Prof. Sudhakar M. Rao

Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore - 560 012

Phone:  +91 80 2293 2812 (Office)

Fax:      +91 80 2360 0404

email: msrao@civil.iisc.ernet.in

About Me

Research

Other Information

Publications

Areas of Research:

Engineering behaviour of unsaturated soils

Hazardous waste management

Surface and ground water quality

Remediation of contaminated groundwater

Society based research:

Fluoride contamination of groundwater from geochemical sources is a serious environmental issue in India as 62 million people spread over 17 Indian states is at risk from drinking fluoride-contaminated water. The Indian Standard for drinking water prescribes 1.5 mg/L as the permissible limit for fluoride in drinking water. Ingestion of fluoride-contaminated water can cause dental and skeletal fluorosis. Fluoride build up in ground water are controlled by the geology of host rocks, contact time with fluoride minerals, groundwater chemical composition and climate. A new method based on use of magnesium oxide (termed IISc method) has been developed to remove fluoride from drinking water. The IISc method of defluoridation is being successfully practiced at limited number of houses in two Districts of Karnataka for nearly two years.

Courses Offered:

Basic Geomechanics

Sub-soil Exploration and Soil Testing

Fundamentals of Soil Behaviour

Behaviour and Testing of Unsaturated Soils

Environmental Geotechnics