IIT-M commercialises state-of-the-art software for photoelastic analysis

CHENNAI: Noting its application in various fields from agriculture, aerospace and biomedicine, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) has commercialised four state-of-the-art software packages in the field of photo elastic analysis and simulation through an industry partner.

Besides photo elasticity application in agricultural and medical fields, it has novel applications in civil, mechanical and manufacturing engineering fields and also in identifying defects in 3D electronics.

Additionally, photo elastic stress analysis has seen a vast change with the advent of digital computers and imaging technologies. And until now, there has been no comprehensive software platform to implement such developments in research laboratories and industries using this technique.

According to an IIT-M press note, this is the first comprehensive software for experimentally-based photo elastic stress analysis tools.

And the note further stated that from doctors, agriculturists and biologists, the application of photo elasticity has increased for solving their domain specific issues. They can authentically process recorded images using the software for deriving important conclusions from their studies.

IIT-M entered a licensing and monetisation agreement with Online Solutions (Imaging) Private Limited, Chennai for licensing these software packages. And for the same, an agreement was signed on March 20.

Prof. K. Ramesh, K Mahesh Chair Professor, Department of Applied Mechanics, IIT Madras, said, "No such software modules are available so far which explores photo elastic technique, despite its experimental approach to validate the solution from numerical approaches. It is not just one problem but the focus has been to develop a complete package for a technique in all its completeness. It is akin to developing a finite element package that is used for numerical solutions by solving appropriate differential equations."

IIT Madras generated over Rs 1,000 crore in funding and revenue in a financial year for the first time in its history during 2021-22. This sum includes funds from projects sanctioned by the State and Union governments and funds from industry consultancy.