ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank Ministry of Defence, Government of India to have sponsored and permitted
me to pursue post-graduation at IIT, Madras.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my project guide Dr. Devdas Menon, Professor,
Structural Engineering Division, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, for his valuable guidance,
suggestions in every aspect to accomplish the project work. His persisting encouragement, keen
interest in discussions has benefited me to a great extent. He has been a continuous source of
inspiration throughout the project. I consider myself extremely fortunate to work under him and I
thank him for providing such an opportunity.

I express my sincere thanks to Prof. K. Ramamurthy, Head of the Department of Civil Engineering
for his administrative support and facilities to complete the project.

I am thankful to Prof. G. Apparao, Head of the Laboratory of the Structural Engineering Division
for making all the best equipment available to do my research.

I am immensely grateful to Mr. M N Shariff, PhD Research scholar in Structural Engineering

division, for all the support and help throughout the project. I also extend my thanks to Mr. Iyyam
Perumal, Project Associate for helping me in my work. I also take this opportunity to thank my
wife Dr. Jyothsna and sons Master Chetan Arun and Master Charan Venkat for their immense
support throughout my project work.

I also extend my thanks to Mr. T. Rajkumar, Mr. Murali, Mr. B. Krishnan, Mr. Ashok, Mr. Krishna,
Mr. J.Vicent George, Mr. Padbanaman, Mr. Alluriah, and Mr. Lokesh and also all the technical
supporting staff of the Structural Engineering Laboratory.

I would like to express my gratitude to all my teachers, friends and all those who directly or
indirectly helped me to successfully complete this thesis.

S.Yellamanda