OUR PEOPLE
Academic Credentials
- Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, 2016
- B.Sc. Eng., Mechanical Engineering, Dayalbagh Educational Institute, India, 2009
Licenses & Certifications
- Professional Engineer Mechanical, California, #40797
- ASQ Certified Reliability Engineer (CRE)
Dr. Pydah specializes in the design, vibrations, and failure analysis of high-performance structures in extreme environments. He has extensive experience developing high-fidelity finite element models (FEA) of complex structural assemblages, designing bespoke laboratory testing, and leveraging data analytics and machine learning techniques to help clients solve multi-physics problems. These analyses span multiple scales and industries, ranging from implantable medical devices and consumer electronics to composite transmission line conductors and wind turbine blades. As a Licensed Professional Mechanical Engineer, Dr. Pydah applies his expertise to assist clients with understanding mechanical loads on their products and how these loads relate to design performance and failure.
As a Certified Reliability Engineer, Dr. Pydah helps clients characterize and replicate field vibrations, fatigue, and damage sustained to their products and packages within a lab setting. These analyses help evaluate the performance and damage tolerance of products in the field.
Dr. Pydah's work includes both litigation and non-litigation matters. He leverages his experience with the analysis of metallic, composite, and polymeric materials to assist aerospace, wind energy, railway, and automobile manufacturers with issues pertaining to high-speed impact, vibrations, and fatigue as well as root cause analyses of wind turbine blade failures and moisture ingression. He regularly assists oil, gas, and electric utilities with evaluating pipeline stresses and transmission line aeolian vibrations and failure. Dr. Pydah also helps consumer electronics and medical device companies with computational simulations, lab testing, and failure analysis of their products.
Dr. Pydah's doctoral and post-doctoral research focused on analyzing complex structural assemblages subjected to blast loads, ballistic impact, or crashes. This involved the consideration of non-linear dynamics, large deformations, complex material constitutive models, plasticity, damage mechanisms, and failure. He also developed novel foldable, deployable, and adaptable origami structures. His research has found applications as blast mitigating metamaterials in civil/defense vehicles and infrastructure, as armor and impact protectors for infantry and athletes, as tunable energy harvesters, and as multi-functional outer space habitats for inter-planetary missions.
At Virginia Tech, Dr. Pydah was the technical advisor to the Virginia Tech Wind Turbine Team which developed renewable energy solutions for local and international farms. He regularly volunteers as a scientific judge for regional and state science fairs.
