Mathematical modelling

Battery pack design for an e-scooter, drone or EV is very interesting problem. With the new e-scooter boom in the market and pending EV boom in India, the need for battery pack design engineers is destined to grow. A battery pack design requires deeper understanding of the workings of a li-ion battery along with their dynamics in a group of batteries. This work consist of both simulation and experimental component.

Turbulent, dense fluid-particle flows are commonly encountered in engineering processes such as in air jet mills as well as terrestrial and extra-terrestrial phenomena, e.g., bedload sediment transport, movement of sand dunes, impingement of jets on planetary surfaces. High speed fluid flows on dense beds are complex in nature because of the coupling between the fluid and solid phases.

In this project, the aim is to understand quantitatively the molecular elasticity of biopolymers with potential engineering applications. The first example is Spider Dragline Silk, which may be several times stronger than steel (after normalizing the density). The work involves experimental, computational and theoretical analyses of the molecular structure of the biopolymer system.

We develop useable, closed form, but accurate molecular models as well as elasticity relationships for real polymers, incorporating structural aspects.

The applications include synthetic as well as high performance Bio-sourced polymers.

Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) offers a way to determine and quantify the transport and kinetic processes occurring in energy storage and conversion systems such as Li-ion batteries, fuel cells and electrolyzer. EIS is a powerful technique that helps in quantifying the various transport and kinetic resistances hampering the performance of the said systems. Apart from that, health monitoring of batteries and fuel cells (estimating the remaining life and capacity fade) has become very critical for enabling e-mobility.

The Himalayan glaciers are a source of fresh water for millions. So the possibility of them retreating, given the accelerated pace of climate change, is a dire one. Moreover, the melting of the glaciers could translate into a rise in flash floods. Predicting the behaviour of glaciers, however, is a difficult task, due to a dearth of data (although recent campaigns have been launched to remedy this) and a lack of fundamental understanding of the mechanics of glacial flows.

Nanoparticles show new and interesting properties different from bulk materials due to their extremely small size (diameter), large specific surface area and spatial anisotropy. It is thus critical to understand the variables that control its synthesis, leading to a desired application. Control of mean nanoparticle size, particle size distribution and specially, anisotropic particle shapes is the first step in many of these applications, involving enhanced adsorption and reaction rates.