Dr. Gaurav Nilakantan

About Me

Dr. Nilakantan is a Research Associate at the Center for Composite Materials, University of Delaware and the Founder of Nilakantan Composites. He is a former student of, and currently works with renowned composites expert Prof. Jack Gillespie. Dr. Nilakantan’s primary research expertise is in the areas of multiscale and probabilistic computational modeling of the impact behavior of textile composite structures, and experimental and statistical characterization of composite material properties. His other research interests include occupant safety during crash, occupant survivability during mine blast, design of energy absorbing structures, and mesh generation methods. During the course of his research he developed novel computational techniques to study the probabilistic impact response of textile composites used in armor applications. This pioneering work has received widespread attention and is of critical interest to the US Army. He has also developed novel multiscale modeling techniques for textile composite materials that incorporate different scales from the filament-level to the structural-level within the same finite element model. He is an expert in using LS-DYNA to simulate large scale dynamic physical phenomena.

Dr. Nilakantan spearheaded the procurement of a SGI UV1000 supercomputer at the Center for Composite Materials at the University of Delaware. Dr. Nilakantan and his co-workers at the center are using this supercomputer to investigate the various deformation and energy dissipating interactions and mechanisms that occur from the nano scale to the structural scale in textile composite materials under high strain rates. By synergistically tailoring these interactions and mechanisms at each length scale, Dr. Nilakantan’s work will guide the development of new treatments, materials, and architectures as part of a materials-by-design framework that will reduce the weight and improve the impact resistance of composites based armor. He is the PI / co-PI on three funding proposals to the U.S. Army Research Laboratory including the CRA-MEDE, and the PI on a DURIP proposal.

Dr. Nilakantan holds a US patent for an anti-whiplash seat mechanism and a patent pending invention for a ballistic resistant body armor. He won the prestigious American Society for Composites PhD Research Award and the R.L. McCullough Scholars Award for his contributions to composites-related research. He won the Allan P. Colburn Prize for Best Doctoral Dissertation in Engineering and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Delaware. He was awarded UD Honors Day awards during each year of his doctoral studies. As the founder of Nilakantan Composites, he developed DYNAFAB - a GUI based preprocessor that automatically generates detailed finite element models of complex textile architectures, which is currently used by academic and industrial clients in US, Canada, Europe, and Asia.

Dr. Nilakantan is active in several professional organizations such as ASME, ASC, and SAMPE, and has served as a Symposium Organizer and Session Chair at various conferences, such as organizing a composites-related symposium (~40 presenters) at the ASME McMAT2011 conference. He is the Vice Chair of Communications in the SAMPE Baltimore-Washington chapter and the Group Owner of the ‘A2E – Armor, Ballistics, Composites, and Defense Experts’ group on LinkedIn (>1000 members). He is also a reviewer of several journals. He has over 25 publications that include 11 refereed journal papers (in the leading composites- and impact- related journals), 12 conference proceedings, 2 patents, and 1 user manual. Dr. Nilakantan’s published research work has been recognized in both the SciVerse ScienceDirect Top 25 Hottest Articles and the ASME AMR Monthly Top 10 Most Downloaded lists. Dr. Nilakantan and his work have been featured in various local, national, and international publications including the International Ballistics Society newsletter, the UDaily on-line news service, the UD Research magazine, the CCM Composites Update newsletter, and the FEA Information Engineering Journal.

Dr. Nilakantan holds a PhD degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Delaware (4.0 GPA), a MS degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati (3.9 GPA), and a BE degree in Mechanical Engineering from Visveswaraiah Technological University (equivalent 4.0 GPA).

Please use these links to read more about Dr. Nilakantan, or click on the In the Press link on the left.

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University of Delaware, USA

Office     : +1(302)831-0376

E-mail    : nilakag@udel.edu

Gmail     : nilakantan.gaurav@gmail.com

LinkedIn : www.linkedin.com/in/gauravnilakantan

Center for Composite Materials

101 Academy St

Newark, DE 19716

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