GPS Studies in Indian Subcontinent Research Topics
Research topics with brief description of achievements/relevance
GPS Studies in Indian Subcontinent
C-MMACS first initiated systematic GPS studies in 1994 to determine the displacement
and strain rate fields in some significant tectonic provinces of the Indian
continent as a
measure of seismogenesis. GPS studies were funded by Department of Science
and
Technology , CSIR and National Science Foundation. As a principal investigator
in this
Project, she has contributed extensively to the GPS studies in Indian subcontinent.
Major
research areas covered since 1994 are: (i) Stability of the South Indian
Peninsula (Paul et al.,
1995), (ii) Motion and active deformation of the Indian subcontinent (Paul
et al., 2001;
Sridevi et al. 1995), (iii) Rate of convergence across the Indian subcontinent
(Sridevi et al.,
2002), (iv) Study of the Trans- Himalayan Kinematics in Ladakh. (Sridevi
et al., 2003, 1999), (v)
Deformation mechanism in the Shillong Plateau, Northeastern India, (vi)
Determination and modelling
of the time evolving surface strain field around the Bhuj region (Sridevi
et al., 2003, 2002, 2001).
In addition to the above she was instrumental in setting up permanent network
of 12 GPS stations
across the country as a part of DST programme of implementation of national
network of GPS
stations for earthquake hazard assessment. She also maintains and operates
an IGS (International
GPS service) station at Bangalore (Sridevi et al. 1997) which currently
provides the regional reference
for GPS Campaigns over the Indian sub continent. She also conducted numerous
training programmes,
workshops and courses on Use of GPS technology in hazard assessment, GPS
data processing and analysis.
Deformation Modelling
Major research areas covered in deformation modelling are (i) Numerical
Modeling of discontinuous
media (Sridevi et al. 2003, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1997, 1996) (ii) Modeling
and numerical analysis of
multi-layered road systems (Sridevi et al. 1998) (iii) Analysis of reinforced
earth walls (Sridevi et al. 1997,
1991) . Major research achievement is the development of numerical model
for the discontinuous
medium based on the equivalent continuum approach. Empirical relationships
have been arrived
based on the statistical analysis of large amount of experimental data.
These relationships are used for
representing the jointed rock mass as an equivalent continuum. The effect
of joints in the rock mass
is taken into account by a joint factor. The developed model has also been
applied to calculate
the deformation around a large power station cavern in rhyolite rock at
200m depth and the results
are compared with measured deformations in the field.
Landslide Hazard Mapping
Major research areas covered are (i) Statistical Models for slope instability
classification
(Sridevi et al. 1995, 1993 ) (ii) Modeling of slope failure using global
optimisation technique, finite
element techniques (Sridevi et al. 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991,1990) . Landslide
hazard mapping in
parts of Alkananda valley of Gharwal Himalayas has been carried out using
Information theory and
Regression analysis (Sridevi and Sarkar, 1993). Slope failures were studied
in great detail using different
numerical techniques. Random search global optimization algorithm has been
used to arrive at the
most probable failure surface of any given slope (Sridevi and Shanker ,
1994). This technique has
been applied in parts of Himachal Pradesh.
