Research Interests:

Composite Materials and Structures: Impact Mechanics, Fracture Mechanics, Micro-Mechanics, Textile Composites, Sandwich Construction, Cellular Solids, Thermal Stresses and Thermal protection systems

Functionally Graded Materials: Micro-Mechanical Models, Fracture Mechanics Concepts, and Optimization of Functionally Graded Structures.

Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS): Thermo-Mechanical Analysis of MEMS Structures, Piezoelectric Sensors and Actuators.

Nano Composites: Modeling and testing nano composites for improved fracture toughness and reduced permeability to Hydrogen.

Dr. Sankar's research is in the general area of mechanics of lightweight high strength composite materials and structures, in particular, fracture and damage. Specifically, he is interested in understanding how the macroscopic properties of fiber reinforced composite materials depend on their microstructure, how they can be improved, and finally, how efficiently composites can be used in weight–critical structures such as aerospace structures. Thus his research spans various scales starting from micro-scale understanding of material behavior to large structures as used in space vehicles. The very nature of his research requires the use of all three tools of mechanics research: experimental, analytical and numerical methods.

Dr. Sankar has published about 200 articles in archival journals and conference proceedings. He is the editor/co-editor of five proceedings and has contributed two book-chapters on composite materials. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Fellow of the American Society for Composites and Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is an associate editor of the AIAA Journal, and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Composite materials and the Journal of Sandwich Structures & Materials.