IIT Madras Prof. Ravindra Gettu awarded International Construction Materials Body’s Highest Honour

Prof. Ravindra Gettu, who was its First President from Asia, is credited with leading RILEM in the transitions that aided in ensuring scientific collaboration continued during the COVID-19 pandemic

CHENNAI : Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) Prof. Ravindra Gettu has been awarded RILEM’s (International Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction Materials, Systems and Structures) highest recognition of ‘Honorary Member’.

He served as its President during 2018-21, being the first and only Asian do so in its 78-year history. He was earlier Vice-President and Chair Technical Activities Committee of the same organization, which brings together researchers on construction materials from around the world.

Prof. Ravindra Gettu, who is the V.S. Raju Chair Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras, led the technology development and implementation of ‘Fibre reinforced concrete’ (FRC) in India.

Over the past decade, 500 km of tunnels lined with Fibre Reinforced Concrete have been built in India with at least 30 laboratories having been sent up for testing FRC. Over same period, about 19 million sq. m. of slabs-on-grade for factories, warehouses, roads, basements and ports also came up in the country.

Prof. Ravindra Gettu’s vision has been to focus on technology implementation in the construction sector by taking new developments from research to practical application for improving quality and sustainability.

The Current Projects being worked on by Prof. Ravindra Gettu include textile-reinforced concrete and sustainability assessment of construction, among others. His new projects that are going to be taken up include large building construction with precast and prefinished components to improve quality, reduce wastage, increase the lifespan and lower environmental impact.

Thanking RILEM for his honour, Prof. Ravindra Gettu, V.S. Raju Chair Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras, said, “Pride, Enthusiasm, and Inclusivity – these three words describe my feelings about RILEM. I have had the wonderful opportunity of leading the world’s most significant organization of researchers in construction materials, in a phase of growing global footprint and scope.”

Further, Prof. Ravindra Gettu added, “I am glad to have overseen the transition to communications and interactions based on social media and online meetings that, though forced upon us by the pandemic, opened the doors for reaching remote parts of the world and gave the chance for researchers, who could not afford to travel abroad, to voice their opinions and showcase their investigations.”

Congratulating Prof. Ravindra Gettu, Prof. Manu Santhanam, Dean (Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research), IIT Madras, and an active RILEM member and Fellow, said “RILEM has truly gotten a more international flavour after Prof Gettu’s presidency, and his term was marked with many firsts such as the establishment of the RILEM Youth Council and the online workshop series. His excellent stewardship of this organization through the difficult period of the Covid pandemic exemplifies his commitment to sustaining quality research and collaboration.”

Prof. Manu Santhanam added, “He is also responsible for bringing into prominence the role in RILEM of the construction materials group at IIT Madras and other Indian researchers. In his period, the number of researchers with memberships from India has become one of the highest in the world.”

RILEM (from the name in French) was founded in June 1947 to promote scientific cooperation in the area of construction materials and structures. It is the only international organization not affiliated to a single country or region but is global.

The association aims to advance free-access scientific knowledge related to construction materials, systems and structures and to encourage transfer and application of this knowledge world-wide through collaboration of leading experts in construction practice and science including academics, researchers, testing laboratories and authorities.

RILEM gives the highest award of Honorary Member to those who have rendered exceptional services to the association and/or have contributed to giving a new orientation to the association. In this case, Prof. Ravindra Gettu was awarded this honour for exemplary leadership.

He is credited with leading RILEM in the transition to online meetings and events that aided in ensuring scientific collaboration during the COVID-19 pandemic and has since been extended to facilitate interaction with researchers in all parts of the world, who are not able to travel to in-person meetings.

The citation reads: “Prof. Dr. Ravindra Gettu has been nominated as a RILEM Honorary member in recognition of his exemplary leadership as RILEM President, Technical Activities Committee Chair and Cluster Convener, along with serving as the Deputy Chair of Technical Committees and in Bureau…”

The areas of research of Prof. Ravindra Gettu include fracture mechanics of concrete and rock; nonlinear behaviour of cement-based materials; high strength, fibre reinforced and self-compacting concretes; sustainability and the effective use of chemical admixtures.

His research has been funded by public organizations, as well as the construction industry, helping him focus on applied research and technology transfer. He has co-authored more than 500 publications, of which more than 130 are peer-reviewed journal papers.

A former Dean of Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research at IIT Madras, Prof. Ravindra Gettu graduated from the Government College of Technology, Coimbatore, with B.E. (Honours) degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Madras in 1984. He later studied in the USA and obtained an M.S. degree in Civil Engineering from Marquette University, Milwaukee, and a Ph.D. degree in Structural Engineering from Northwestern University, Evanston.

In 1990, he had moved to Barcelona, Spain, and later became the Director of the Structural Technology Laboratory of the Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya in the School of Civil Engng. of Barcelona. He was recognised as Doctor Ingeniero de Caminos, Canales y Puertos (equivalent to Doctor of Civil Engng.) by the Spanish Ministry of Education in 1998. He joined IIT Madras as professor in 2004. He was elected as a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering in 2018, and as a Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Engineering in 2019.