My research interests are rooted in understanding the mechanics of thin and slender adaptive structures.
By using concepts of structural mechanics and differential geometry, I try to study how changing materials properties and geometrical inhomogeneities can lead to interesting mechanical properties via analytical, numerical, and experimental methods. Always looking for bright and motivated students. Feel free to contact me for project works, bachelor and master theses and other collaborative initiatives.
 

Here are few of my research areas which I am currently exploring:

• Multistable composites for morphing applications.
• Energy harvesting though elastic instabilities.
• On shape adaptive meta-materials.
• Design of plates and shells by tailoring geometry and material.
• Deployable and morphing structures for space applications.
• Tailoring buckling and post-buckling loads using variable stiffness laminates.
• Design of energy efficient adaptive civil structures.

Journal Articles

• “Semi-analytical investigations on bistable cross-ply laminates with MFC actuators to analyse bistable laminates with piezoelectric actuators”. By A. Haldar, P.M. Anilkumar ,E. Jansen, B.N. Rao, and R. Rolfes. In: Smart Structures and Systems (2021), Vol 30, No. 10.
• "Tailoring bistability in unsymmetrical laminates using an additional composite strip". By A.P Kumar, P.M. Anilkumar, A. Haldar, E. Jansen, B.N. Rao, and R. Rolfes (2021), Thin-Walled Structures, 168, 108212.
• "Snap-through of bistable variable stiffness laminates using MFC actuators”. By P.M. Anilkumar, A. Haldar, E. Jansen, B.N. Rao, and R. Rolfes. In: Composite Structures 266, (2021), p. 113694.
• “EngiO Object oriented Framework for Engineering Optimization”. By R. Berger, B.Hofmeister, M. Bruns, A. Haldar, and R. Rolfes. In: Advances in Engineering Software (2021), Vol. 153, March 2021, 102959.
• “An efficient semi-analytical framework to tailor snap-through loads in bistable variable stiffness laminates”. By A. Haldar, R.M.J. Groh, E. Jansen, P.M. Weaver, and R. Rolfes. In:
  International Journal of Solids and Structures 195 (2020), pp. 91–107.
• “Analysis of Novel Morphing Trailing Edge Flap of a Wind Turbine Blade Actuated by Multistable Laminates”. By A. Haldar, E. Jansen, B.Hofmeister, M. Bruns, and R. Rolfes, In: AIAA Journal (2020), pp. 1–10.
• “Design optimization of multistable variable-stiffness laminates”. By P.M. Anilkumar, A. Haldar, E. Jansen, B.N. Rao, and R. Rolfes. In: Mechanics of Advanced Materials and
  Structures 26 (2019), pp. 48–55.
• “Thermally induced multistable configurations of variable stiffness composite plates: Semi-analytical and finite element investigation”. By A. Haldar, J. Reinoso, E. Jansen, and
  R. Rolfes. In: Composite Structures 183 (2018), pp. 161–175.
• “Effect of creep, shrinkage and cracking on time dependent behaviour of RC structures”. By A. Haldar, S. Gopinath, G.S. Palani, and Nagesh R Iyer. In: Journal of Structural
  Engineering (JoSE) 36 (2010), p. 387.

Patents

• Combination of several bistable elements for an integrated multistable system (for smart wind turbine flaps). By A. Haldar (40 %), E. Jansen (10 %), J. Riemenschneider
  (25 %), and M. Pohl (25 %). DE 10 2018 115 476 A1. 2/2020. (https://patents.google.com/patent/DE102018115476A1/)

Book Chapters

• “Snap-through of bistable configurations generated from variable stiffness composites”. By A. Haldar, J. Reinoso, E. Jansen, and R. Rolfes. In: Multiscale Modeling of Heterogeneous
  Structures, Springer International Publishing (2018), pp. 61–82. (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-65463-8_4).

Conference Proceedings

• “Morphing of multistable connected unsymmetrical laminates using MFC actuators”. By P. M. Anilkumar, A. Phanendra Kumar, S. Scheffler, A. Haldar, B. N. Rao, and R. Rolfes. In: 7th Wind Energy Science Conference 2021, Hannover, Germany. 2021.
• “Role of thickness variation on the tailored bistability of unsymmetric composite laminates”. By P. M. Anilkumar, A. Phanendra Kumar, A. Haldar, and B.N. Rao. In: IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 1st International Conference on Recent Advancements in Design and Manufacturing (ICRADM 2020); SVNIT, Surat 1004 (July 2020), p. 012004.
• “Numerical studies on the design of self-resetting active bistable cross-shaped structure for morphing”. By P.M. Anilkumar, A. Haldar, S.Scheffler, E. Jansen, B.N. Rao, and R. Rolfes. In: Proceedings on 1st International Electronic Conference on Actuator Technology: Materials, Devices and Applications (IeCAT 2020). Vol. 64. 1. 2020, p. 16.
• “Analysis of Morphing Trailing Edge Flap with Embedded Multistable Variable Stiffness Laminates”. By A. Haldar, E. Jansen, and R. Rolfes. In: AIAA/ASCE/AHS Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference, San Diego, California. 2019.
• “Selected results on the development and testing of smart blades technologies for wind turbines”. By M. R. Zhuzhell, S. Optiz, J. Riemenschneider, A. Haldar, and R. Rolfes et al. In: Proceedings der ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Smart Structures and Materials - SMART 2019, Paris. CIMNE. 7, 2019, pp. 102–117.
• “Smart Trailing Edges for Wind Turbines”. By J. Riemenschneider, M. Pohl, R. Ungurán, V. Petrovic, M. Kühn, A. Haldar, H. Madhusoodanan, E. Jansen, and R. Rolfes. In: Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems. Vol. 51944. American Society of Mechanical Engineers. 2018, V001T04A001.
• “Analysis of post-buckled variable stiffness panels using Ritz and Koiter’s method”. By E. Spigarolo, R. Vescovini, L. Dozio, E. Jansen, and A. Haldar. In: 21st International Conference on Composite Structures (ICCS21). 2018.
• “Tailoring snap-through loads in variable stiffness composites”. By A. Haldar, E. Jansen, R. Rolfes, and P.M. Weaver. In: AIAA/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference, Kissimmee, Florida. 2018.
• “Effect of Actuation Procedure in MFC Actuators for Morphing of Bistable Laminates”. By P.M. Anilkumar, A. Haldar, E. Jansen, B.N. Rao, and R. Rolfes. In: 11th Structural Engineering Convention - SEC 2018, At Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. 2018.
• “Design Optimization of Multistable Variable-Stiffness Laminates”. By P.M. Anilkumar, A. Haldar, E. Jansen, B.N. Rao, and R. Rolfes. In: International Conference on Composite Materials and Structures- ICCMS, Hyderabad. 2017.
• “Investigating Design Space of Variable Stiffness Laminates with Intitial Curvature”. By A. Haldar, E. Jansen, and R. Rolfes. In: International Conference on Composite Materials and Structures- ICCMS, Hyderabad. 2017.
• “Snap-through of Multistable Variable Stiffness Composites using Piezoelectric Actuators”. By A. Haldar, E. Jansen, and R. Rolfes. In: Abstract in Proceedings of ICCS20 - 20th International Conference on Composite Structures, Paris, September 4 – 7. 2017.
• “Multistable variable stiffness composites for adaptive structures: a parametric study”. By A. Haldar, J. Reinoso, E. Jansen, and R. Rolfes. In: 2nd International Conference on Mechanics of Composites, Porto. 2016.
• “Structural Analysis Tools and Concepts for Rotor Blades with Morphing Trailing Edge”. By A. Haldar, S. Garmabi, M. Bishara, E. Jansen, and R. Rolfes. In: Online Proceedings of Wissenschaftstag 2016, DLR, Braunschweig, Germany. 2016.
• “Multistability of plates through variable stiffness composites using Rayleigh Ritz Method”. By A. Haldar, J. Reinoso, E. Jansen, and R. Rolfes. In: 7th ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Smart Structures and Materials (SMART2015), Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal. 2016.

• Ph.D in Multistable Morphing Structures using Variable Stiffness Laminates, Institute of Structural Analysis, Department of Civil Engineering, Leibniz University Hannover, Germany ( in collaboration with ENS Cachan, France and University of Bristol, UK), (2019).
• Masters in Computational Mechanics, Erasmus Mundus (Fully funded by European Union) from UPC-Barcelona, University of Stuttgart, University of Cambridge (Master Thesis) (2013).
• Bachelors in Engineering (Hons.) in Civil Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences, Pilani (2009).

• Awarded summa cum laude for Excellent doctoral thesis.
• Best Paper Award SEC-2018 Kolkata
• Received BmWi grant from SMARTBLADES2.0 project (Ministry of Energy, Germany)
• Received IRTG Grant 1627 by DFG for pursuing Ph.D. (selected among 120 students)
• Erasmus Mundus scholarship from European Commission (40,000 Euros) for pursuing Masters (Among the 2 selected from India).
• Best Employee Award at BHEL, PEM Noida.

• Postdoctoral researcher at Cardiff University, UK (in collaboration with University of San Diego, USA)
• Postdoctoral fellow at ENSTA-CNRS, France.
• Scientific Co-worker at Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany (Course Instructor for Composites and Light-weight structures).
• Project Assistant at the German Aerospace Center (DLR Stuttgart).
• Structural Engineer at Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, PEM-Noida