The project aims at establishing a unified framework, currently lacking in the literature, to bridge the fragmented understanding of interfacial rheology in particle-stabilized emulsions and foams—spanning both introduced colloidal systems (such as silica and polystyrene) and in situ crystallizing species (such as monoglycerides and proteins).
The project aims at developing innovative, energy-efficient methodologies—currently lacking in optimized pipeline management—for the electrohydrodynamic remediation and prevention of wax blockages in crude oil transport. Building on fundamental research demonstrating that electric fields can break down wax networks into low-viscosity fluids to restore flowability, the candidate will investigate the precise mechanisms governing electric field interactions with paraffinic microstructures.
The net-zero transition requires carbon capture followed by sequestration or utilization (also known as CCUS). The transition must be carefully planned, considering the future carbon emission trends as well as the potential improvements in the capture, sequestration, and utilization technologies. Moreover, the net greenhouse gas reduction benefits will depend on the simultaneous changes in the energy production technologies (such as power plants) and the associated systems.
In this project, the interest is in understanding how active ingredients (whether a drug or a nutraceutical molecule) can be loaded in a gel-like capsule or in some similar platform (like a bead or a tablet), in a controlled manner.
The objective is to achieve controlled release of the active molecule from the capsule and from other substrates of interest, so as to maximize their concentration in the body.
Spiral air jet mills are widely used for grinding particles to a product size of 5-10 microns. The mill comprises a short cylindrical geometry with tangential air jets. Material is continuously fed to the mill and exits from a central opening. The grinding is done by high speed jets (larger than 100 m/s), and the mill has no moving parts. Further, the centrifugal motion in the mill results in simultaneous grinding and classification, with fine particles flowing out of the system once they become smaller than the cut size.
This work will investigate in detail, how wind-generated ocean waves arise, become rough and eventually break using theoretical and compuational (CFD) models. We also plan to collaborate with wave modelling groups in India / France towards this.
The vast majority of flows in our daily experience are turbulent and yet we see patterns all around us. Ordered arrays of cloud streets, (turbulent) wind-driven waves with distinct wavelengths, and---for a more exotic example---Jupiter's red spot all testify to the ability of ordered patterns to arise and persist amidst turbulent fluctuations. How such large scale patterns emerge and persist is a fundamental open question; from a practical perspective, one would like to know how turbulent fluctuations affect the large-scale patterns.
This project will address problems involving fluid flow and mass transfer in the human body, specifically in the lungs and gut. We are interested in using mathematical models to understand how inhaled particles (allergens, pathogens, drugs) mix and spread through the lung airways, how nutrients are taken up by the intestines, and other similar biomedical problems. These questions require a multi scale modelling approach to deal with the wide range of spatial and temporal scales across which flows occur in the human body.
Bioenergy options, such as ethanol, compressed biogas (CBG), and biopower, are expected to play an important role in the future energy mix, considering their potential to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. However, biomass resources are limited and seasonally available. Moreover, the availability of biomass is increasingly impacted by climate change. Therefore, it is essential to plan a biomass utilization strategy for bioenergy, considering these complexities. The objective of this project would be to use an optimization framework to answer these questions.
Turbulent, dense fluid-particle flows are commonly encountered in engineering and natural process, transport of suspensions in chemical and pharmaceutical industries, bed load 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. Most of the studies, reported in the literature have focused either dilute phase turbulent flows or dense phase solid system with laminar flows.