SHREYAS KOTIAN

Graduate Student Researcher

Graduate Student Researcher

• • The first part governs the ignition of fuel droplets at elevated pressures for petroleum-based and biofuels. Experiments are further divided into normal gravity and zero gravity cases. Characteristics such as soot, soot shell, flame, droplet, and incandescence are examined using high-speed cameras also. • The second part of the study concerns with the ignition method of fuels. One is using spark electrodes and the other is by placing heated coils in close proximity. • Current study will investigate the range of variables for ignition including energy and duration to the ignition system and geometrical proximities of the energy source to the droplets and oxidizer concentration in the high-pressure chamber where actual ignition occurs.

Teaching Assistant

Researcher

• • Goal of the present study is to investigate how the dimples on golf balls help in reducing drag as compared to a ball with no depressions on it. PIV technique was used for the same. • It is a well-known fact that the use of dimples on golf balls helps in reducing drag and maximizing range. Dimples cause the boundary layers to break which causes the fluid streamlines to lose their energy. In order to compensate for that it borrows energy from the surrounding air thus making the flow turbulent and allowing the streamline to complete its path. • The result of this is that the region of eddies and wakes gets smaller in size as the point of flow separation moves further downstream. • In the following study both a golf ball and a ping pong ball were studied in a flow of approximately 1 m/s corresponding to Re = 30,000. Using PIV 1500 image pairs were captured to get an estimate of the flow field which was then used to find the drag coefficient using the control volume technique. • It was found that the Cd value for the ping pong ball turned out to be 0.877 which is higher than the Cd value for the golf ball which was 0.795.

Research Intern

• • Telescopic span morphing has been observed to augment the endurance of UAV’s by increasing lift to drag ratio while maintaining performance in other mission segments such as take-off, climb, and landing. • Interest of the study was to perform wing morphing on the Northrop Grumman RQ-4A Global Hawk and analyze how span extension affects variables like range, endurance, and drag. • Estimate up to what extent wing span extension is feasible subsequently giving maximum endurance. • In recent years, UAV’s and drones have been proposed to monitor weather conditions. With climate change being in the forefront it is essential that the weather is monitored so that calamities are prevented. Thus, based on the results obtained from the analysis of the Global Hawk, propose a design for a HALE UAV for coastal surveying.

Teacher

• • Interning as a teacher of Mathematics for the students in the US. • Roles and responsibilities include presenting lessons in a comprehensive manner through the e-learning platform. • Promote student interaction, strengthen their basics and help them realize the importance of the subject not only for their curriculum but also in the daily world.

Physics and Mathematics Teaching Assistant

• • Responsibilities include tutoring students in the field of Mathematics and Physics so that they get the essence of the subject and also realize how these subjects dictate things around us. • Make the students believe that these subjects can not be mastered by rote learning, but by conceptual clarity combined with practical application.

Summer Research Intern

• • This industry project was focused at gaining an insight into an ice manufacturing plant and finding out about various parameters like the energy consumption per ton, cooling load and refrigeration load on the chiller. • Suggest methods for the reduction in energy consumption with one way being the use of pre-chilled water.

Summer Intern

• • The setup of a Single Shell Two Tube Pass Heat Exchanger was theoretically analyzed at various hot fluid inlet temperatures, mass flow rates and various parameters such as outlet temperature of fluids, heat transfer coefficient, effectiveness and NTU were found out for the heat exchanger. • The graphs plotted between the various performance parameters were compared with the contours obtained from the CFD analysis on ANSYS Fluent.

Research Assistant

• • Estimating the ratio of the discharge of the cold fluid into the Gasketed Plate Type Heat Exchanger to the hot fluid to get the maximum heat transfer. • Further investigate parameters such as pressure drop, heat transfer coefficient and also conduct exergy analysis. Estimate the exergy loss due to the hot and the cold fluid and also find out the exergetic efficiency.

Research Intern

Teaching Assistant

• Took sessions for 2 months in one of the schools teaching the subjects of Mathematics and Mental Ability to help the students lagging in academics to perform well in their school exams as well as competitive exams.