Thamasha Samarasinghe Successfully Defends her PhD Thesis

NSIRC Alumna Thamasha Samarasinghe IMechE Announces that she has Defended her PhD Thesis

Thamasha Samarasinghe has successfully defended her PhD Thesis on the design and development of composite panels with variable thermal conductivity for Li-ion battery modules.

Her industry-focused PhD research work focused on developing a composite casing for passive cooling of battery elements, which is a cost-effective, lightweight and novel structural case for battery elements.

Thamasha's research aimed to develop a composite casing that will have variable thermal conductivity, depending on the volume fraction of carbon fibres and other conductive elements, which could increase the performance of battery elements while minimising temperature extrusions outside a desired temperature range.

Posting about the news on LinkedIn, Thamasha said, "It's been an incredible four-year journey filled with challenges, breakthroughs, and invaluable support from my supervisory team, colleagues, mentors, friends, and family. I'm deeply grateful for each and every individual who has been part of this transformative experience."

A chartered engineer, Thamasha joined the Brunel Composites Centre (BCC) after completing her PhD research, and today works for AIE (Advanced Innovative Engineering Ltd) in the UK as a Design Analysis Engineer.

Thamasha's PhD journey began after graduating from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka with a BSc (Hons) degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2016. She completed her MPhil degree in Engineering from the University of Liverpool, UK in 2019 before joining the NSIRC Industrial PhD programme under the supervision of Dr. Mihalis Kazilas, Brunel University London, and Dr. Stuart Lewis, a Technology Expert at TWI Ltd. Funding for Thamasha's PhD studentship was provided by Lloyd's Register Foundation.

Thamasha has gone on to published several papers, including her work on the development of an automated microscopic imaging system for TB screening at the Electrical Engineering Conference (EECon) 2016, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. She has also published a paper on airflow resistance measurements between room temperature and 800℃ at the 23rd International Congress of Acoustics (ICA) 2019, in Aachen, Germany.

Another publication includes her work on thermal and heat transfer modeling of Lithium-Ion Battery Module during the Discharge Cycle; COMSOL Conference 2020, in Grenoble, France. Thamasha's MPhil thesis from 2019 was titled, 'Airflow resistivity measurement of alkaline earth silicate materials between room temperature and 800°C.'

Thamasha has an active LinkedIn profile that you can find to connect with her. You can also find out more about the industry-led PhD research taking place at NSIRC by visiting the Our Research page.