Departmental Computer Facility


The Departmental Computational Facility of our Department has Fifty Dell machines. The Server is a P4 2.6 GHz with 512 MB RAM. Also it has 2 x 17.5 GB SCSI Hard disks.The clients are P4 1.6 GHz 128 MB RAM, INTEL 845 Chipset. They are running on Red Hat Linux 9.0.

We have many softwares installed on Windows XP such as MATLAB2009,AUTO 07, FLUENT.

Particle Image Velocimetry


The IIT Madras is the first academic institute to possess a PIV. this was purchased by the chemical engineering department under the FIST (Funds for infrastructure for science and technology) scheme of Department of Science and Technology. This is housed in Room number 354 of Mechanical Sciences Block. PIV is a non- invasisve technique which enables measurement of instantaneous flow field in a plane. The fluid is seeded with neutrally buoyant tracer particles. A sheet of laserr(we have Nd-Yag laser,120mJ, 532nm) is flashed twice in the region of interest. The duration betweeen the two flashes is 'dt' a small time interval of the order of micro seconds. The tracer particles reflect the laser light incident on them. The images of these particles are captured on a camera on two separate frames. Measuring the displacement of the particles and knowing the time instant between the two flashes of the laser allows us to determine the velocity of the unsteady flow fields. The PIV has been puchased from Lavision , Gottingen Germany. It is a state of the art equipment enabling measurement of all three velocity components of the flow field using stereoscopic PIV.

Universal testing machine and Rheometer

(For details, go to the home page of of High Polymer Engineering Laboratory)

Complete characterization of the mechanical behaviour of solid-like materials can be carried out using universal testing machine (UTM). In our department, a rate controlled Zwick UTM is available with wide ranging fixtures. A temperature chamber is also available with possibility of testing materials at a range of temperature.

The flow behaviour of polymeric materials and complex fluids can be examined in a rheometer. In our department, a rotational rheometer from Anton Paar is available. The instrument can be operated in both rate control and stress control. In addition, different geometries and temperature range of operation is available for detailed characterization of rheology of materials.

Gas Chromatography System with Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS) - Funded by a FIST grant from DST (Govt. of India)


The GC-MS system is generally used for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of organic chemicals in organic liquid and in gaseous samples. The GC-MS system is equipped with one split-splitless injector leading with a capillary column. An automatic liquid injector with an autosampler (100 vials tray) is also available for automatic injection and for reliable quality control. The detector is a mass spectrometer (MS) with a roughing and turbo pump. The system also has the flexibility of adding a direct MS injection option (without going through the GC). The MS provides the capability of identifying the individual components of a mixture exiting the GC by a similarity match of the mass spectrum of the analyte with a reference spectrum of various chemicals stored in a library. The installed system has a database of about 300,000 spectra as part of the NIST and WILEY spectral libraries. The instrument can be operated in a scan mode (to detect and identify unknown constituents in a sample) and in a selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode, where specific chemicals can be measured with increased sensitivity. The system is operated using a software program that controls all aspects of the operation. The concentrations that are quantifiable are in the ppm (mg/L) range and can go down to ppb (ng/L) levels depending on the background.

Gas Chromatography System with Flame Ionization Detector (FID) and Thermal Conductivity Detector (TCD) - Funded by a grant from Chevron Corporation


The Gas Chromatography system with FID and TCD is useful for the quantitative analysis of a wide range of chemical species. The FID is specifically designed to analyse hydrocarbons, while the TCD is a universal detector that is capable of detecting many species (with varying sensitivity). The system is also equipped with a methaniser for the FID, which is useful in analyzing species such as CO (after reduction to methane). The system has two injectors leading to the two detectors. The system has the capability to use both packed as well as capillary columns with minor modifications. A software program controls the operation. At this point of time, the system allows only manual injections. It is recommended that injections should be either gases or chemicals dissolved in organic solvents. Injection of aqueous samples is generally not recommended since it is known to deteriorate the performance of the FID and capillary columns.

Facilities for outsiders:

(For details click here)