Full-size steel lattice towers, the kind that carry high-voltage power lines, are load-tested in a former granite quarry at Tirusulam, opposite Chennai airport. That yard is the Tower Testing and Research Station of CSIR-SERC, the Structural Engineering Research Centre, a national laboratory whose main campus sits in the Taramani institutional area.
The centre is one of the laboratories of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. The Government of India’s science and technology portal lists its founding year as 1965 and its address as Taramani, Chennai 600113. It turned 60 in 2025, and it now trains PhD students, licenses technologies and tests structures for both government and private builders.
From Roorkee to Taramani
SERC’s own list of former directors starts with Prof. G.S. Ramaswamy, whose term began on 8 December 1965 and ran to the end of 1976. Twelve directors and acting heads have followed. The present Director is Dr N. Anandavalli, who is listed as head on the centre’s website and on the national portal.
At the Diamond Jubilee function on 10 June 2025, the director’s presentation traced the centre’s move from Roorkee to Chennai, according to a Dinamalar Kalvimalar report on the event. The same report said a visiting L&T research head credited SERC with introducing ferrocement and high-strength deformed steel bars into Indian practice. Two books were released that day, one a compendium of 60 SERC technologies, and the centre opened a small 3D-printed concrete building on campus, called the ConStruct 3D PrintPod.
The centre has published the Journal of Structural Engineering since 1973, according to its home page.
What the Taramani labs actually do
The About page describes SERC as a clearing house of knowledge on how structures are designed and built. In practice its work falls into four kinds of service: applied research, repair and rehabilitation advice, design consultancy (including proof checking of other engineers’ designs), and short courses for working engineers. Its clients are central and state governments and public and private sector companies.
Research is grouped into six areas:
- structural health monitoring and extending the life of ageing structures
- disaster mitigation, covering earthquakes, wind and man-made hazards
- advanced materials for sustainable structures
- special and multi-functional structures
- energy infrastructure
- offshore structures
Ten laboratories support that work. Among them are an advanced concrete testing lab, a fatigue and fracture lab, a steel structures lab, a wind engineering lab, a seismic testing lab called ASTaR, a protective structures lab and a structural health monitoring lab. The centre says it is certified under ISO 9001.
The tower testing yard near the airport
The Tower Testing and Research Station was set up in 1984, the centre says, inside a horseshoe-shaped old quarry at Tirusulam. The quarry walls give a natural, enclosed arena; photographs on the centre’s page show ram stations, test pads, load cells and hydraulic pumps used to pull towers under controlled loads. SERC describes the facility as among the leading ones of its kind in the world. It does not publish a list of clients or a count of towers tested, so treat claims you see elsewhere with care.
The station is headed by a senior scientist and runs as a working test site, not a public attraction. Any request to see it should go through the main Taramani office.
Courses, admissions and student visits
SERC is a centre of the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), so it can register PhD scholars. Its home page currently carries a notice for PhD and integrated dual degree admissions for the January 2027 session. Recent short courses listed there include an advanced course on fatigue life and fracture behaviour held from 9 to 11 September 2026.
Outreach is handled under CSIR’s JIGYASA programme, with technical visits for colleges, internships and an Atal Tinkering Lab link listed on the site. Colleges that want a visit should write to the centre well ahead; there is no walk-in visitor programme. Recruitment notices for technical posts, including answer keys for written tests held on 24 and 30 August 2026, are also posted on the home page, which is the only reliable place to check them.
Sixty years in brief
The 2025 jubilee also served as a reunion. Former directors and 80 retired staff were honoured, and Prof. U. Kamachi Mudali, Vice Chancellor of the Homi Bhabha National Institute, gave the G.S. Ramaswamy Memorial Lecture on corrosion in structures, calling for a national corrosion management policy. In 2026 the centre picked up two awards at the 17th CIDC Vishwakarma Awards, according to its home page. For a city that builds flyovers, metro viaducts and coastal structures in salty air, corrosion and health monitoring are the parts of SERC’s work most likely to touch daily life.
Quick answers
Where is CSIR-SERC in Chennai?
The main campus is in Taramani, Chennai 600113, among the city’s cluster of research institutions. The tower testing station is separate, at Tirusulam opposite the airport.
Can the public visit CSIR-SERC?
Not casually. Group visits for students are arranged through its outreach programme; individuals should contact the centre first.
Does SERC check private building designs?
It offers design consultancy and proof checking on a paid basis, mainly to government agencies and companies. Homeowners usually need a licensed structural engineer instead.
How do I contact the director’s office?
The national portal lists 044-22542139 and director@serc.res.in.
Information checked against official sources on 18 October 2026. Fees, dates and rules can change; confirm on the linked official pages before acting.
Sources
- About CSIR-SERC (CSIR-Structural Engineering Research Centre)
- CSIR-Structural Engineering Research Centre: key facts (India Science and Technology portal, Government of India)
- Tower Testing & Research Station (CSIR-SERC)
- Former Directors (CSIR-SERC)
- CSIR-SERC home page and notices (CSIR-SERC)
- CSIR-SERC celebrates Diamond Jubilee (Dinamalar Kalvimalar)
