First going down party of Faculty of Engineering, University of Jaffna held at 18th September 2017 on 6.00 PM at KK wedding hall, Kilinochchi. E 13 batch is spending their last few weeks in the faculty.
This was organized by E14 batch of Faculty of Engineering. Dean, Heads of the departments and lecturers attended the event together with the students.
Second year civil engineering students of university of Jaffna visited irrigation systems in Northern Province under “CE 4030 – Engineering Hydrology” subject on 16th September 2017. They have visited Wishwamadu, Kalmadu and Iranamadu irrigation schemes and their canal network. Sampath organized the field visit and guided them during filed visit.
They have studied about reservoirs and related structures, Dam types, spillway types, canal structures, cross drainage structures and irrigation structures during the field visit.
Students have seen regulators, drop structures, canal spills, canal transitions (canal contraction and canal expansions), uniform cross section canal, variable cross section canals, LB and RB main canals, D- canals, F- Canals, B canals, trapezoidal and rectangular channel, diversion canal, concrete lining canal and earth canals, spill canals, bathing steps, retaining wall for canal bank protection (Cantilever, gabion and gravity walls), spill ways (Radial gates, natural and Ogee type spill), stilling basins, hydraulic jumps, sluice towers, cross drainage structures, course ways and many more.
They have seen command areas of each reservoirs (paddy fields) and catchment areas of the reservoirs. They have seen dam widening and raising activities at Iranamadu reservoir.
Other than this they have visited DryAru kulam and Kanagambikai kulam too.
A group of professional visitors, who are alumni of Peradeniya (E 63-67 batch), visited to the faculty on 15th September 2017. This group includes Dr. A.S. Rajendran, Eng. R.A.J. Amirthanayakam, Eng. John Fernando and Eng. Vamadevan. It was a good discussion with the Dean, Heads of the Departments and staff members for about an hour and also they delivered about an hour and half talk to the students. The students were very well motivated by their talk and it was interesting with follow up interactions with the students after the talk too.
The Undergraduate Inventor of the Year Competition is organized by the IESL on 9th September 2017. A group of students covering all the departments presented their findings at this competition. These students are from the first batch of the Faculty of Engineering. This competition is open to all the Universities students. This was an excellent experience for the students to participate and presented their research project work.
University of Jaffna and Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Gujarat (IITGN) are recently established engineering institutions striving to foster high quality engineering education. They have many things in common, eager to work together in many aspects and they have already started engaging in many activities. University Grants Commission (UGC), in a letter sent in October 2016, encouraged to collaborate with IITGN.
As a part of the collaboration, three Mechanical and Process Engineering final year undergraduate students from the faculty of engineering, University of Jaffna got a golden opportunity to spend their 12 week special industrial training period as summer research interns at the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India. The students engaged in this research internship program from 27th March to 16th June 2017. The stipend was fully covered by IITGN while the travel is by University of Jaffna. Short course on infrastructure development with geosynthetics, scheduled on 8th September 2017, is another activity, targets both civil engineering industry and undergraduate students to enhance their knowledge.
To make the collaboration stronger and effective both University of Jaffna and Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Gujarat (IITGN) signed an MOU on 8th September 2017 at the faculty of Engineering. The event was graced by the presence of Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ratnam Vigneswaran, and Consul General of India, Jaffna, Sri Lanka, Shri A. Natarajan. Deans of the faculties, Professors from IIT Gandhinagar, Prof. Amit Prashant and Prof. Venkataraman, Prof. K. Chelvakumar, Provincial Directors, Engineers, heads of the departments, and staff members of the faculty of engineering also attended the event.
Prof. K. Chelvakumar has been instrumental in making this collaboration a success. We thank him wholeheartedly for the support throughout.
Followed by the ceremony, the short course on infrastructure development with geosynthetics was conducted by Prof. Amit Prashant and Prof. Venkataraman from IITGN. It was attended by many industry engineers and students. It was held from 10:30 to 17:30 on the same day. The participants were sharing good comments about the short course and requested to continue such in the future as well.
Introduction:
The IESL Students Chapter of the Faculty of Engineering, University of Jaffna has planned to conduct a competition among engineering faculties all over the country under the YMS section of the Institute of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL) at the annual TECHNO Exhibition at BMICH.
Objective:
Tic-Tac-Toe challenges students in engineering programs to design a robotic manipulator which can automatically play a simple modified version of Tic – Tac – Toe on a given board specified here in the proposal. The competition aims at cooperation of students from different engineering backgrounds. A wide knowledge in the electronic, computer and mechanical engineering fields will be required to successfully design and manufacture the required manipulator.
Technical knowledge in the following areas can be improved:
Algorithms and Programming
Image Processing
Forward Kinematics of Robots
Electronics and Electrical Implementations
Prizes:
Champions – A cash prize of $$$
First Runners Up – A cash prize of $$
Second Runners Up – A cash prize of $
All participants will be awarded with certificates of participation issued by the IESL, YMS Section.
Competition Overview:
The competition will consists of two main components:
Design of manipulator to fulfill competition requirements – To be accomplished prior to the date of the competition at any location.
The actual Tic-Tac-Toe game between teams – Will be conducted at BMICH during Techno on a date to be specified yet.
Understanding the modified Tic-Tac-Toe:
The game grid is a 3X3 table.
Each team will be provided with either green or red colored 1 inch high 2×2 inch play pieces of each less than 30 grams in weight.
These pieces will be placed as shown in the figure in the shown box one after other and will be available for the manipulator. NOTE – The position of the cube to be picked from is always kept the same as shown in the figure to simplify the task.
The manipulator system will have to identify the current state of the board and automatically react with the appropriate move.
Each move has to be initiated by the operator when ordered by the judges.
The first team to archive 3 in a row (row /column /diagonal) will become the winning team.
The opposition will have to try to stop the other team achieving the target while looking for their win.
In case of both teams are unable to form 3 in a row at the end of game the deciding factor will be the total time taken for the moves. The team with less time taken will be announced as the winner of the match.
Game pairing will be decided by a draw and all matches will be knock out.
In case of odd number of teams participation one team will be lucky to move on to the next round through a by.
A separate match will be hold for the third place.
Game Setup:
The board will be as specified in the figure below:
Figure-1 Game Arena (imaginary visualization)
Figure-2 Game board arrangement (Note Black lines on white background)
Figure-3 Board Dimensions
Figure-4 Play Pieces dimensions (Green and Red)
The place to fix the cameras brought by you will be decided after discussion with all universities before calling for applications.
The Decision of the judges will be final.
Design of manipulator to fulfill competition requirements:
A robot manipulator has to be designed with following specifications:
There will be no restrictions on Technology to be used by the team (Pneumatic or Electrical actuators etc.)
The manipulator can be of any reasonable size and weight to participate in the competition ( No additional points will be given based on dimensions or based on the aesthetic perspective).
Functionality is the main aim and is a must to be able to participate in the game itself.
The team is left free to decide on number of links, actuators and number of DOFs to be used for the manipulator.
It is important to note that no off the shelf grippers or frames and links of any kind are allowed. Any such identified by the judges will lead to be disqualified from the competition. Actuators, batteries, cameras, nuts, bolts, circuit boards and connecting wires are allowed.
The manipulator will have to be able to grip the play pieces from the specified space and deliver it exactly within the correct boundaries of the box on the board expected to be moved to.
The manipulator system should be able to visualize the board, identify the move of the opponent team and respond with its own move.
It is required that the manipulator should exit the play area at each end of a move to give free space for the next manipulator to be initiated. The boundaries are as of the play board.
In case of the play piece is dropped by the manipulator before reaching the intended space that move will be deemed as a false move.
A total number of 3 false moves are allowed per team during a game. Any team exceeding this number will be announced as the losing team at the particular game and the opposite team will win by default.
No human assistance other than to initiate the move and placing the manipulator / camera anywhere within the specified areas at start of each game is allowed.
Schedule and Deliverables:
Open for registration for competition – 3rd of July to the 3rd of September 2017
Date of final Competition: Within TECHNO. (Exact date still to be decided)
Date of awarding and certificates- At the end of the competition certificates for all participants, and the first three place holders will be honored at the annual IESL Awarding Functions.
No document submissions other than ID proofs of team members will be required.
Teams:
A team can consist of up to five undergraduate students from any engineering discipline. There are no limitations on number of teams that can participate representing the same institute. It is compulsory for all team members to be present on the day of the final competition.
This talk was delivered by Professor A.P.S. Selvaduraj, who is a William Scott Professor and James McGill Professor attached to the Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. This talk was conducted on 30th August 2017 at the Department of Civil Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering, Kilinochchi premises, University of Jaffna. It was very interesting talk attended by number of Industry Engineers together with the academic staff and students of the Faculty.
Biography of the resource person:
Dr. A.P.S. Selvadurai is currently William Scott Professor and James McGill Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Theoretical Mechanics from the University of Nottingham, under the tutelage of the eminent continuum mechanicist the late Professor A.J.M. Spencer FRS, for research in the area of “Non-linear Elasticity” and in 1986 the D.Sc. in Theoretical Mechanics for research into “Mathematical Modelling of Problems in Geomechanics and Elastomechanics”. He joined the Department of Civil Engineering at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada in 1975 as Assistant Professor, became Professor in 1981 and Head of the Department from 1982 to 1991. In 1993, he was invited by McGill University to become Chair of the Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics, a position he held till 1997. He has held Visiting Professorships at the The University of Nottingham – U.K, Universität Stuttgart, Germany, The Laboratoire 3S-R, Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France; The Department of Civil Engineering, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand; The Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China; The School of Civil Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, Departement de Genie Civil, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, The Department of Civil Engineering and Geosciences of the Technical University Delft, The Netherlands and The Department of Civil Engineering, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In 1998, Dr. Selvadurai received the Humboldt Forschungspreis (Humboldt Foundation of Germany), given to internationally acclaimed scientists and engineers. In 2000, he became the first civil engineer to be awarded the Killam Research Fellowship Canada Council for the Arts, one of Canada’s most distinguished research awards. In 2001 he was awarded the Inaugural John Booker Medal International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics-IACMAG. In 2003 he received the prestigious Max Planck Forschungspreis in the Engineering Sciences. In 2007, he was awarded the Killam Prize in Engineering from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Gold Medal of the Canadian Congresses of Applied Mechanics. In 2008 he received the IACMAG Medal for Outstanding Accomplishments in Geomechanics. In 2010, he was awarded the ALERT Research Medal, by the Alliance of Laboratories in Europe for Research and Technology. In 2013, he was awarded the Eric Reissner Medal of the ICCES and the Maurice A. Biot Medal of the ASCE.
He has published over 255 research papers in archival journals devoted to applied mechanics, geomechanics and applied mathematics, transport in porous media and computational mechanics and more than 275 in refereed international and national conferences. He is the author or co-author of texts devoted to Elastic Analysis of Soil-Foundation Interaction (Elsevier, 1979), Elasticity and Geomechanics (with R.O. Davis) (Cambridge University Press, 1996), Partial Differential Equations in Mechanics, Vols. 1&2 (Springer-Verlag, 2000), Plasticity and Geomechanics (with R.O. Davis) (Cambridge University Press, 2002) and Transport in Porous Media. Aspects of Micro/Macro Behaviour (with Yasuaki Ichikawa) (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2012). He has also edited or co-edited 9 books and 7 Special Issues of International Journals with peer review, devoted to nuclear waste disposal, environmental geomechanics, mathematics and mechanics of granular media, theoretical solid mechanics and contact mechanics. He serves on the Editorial Boards of nine leading International Journals devoted to Geomechanics, Applied Mechanics, Computational Mechanics and Engineering Mathematics. Dr. Selvadurai is a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada, American Academy of Mechanics, Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, The Institute for Mathematics and its Applications and the Canadian Academy of Engineering. In 2007 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Dr. S. S. Sivakumar, Coordinator of WaterH project of UoJ and Mr. Saliya Sampath, Lecturer, Faculty of Engineering, UoJ and Dr. B. Ketheesan, Senior lecturer, Faculty of Engineering participated the 2nd International Symposium on Conservation and Management of Tropical Lakes, from 24th – 26th August 2017 at Siem Riep, Cambodia.
They had two main objectives on this visit. They all presented their research articles in the international conference. Also, they have supervised master students of Institute of Technology of Cambodia.
Published articles in the conference are shown below:
1. M. H. M. Hamseen, T. Sætersdal and Dr. S. S. Sivakumar, (2017), ‘Conflict Resolution in Multiple User Scenarios in Irrigation Scheme in North Central Sri Lanka’, The 2nd International Symposium on Conservation and Management of Tropical Lakes, Siem Riep, Cambodia, August 24th – 26th 2017, P. 193
2. B. Ketheesan, P. M. Thanh and D. C. Stuckey, (2017), ‘Submerged Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor (SAMBR) for Wastewater Reuse: Use of PAC for Controlling SMPs’, The 2nd International Symposium on Conservation and Management of Tropical Lakes, Siem Riep, Cambodia, August 24th – 26th 2017, P. 184
3. Buddhimal M. D.T., Sampath D. S., Sivakumar S. S., Mikunthan T., Pirabhaharan M., (2017), ‘Precipitation data analysis – based on daily rainfall data at Magalla reservoir catchment at Nikaweratiya, Sri Lanka’, The 2nd International Symposium on Conservation and Management of Tropical Lakes, Siem Riep, Cambodia, August 24th – 26th 2017, P. 192
After conference, they attended Special Forum: Mainstreaming Promotion of Gender Balance for Science Technology in Asian Countries (WaSo Project) under WaSo project. There were 4 presentations from lady resource persons and we discussed about: Mainstreaming Promotion of Gender Balance for Science Technology in Asian Countries. 26th August, they attended Technical Tour to Core Management Center (Ministry of Environment), Floating Villages and Bamboo Island. It was really useful field visit and they have observed pollution of great Lake of the Cambodia. They met people live in the floating villages and observed their day today life and traditional events. Director of Core management center explained them about lake pollution and the things he was doing to save environment and especially natural rare birds in the lake.
This was funded by WaSo project of University of Jaffna.
The Techno Solutions conducted a workshop on Test and Measuring Instruments from the Tektronix and Keithley brands. This included the knowledge and skill transfers on few instruments especially on how to effectively use with all available facilities for the capturing the best information through measurement. This technical educational session was held at the Faculty of Engineering in Ariviyal Nagar, Killinochchi on 22nd August 2017.
The Faculty of Engineering is extending its services to prepare the Integrated Multi-Model Transport Study to the Jaffna City Development plan. This project is healed by Dr. Anburuvel, Department of Civil Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering and collaboration with MR. Raveenthiran from Planning Department of the Faculty of Arts. This study was carried out from 22nd August 2017 and will be continuing for couple of months.