What is the Department of Applied Mechanics?

The Department of Applied Mechanics at IIT Madras is a renowned facility, dedicated to the study and application of fundamental mechanical principles and their real world applications. Established in 1959, the department has been at the forefront of knowledge and research in applied mechanics. 

The department has three main areas of study:

• Solid Mechanics: The solid mechanics group integrates areas such as mechanics of material behaviour, material sciences, structural dynamics, experimental mechanics, fracture mechanics and more.
• Fluid Mechanics: The fluid mechanics group utilizes the numerous laboratories and test facilities within the department such as wind tunnels and computational fluid dynamics labs to study turbulent and external flows of fluids. 
• Biomedical Engineering: The Biomedical Engineering group focuses on application of engineering principles to solve medical and biological challenges. It integrates electrical, mechanical, chemical and life science principles in the development of new healthcare technologies and systems.

The Department of Applied Mechanics offers the following courses at various levels:

• PhD: The department offers select candidates the opportunity to pursue doctoral level research under the guidance of faculty members. 
• MS: Students participate in a masters level research program under the guidance of a faculty member. The students (Research Scholars) undertake courses that help further their understanding of the broad areas of applied mechanics as well as specifics to their research.
• Dual Degree: This option offered to students of Btech in Aerospace, Civil, Electrical or Ocean engineering enables them to develop skills in acquisition and application of new scientific knowledge in diverse engineering fields. 
• Mtech: This two year program studies all three disciplines of the department into a single fold with specialization in respective fields. The first semester offers common courses to all students while performance based research project allocation is done for the remainder of the program.