I was an engineering major, who enjoyed math and was fascinated by fluid mechanics, so by the time I needed to pick a research area, it had become fairly apparent that the natural merger of these interests was Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).
I was first introduced to CFD in my junior year of undergraduate study by Dr. Somnath Roy, Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Patna. I was intrigued to learn more about the capabilities of this tool and learnt of its applications in numerous fields including those related to multi-phase flows and numerical modelling using Large Eddy Simulation (LES) in flame stabilization applications.
I initially started working on Fluent, a commercial CFD tool and later graduated to using Parallel processing methods using HPC systems. Under Dr.Roy's guidance I worked on the numerical modelling of the British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico region. Dr. Roy introduced me to basic CFD research and I tested the CFX flow solver Chem 3D on the single block system using Trygvasson's surface tracking approach for multi-phase fluid flows.
The following summer I took part in an internship at the TIER lab, Louisiana State University (LSU) where I continued my work on the BP problem and tested various developmental versions of the CFX solver (Chem 3D) besides visualizing data for a full scale ocean geometry under the guidance of Dr. Sumanta Acharya. During the intern, I also started working on the study of the shear flow instabilities using LES and I am currently investigating the nature of instability of planar counter current jets in dump geometries and their application to combustion/flame stabilization with a collaborator at LSU.
As part of the Space Generation Advisory Council's working group on orbital debris mitigation, I am doing a computer simulation of the propagation of an air vortex ring through the atmosphere from the sea level into Low Earth Orbits (LEO) using the Global Thermosphere Ionosphere Model (GITM) atmospheric model provided by the University of Michigan. This is based on a conceptual idea of using a low-altitude pulse generator to create a vortex ring which will intersect the path of the orbital debris to deorbit them.
Each time I work on something new, my appreciation on how engineering research works to solve the problems relevant to society grows. The impact of engineering is something that I realized first hand during my sophomore year when I worked on one of my most interesting and challenging project, NASA Lunabotics Mining Competition, where we designed and developed a solar powered low cost tele-robotic lunar excavation system. In the same summer, we took part in RASC AL Robo Ops ERO at Johnson Space Center, TX with University of Florida as the lead university under the guidance of Prof Mrinal Kumar (MAE) and two graduate students at UF. Working closely with a team from UF on this project certainly did help me in my decision to apply to the UF for my Graduate Study when the time came.
During the course of my undergraduate study, I have been more interested in the real world application of engineering than just abstract learning and hence I have tried to take part in research activities as much as I could. I have been very fortunate to have been guided by some outstanding scientists that have inspired me to take up research as the next step in my career.
Moving toward graduate school, I am interested in continuing my study of CFD and also the broader field of numerical analysis. The Thermal Sciences and Fluid Dynamics (TSFD) in MAE is home to several faculty with research interests that match closely with my own. Professor Balachandar comes to mind; and his research on multi-phase fluid flows is pioneering. In case of oil spills, the propagation of planar or axisymmetric releases of fluid is well understood; however, the more general case of releases of arbitrary shape is still unexplored. I would be very interested in working with Professor Balachandar on developing the numerical methods for computational approaches in this area. Professor Subrata Roy and his Applied Physics Research Group have also caught my attention with their work on modelling plasma dynamics. Although I have only scratched the surface of this topic, I would enjoy the opportunity to work on plasma dynamics and its numerical modelling in-depth.
My ultimate academic goal is to obtain a Ph.D. A Ph.D from UF would leave me well prepared for any postgraduate endeavors, be they academic or corporate. Although the latter is certainly a possibility, I am currently more interested in staying in academia. I have greatly enjoyed my research experiences so far, and the university atmosphere is unparalleled in industry. My focus on building strong fundamentals in math and fluids as an undergraduate has equipped me with a unique set of abilities to offer UF's TSFD graduate program. I have tried to ensure that I would be well prepared to pursue further, advanced work in the Ph.D. program studying computational methods, particularly in the domain of fluid mechanics.
I was first introduced to CFD in my junior year of undergraduate study by Dr. Somnath Roy, Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Patna. I was intrigued to learn more about the capabilities of this tool and learnt of its applications in numerous fields including those related to multi-phase flows and numerical modelling using Large Eddy Simulation (LES) in flame stabilization applications.
I initially started working on Fluent, a commercial CFD tool and later graduated to using Parallel processing methods using HPC systems. Under Dr.Roy's guidance I worked on the numerical modelling of the British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico region. Dr. Roy introduced me to basic CFD research and I tested the CFX flow solver Chem 3D on the single block system using Trygvasson's surface tracking approach for multi-phase fluid flows.
The following summer I took part in an internship at the TIER lab, Louisiana State University (LSU) where I continued my work on the BP problem and tested various developmental versions of the CFX solver (Chem 3D) besides visualizing data for a full scale ocean geometry under the guidance of Dr. Sumanta Acharya. During the intern, I also started working on the study of the shear flow instabilities using LES and I am currently investigating the nature of instability of planar counter current jets in dump geometries and their application to combustion/flame stabilization with a collaborator at LSU.
As part of the Space Generation Advisory Council's working group on orbital debris mitigation, I am doing a computer simulation of the propagation of an air vortex ring through the atmosphere from the sea level into Low Earth Orbits (LEO) using the Global Thermosphere Ionosphere Model (GITM) atmospheric model provided by the University of Michigan. This is based on a conceptual idea of using a low-altitude pulse generator to create a vortex ring which will intersect the path of the orbital debris to deorbit them.
Each time I work on something new, my appreciation on how engineering research works to solve the problems relevant to society grows. The impact of engineering is something that I realized first hand during my sophomore year when I worked on one of my most interesting and challenging project, NASA Lunabotics Mining Competition, where we designed and developed a solar powered low cost tele-robotic lunar excavation system. In the same summer, we took part in RASC AL Robo Ops ERO at Johnson Space Center, TX with University of Florida as the lead university under the guidance of Prof Mrinal Kumar (MAE) and two graduate students at UF. Working closely with a team from UF on this project certainly did help me in my decision to apply to the UF for my Graduate Study when the time came.
During the course of my undergraduate study, I have been more interested in the real world application of engineering than just abstract learning and hence I have tried to take part in research activities as much as I could. I have been very fortunate to have been guided by some outstanding scientists that have inspired me to take up research as the next step in my career.
Moving toward graduate school, I am interested in continuing my study of CFD and also the broader field of numerical analysis. The Thermal Sciences and Fluid Dynamics (TSFD) in MAE is home to several faculty with research interests that match closely with my own. Professor Balachandar comes to mind; and his research on multi-phase fluid flows is pioneering. In case of oil spills, the propagation of planar or axisymmetric releases of fluid is well understood; however, the more general case of releases of arbitrary shape is still unexplored. I would be very interested in working with Professor Balachandar on developing the numerical methods for computational approaches in this area. Professor Subrata Roy and his Applied Physics Research Group have also caught my attention with their work on modelling plasma dynamics. Although I have only scratched the surface of this topic, I would enjoy the opportunity to work on plasma dynamics and its numerical modelling in-depth.
My ultimate academic goal is to obtain a Ph.D. A Ph.D from UF would leave me well prepared for any postgraduate endeavors, be they academic or corporate. Although the latter is certainly a possibility, I am currently more interested in staying in academia. I have greatly enjoyed my research experiences so far, and the university atmosphere is unparalleled in industry. My focus on building strong fundamentals in math and fluids as an undergraduate has equipped me with a unique set of abilities to offer UF's TSFD graduate program. I have tried to ensure that I would be well prepared to pursue further, advanced work in the Ph.D. program studying computational methods, particularly in the domain of fluid mechanics.
