Dr. A. K. Asraff

Dr. A. K. Asraff is Prof. Satish Dhawan Professor at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (ISRO), Thiruvananthapuram. He began his career in 1989 as a Scientific Officer at the Nuclear Power Corporation and joined the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, ISRO, in 1990, where he later became Deputy Director of the Mechanical Design & Analysis Entity before moving to VSSC as Deputy Director of the Structural Engineering Entity and Associate Director (R&D). He holds a B.Tech in Civil Engineering from NSS College of Engineering, Palakkad, an M.E. in Structural Engineering from PSG College of Technology (first rank) and a Ph.D. from the College of Engineering Trivandrum, whose thesis on ductile fracture of a copper alloy won the Prof. Brahm Prakash Best Ph.D. Thesis of 2017 award. He was chief architect of the SLOSH++ finite element code for propellant slosh analysis, reviewed the structural adequacy of PSLV, GSLV and GSLV Mk III flight missions, has guided 29 M.E./M.Tech theses, and received the Astronautical Society of India's ASI Award for Rockets and Related Technologies in 2024.

1. Ph.D. — Civil Engineering

   College of Engineering Trivandrum, University of Kerala

   2017 · Thesis: Investigations on ductile fracture of a high conductivity high ductility copper alloy through micromechanical modelling; submitted within the minimum required period of three years

2. M.E. — Structural Engineering

   PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore

   1989 · First rank; Best Outgoing Student (1987–1989)

3. B.Tech — Civil Engineering

   NSS College of Engineering, Palakkad

   1986 · Third rank (1982–1986)

1. Prof. Satish Dhawan Professor

   Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

   Feb 2026 – present

2. Associate Director (R&D)

   Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

   Jan 2025 – May 2025

3. Deputy Director, Structural Engineering Entity

   Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

   Jul 2024 – Jan 2025

4. Deputy Director, Mechanical Design & Analysis Entity

   Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), ISRO, Valiamala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

   Feb 2020 – Jul 2024

5. Engineer

   Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), ISRO, Valiamala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

   Mar 1990 – Jan 2020

6. Scientific Officer

   Nuclear Power Corporation, Department of Atomic Energy, Bombay, India

   1989 – 1990

• 108 papers presented or published at international and national conferences and in journals
• Guided 29 M.E./M.Tech theses
• Copyright secured for five in-house software tools for design and analysis applications
• Chief architect of SLOSH++, a finite element based code for slosh modelling and analysis in liquid propellant tanks
• Reviewed and approved the adequacy of launch vehicle structures for flown missions of PSLV (C59, C60, C61, C62), GSLV (F15, F16) and GSLV Mk III (M5, M6)

• Member, Department Advisory Body, Department of Civil Engineering, NSS College of Engineering, Palakkad
• Member, Department Advisory Bodies for Mechanical Engineering and for Civil Engineering, Mar Baselios College of Engineering & Technology, Thiruvananthapuram
• Member, Board of Governors, College of Engineering Kidangoor, Kerala
• M.Tech examiner, APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, Kerala
• Doctoral committee member, Departments of Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering Trivandrum
• Reviewer, International Journal of Fatigue (Elsevier), since 2016

• Contributed a chapter to S. Unnikrishnan Nair and S. Somanath (eds.), Introduction to Finite Element Analysis – A Textbook for Engineering Students, Springer, 2024