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The Southern India Panel of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers India Branch organised a learned society process industries event on 10 February 2018 at Bengaluru.

The event, conducted under the aegis of the new Process Industries Division India centre, was introduced and chaired by Vijay Raman, Chairman, Southern India Panel.

Three eminent engineers spoke on a range of topics:

• Jagadish Babu, Design Manager, Atkins India spoke on “Awareness or Assurance: What is Important in the Water Industry?” highlighting the standards in use in the developed world and where practices differed in the case of India.
• Piyush Prasad, CEng, MIMechE, Technical Authority for the Mechanical Static Discipline with Shell India discussed a case study on “Integrity assessment of Atmospheric Storage Tank due to Foundation Settlement”. He explained the analysis conducted to deal with differential foundation settlement of a major online tank and the measures taken to analyze the problem find a solution and ensure the safe use of the tank without disturbing the process stream.
• Sudhanshu Poddar, also a specialist with Shell, discussed the “Integrity of the Bolted Joint”. The bolted joint is a piece of engineering that one takes for granted. The speaker described the challenges posed by leakages through a gasketed joint and discussed, from first principles, the crucial design and operational features that are essential to ensure plant safety and operational stability.

Prabal Sarma. IMechE’s Principal Regional Adviser, South Asia made a short presentation and provided guidance to the audience on membership matters. The event concluded with Vijay Raman summing up the principal lessons and explaining why such learning events were useful to Members across sub-disciplines followed by a vote of thanks by Magdhum Basha, Treasurer, Southern India Panel. The event was well attended by thirty delegates  from various professional backgrounds relating to mechanical engineering.