help review my motivation letter for P hd program

GBPUA&T, Pant Nagar
India
April 22nd 2015
Dear Supervisor,
I am writing to apply for the following Ph. D position with preference order of XXXX, as advertised on your department website. I am currently a postgraduate student at Department of Civil Engineering, XXXXX and fully expect to complete my Master in Technology degree by May 2015. I am extremely interested in obtaining a Ph. D position at your facility as it has stellar reputation for research which is known worldwide. My goal is to become a researcher and to investigate the improvements that can be implemented in infrastructure sector. This program would help me start my career as a specialist researcher in construction industry.
I believe that my academic training and my two years of experience in working as a M. Tech. scholar in Structural Engineering, has prepared me to be an effective researcher in your laboratory. My M. Tech. thesis is on “Seismic Evaluation of RC Frame with Brick Masonry Infill Walls” that is being conducted under the direction of Assistant Prof. XXXXX. In my research, I am interested in finding various seismic parameters of RC frame considering stiffness of masonry wall analytically, and thereby comparing its performance with bare RC frame building. This is delivered in computer-based software Staad Pro that is freely available to the community.
Various factors contribute to continuous degradation of large civil infrastructures i.e earthquakes, impact loading, fatigue loads, temperature variations etc are some to name them. These have an adverse effect on the life cycle of the structure, thereby reducing their ultimate purpose of safety and serviceability requirement. The risks or damages to the structure when identified during early stage can be successfully mitigated economically for extended life of the structures. Planning for new projects to phase out the existing structures, is a very important decision that has to be undertaken, but because of various economic and social constraints, extending the service life of the existing structure by taking up some appropriate measures, becomes imperative . Since, the health of the structures is mostly assessed by periodic inspections; they provide quite a limited amount of data for taking up maintenance work. As such, Structural Health Monitoring, a tool based on FACT (Find, Analyze, Classify and Treat), has come up as a successful alternative for taking up new projects and for condition monitoring of structures. Health monitoring is a technique that is being widely used to detect the damages, their location, severity of the damage, and expected consequences of damage in the structures. This technique can be profitably employed for prognosis and thereby reliable retrofitting measures can be adopted. The basic principle of SHM is to find the parameters that would ultimately affect the performance of the structure like loads, deformations, strains, accelerations, wind speed etc. Since the maintenance cost of a structure increases during later part of its life, as such, the technique of monitoring can be effectively employed for cost effective operation of the structures. Development of new techniques for Data Acquisition (DAS), like Fiber Optic Sensors (FOS) and wireless systems, are giving more reliable results to be used for getting data at ambient conditions; which when further evaluated numerically, i.e. by numerical algorithms would give reliable results, which can be used economically in operation & maintenance of the structures. One such method is to equip the bridge with programmable accelerometers that measure and record how much the bridge element moves and vibrates. Thus they measure the dynamics of the element, analyze the motion and generate reports that enable researchers to review and compare their performances. The four levels in SHM have given complete insight to damage detection, its location, severity and consequences of the damage. Thus measuring how bridge element responds under different loads gives a new tool for detecting undesirable conditions before they worsen. Being a Structural Engineering graduate, I have developed a strong interest in performance of structures under hazards which is particularly reflected from my thesis topic. This has given me an insight to the parameters, like time period, natural frequency, and mode shapes etc and that any changes in these parameters would indicate change in stiffness and mass. These dynamic parameters are used as input in monitoring techniques, which when further processed numerically in order to reach probabilistic desired goal of damage location, expected performance and life of the structures. I am very much excited by your research program as it has its outcome particularly because of its objectivity and also because of the area of my research interest.
Also the project XXXX is of particular interest to me, which encouraged me to put forward my candidacy for the project. Energy sector is in phase of shift of source of production of energy, after the disastrous Fukushima incident. As an alternate, one of the most potential and yet unexplored on large scale, is Wind energy. Apart from onshore wind farms, harnessing of offshore wind energy potentials has been on prime focus for many developed countries. But because of its bulky size, heavy maintenance cost associated, research interest has grown to develop technologies and method to minimize this huge cost. Since the aim of the project is to optimize the design of offshore wind turbines under extreme environment, which necessarily uses SHM theory, thereby creates my interest in the project.
I have one year of experience of working at a construction company where I was able to know the working methodologies at a construction site, after I graduated in Civil Engineering, in 2012. Moreover I became aware of designing methodologies and dynamics of structures while working on my thesis project. The knowledge of FEM, MAT LAB, proficiency with MS Office; Auto Cad would also be an advantage during research. I believe these would be the assets during my research. I have volunteered to work for NGO, Paryavaran Evam Jan Kalyan Samiti (PEJKS), which is working for social services to the community. Also I have published a paper titled “Seismic Evaluation of RC Frame with Brick Masonry Infill Walls” at International Journal of Research in Engineering & Technology (IJRET). I have developed confidence and an interest in research work and look forward to the opportunity. My interest of learning, especially with great research environment at your facility would bring out the best from me as a researcher. About curricular activities, I play cricket, badminton. I appreciate the value of insistence, team ambition and team spirit. I have learned that commitment is necessary for success as an individual and as a team player. I am confident that I am a potential candidate for the positions I am interested in, and look forward to hearing from you. It A Letter of recommendation is attached along with all necessary documents as per directed. If you require any additional materials or information, I am happy to supply it. Thank you very much for your consideration, I look forward to your favorable reply.
Sincerely,
Nitesh Singh