, First Class with Honours, First Rank
• BTech in Mechanical Engineering from IT, BHU, Varanasi, India, First Class with Honours

Research Interests

• Design: Design for Ageing, Transport
• Contact mechanics, wear, rolling contact fatigue, friction and adhesion: Computer simulation, modelling and experiments.
• Low adhesion caused by leaf film.
• Bioengineering, especially providing real time feedback to surgeons during cataract eye surgery.
• Nano sensors for recording cortical activity (within the brain).
• Instrumenting Laryngoscope.

Current Work

Computer simulation of and experiments on wear and rolling contact fatigue. Large scale experiments using locomotives.

Application to Railways: Life modelling, crack initiation, crack propagation, effect of residual stresses, Continuously Welded Rail stresses, rail and wheel materials.

Supervision of higher degree by research (HDR) (Current students)

Name	Degree	Research Centre	Start year	Role	Institution
Ian De Vere	PhD	Faculty	2008	Primary Supervisor	Swinburne
Anna Maria Sri Asih	PhD	CSI	2008	Primary Supervisor	Swinburne
Iman Salehi	PhD	CSI	2008	Primary Supervisor	Swinburne
Adam Glasgow	PhD	Faculty	2009	Associate Supervisor	Swinburne
Muhammad Mehedi Hasan	PhD	Faculty	2009	Associate Supervisor	Swinburne
Sagheer Ranjha	PhD	CSI	2009	Primary Supervisor	Swinburne
Mehdi Mahboobi Gargari	MEng	Faculty	2009	Co-Supervisor	Swinburne
Pooshan Navathe	PhD	Faculty	2010	Co-Supervisor	Swinburne
Joanna Christopher	PhD	Faculty	2010	Primary Supervisor	Swinburne
Himani Mazumder	PhD	CSI	2010	Primary Supervisor	Swinburne
Ambarish Kulkarni	PhD	Faculty	2010	Primary Supervisor	Swinburne
Amir Dadashnialehi	PhD	Faculty	2010	Associate Supervisor	Swinburne
Arezoo Motamed Ektesabi	PhD	Mech Eng	2011	Primary Supervisor	Swinburne
Sivachandran Chandrasekaran	PhD	Faculty	2011	Associate Supervisor	Swinburne
Stefan Smolenaers	PhD	Electric Vehicle	2011	Associate Supervisor	Swinburne
Xiao Peng Chen	PhD	Faculty	2011	Associate Supervisor	Swinburne
Parisa Amiribavandpour	PhD	Electrical	2011	Associate Supervisor	Swinburne
Mehdi Bagdadi	PhD	Faculty	2011	Associate Supervisor	Swinburne
Tu Thanh Vo	PhD	Faculty	2011	Associate Supervisor	Swinburne
Fengxian He
	PhD	Elec Eng	2012	Associate Supervisor	Swinburne
Somashakera Nirvanashetty
	PhD	Faculty	2012	Primary Supervisor	Swinburne
Chaohong Fang
	PhD	Electric Vehicle	2012	Associate Supervisor	Swinburne
Azizur Rahman
	PhD	Eng Management	2012	Associate Supervisor	Swinburne
Marziehalsadat Barghamadi
	PhD	IRIS	2012	Associate Supervisor	Swinburne

Topics for Prospective Ph.D Students - View ALL topics for Prof. Ajay Kapoor

Developing life-cycle models of Sustainable Asset Management for railway infrastructure
This research aims at developing an array of life-cycle models for different components of railway system and thereby building practical knowledgebase that will be valuable for sustainable asset management of rail transport infrastructure facilities.

Natural disaster risk analysis and modelling for urban transport infrastructure asset management
This research aims to develop natural disaster risk analysis frameworks and simulation models for urban transport infrastructure asset management.

Building Intelligent systems targeting aging population commuting with public transport facilities
With declining trend of mortality and fertility rates around most parts of the globe, the old age population increase rate is mostly higher than overall population growth rate.

Development of Novel Metal-Air Fuel Cell for Electric Vehicle Applications
The current study will investigate, establish the feasibility, and develop novel metal-air fuel cell systems for electric vehicle applications in Australia

Computer Simulation of Wear
We have created a unique computer simulation to model rail wear, and its development and improvement is ongoing.
The wear model requires development to consider surface roughness, additional failure mechanisms, and to move to 3-dimensions from the current 2d software.

Boundary or Finite Element Modelling of Cracks
Opportunities currently lie in computer modelling and experimental testing to predict crack growth rates, and to understand how visible surface crack appearance is related to the internal state of the rail.

Design for Aging Population
The aim of our research is to develop assistive technologies which will aid both the elderly and their carers, technologies that will allow them to remain independent and within their own homes.

Bio and Clinical Engineering
The aim of our research is to reduce this complication rate by providing real time feedback to the surgeon as to how far he has dug into the cataract.
Currently an image analysis approach is proving successful and a patent application has been filed. This project involves collaboration with a famous surgeon in the UK.

Preventing Carbon Anode Cracking in Reduction Cell
A better understanding of the widespread carbon anode cracking problems is one of the purposes in this study. With the development of a suitable FEA simulation method it is possible to predict fracture behaviour of carbon anodes and then to prevent a risk

High performance electrode materials for secondary batteries in electric vehicles
The present proposal is aimed to manufacture light metal-carbon (CNT, graphite) or carbide (SiC, B4C, TiC, FeC) composites billets as electrodes for Li-ion batteries and metal-air batteries.

Esteem Indicators

• Editorial Board: IMechE Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit.
• Editorial Board: International Journal of Surface Science and Engineering.
• Ex-Chairman of the Executive Committee of ASME (UK and Ireland).
• Invited Keynote Speaker: Gordon Conference on Tribology, June 2006, Colby College, Waterville, Maine, USA.
• Invited Keynote Speaker: International Conference on Metallurgical Coatings and Thin Films, May 2006, San Diego, USA.
• Invited Keynote Speaker: IQPC, London, November 2004.
• Invited Keynote Speaker: Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, India, August 2004.
• Invited Keynote Speaker: Institute of Physics Conference, Bristol, July 2004.
• Invited Keynote Speaker: 2nd International Conference on Recent Advances in Composite Materials, February 2007, New Delhi, India.
• Member of Scientific Committee: Contact Mechanics, Australia, September 2006.
• Member of Organising Committee: NanoMed, Newcastle, July 2005.
• Member of International Scientific Committee: 1st Asia Pacific Conference on Tribology - 2004, Singapore, December 2004.
• Member of Organising Committee: Engineering Systems and Design and Analysis, Manchester, July 2004.
• Awarded the IMechE TA Stewart-Dyer FH Trevethick Award in May 2005 (Fletcher, DI, Hyde, P and Kapoor, A. Growth of multiple rolling contact fatigue cracks driven by rail bending modelled using a boundary element technique).
• Awarded best paper prize, Proc. Of the World Congress on Rail Research, Edinburgh, UK, September 2003 (MC Burstow, AS Watson, AE Beagles and A Kapoor. Current developments in the Whole Life Model to predict rolling contact fatigue in rails).
• Awarded best paper prize, WCRR, Germany, 2001 (M Hiensch, A Kapoor, BL Josefson, JW Ringsberg, J Nielson and FJ Franklin. Two-material rail development to prevent rolling contact fatigue and reduce noise levels in curved rail track).
• Expert witness for Her Majesty's Crown Prosecution Service.
• Expert witness for Davies Arnold Cooper for a court case relating to the Hatfield accident.
• Council member of the EPSRC funded Railway Universities' Research Centre, RRUK.

Selected Publications

1. Kapoor, A.; Fletcher, D.I.; and Hyde, P., "Growth of multiple rolling contact fatigue cracks driven by rail bending modelled using a boundary element technique", Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part F: Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit 2004, 218(3), 243-253.
2. F.J. Franklin, G.-J. Weeda, A. Kapoor, E.J.M. Hiensch, "Rolling contact fatigue and wear behaviour of the infrastar two-material rail", Wear 2005, 258(7-8), 1048-1054.
3. Ishida, M.; Akama, M.; Kashiwaya, K.; and Kapoor, A., "The current status of theory and practice on rail integrity in Japanese railways-rolling contact fatigue and corrugations", Fatigue Fract Engng Mater Struct 2003, 26(10), 909-919.
4. Kapoor, A.; Morales-Espejel, G.E.; and Olver, A.V., "A shakedown analysis of simple spur gears", Tribological Transactions 2002, 45, 103-109.
5. Kapoor, A.; Beynon, J.H.; Fletcher, D.I.; and Loo-Morrey, M., "Computer simulation of strain accumulation and hardening for pearlitic rail steel undergoing repeated contact", Journal of Strain Analysis for Engineering Design 2004, 39(4), 383-396.
6. Ringsberg, J.W.; Franklin, F.J.; Josefson, B.L.; Kapoor, A.; and Nielson, J.C.O., "Fatigue evaulation of surface coated railway rails using shakedown theory, finite element calcuations and lab and field trials", International Journal of Fatigue 2005, 27, 680-694.