I, Aniket Ghosh Dastidar, would like to present myself as a prospective student for the Masters of Science in Computational Mechanics in your prestigious university. I have always been imbued with this belief that education is most valuable when it is used to serve humankind with the benefits of modern day research. Having had an ever increasing knack in Physical science and an artistic aptitude, I decided that a career in Civil Engineering would be appropriate for me. I chose to pursue my Bachelor’s in Construction Engineering from Jadavpur University, regarded as one of the highly esteemed Universities of India. It was during the second year of my study, that I started finding Applied mechanics very intriguing. I wanted to know more and explore the various depths of this field. I excelled in my subjects pertaining to Mechanics, and before long I realized the tremendous scope of research that this field had. I was awarded with the Indu Bhushan Putatunda memorial award from my university, and gold medal for my efforts in securing the highest aggregate marks in my department, for the second year University examination held in 2013. As a result, I gained a significant amount of confidence and decided to carry out a summer project at the end of my sophomore year. I was accepted by Dr Debashish Bandyopadhyay, Professor, Construction Engineering, Jadavpur University to carry out a project under his supervision. My work was to carry out the modeling and simulation of dynamic forces of wind on a tall chimney using gust factor. I modeled a chimney using STAAD Pro V8.0 and applied the wind forces on it. The deflections so obtained, were later matched with those from MATLAB using the same chimney and considering matrix method analysis of load on structures. I underwent a summer internship project at Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati under Dr Kaustubh Dasgupta. My work was based on the parametric identification and formulation of the natural vibration period of a multi-framed structure with shear walls, under varying structural constraints. The formulation was obtained by carrying out regression analysis in MATLAB. My second project consisted of substitution of elevator core and staircase, in a mass and stiffness asymmetric building, with altered frame elements. The objective was to generate the same nodal rotation and displacement under the influence of a lateral load, as before. This algorithm can be used for better optimization of buildings with staircase and elevator cores, so that the asymmetry in mass and stiffness can be minimalized. This would greatly reduce the torsional forces of the vertical members under the application of lateral loads. All the modeling and analysis work of both the projects were carried out in CSi SAP V2000. I gained enormous amount of knowledge from all the projects and hence I opted for Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering as my final year elective. I had a visualization of the elements of Structural Dynamics, right from its fundamentals to the brink of undergraduate knowledge. Upon completion of my course, I stood 3rd in my department in a batch of 40 students. It was then, that I began having aspirations to pursue a career as an R&D professional in the field of Mechanics. But as I still lacked the skills necessary for achieving it, I set my mind
to broaden my knowledge with a Masters or a Doctorate in the relevant subject, until I was fully prepared for it. In the present day world, France as a country, has deep-seated itself in almost every field of Science and Engineering. Having a large and robust economy, France is amongst the wealthiest nations of the world. It has established itself as an industry leader across the globe in a multitude of fields especially in Aeronautics, Aviation, Automobile, Construction, Chemicals, Nuclear Energy etc. Naturally, the quality of higher education in France is being universally recognized as more and more International students opt for pursuing their degrees from French institutions. Needless to say, that having such a dedicated and strong base in the various fields of Mechanical Engineering, France springs up as one of the most prospective places for me to carry out my research work on Computational Mechanics. Furthermore, the rich culture and heritage of France, makes it a warm and friendly place for International students to come, live and study in France. My hunt for an appropriate course led me to the Masters in Computational Mechanics programme in Ecole Central De Nantes. Belonging to the Groupe Central Network, Ecole Central de Nantes is one of the most prestigious Grand Ecoles of engineering in France. Ecole Central de Nantes is widely known, not only for its infrastructure and academic research, but also for its active student involvement in cultural and sports activities. I found the masters programme to be extremely well crafted. The subjects taught prepare the students to have a vivid conception of the computing technologies in the modern world of Mechanics. Moreover the courses like ‘ Numerical methods for uncertainty quantification’, ‘Computational nonlinear dynamics of structures’, ‘Computational configuration mechanics’ are directly related to the research works that I have conducted during my Undergraduate period. Naturally, I feel that I will be able to grasp the underlying concepts of these courses with much more ease and have a better insight in my desired field of research. To sum it up, I am absolutely thrilled at the idea of being able to undertake my masters in Computational Mechanics from your renowned University, and I look forward to having the opportunity to pursue it. France, being a pioneer of Applied Mechanics research, would foster the perfect environment where I can continue my research, innovate and provide breakthrough solutions to modern engineering problems. Keeping all of the above in mind, I firmly believe that this programme is definitely the most suitable course for me to achieve my dreams.
