Krishnakant Agrawal

PhD, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore

Research Interests: Turbulent reacting flows, Aero-acoustics, Combustion Dynamics

Contact: 011-2659 1145

Office Address:

Room No. III-359, Block 3, Department of Mechanical Engineering,

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi   110016

 

Research activities:

Combustion studies with primary target of reducing pollutant emissions and increasing fuel utilization efficiency. A multidisciplinary subject, combustion needs understanding of fluid mechanics (including turbulence and acoustics), heat and mass transfer, thermodynamics, chemical kinetics, multiphase phenomena etc. From a learners’ perspective such studies are quite involved and stimulating due to variety of topics as well as of experimental, numerical and analytical techniques. Practically, these studies are needed to solve issues with low air pollution and reduce overall fuel usage. This is important in present times with increasing growth in energy consumption, threats of global warming and environmental deterioration. Combustion finds its applications in power, transport, aerospace, manufacturing, and various process industries. Furthermore, it is commonly encountered in many domestic uses, buildings (space heating and cooling), agriculture and rural applications. A specific challenge, relevant for India, is to utilize locally derived fuels in local applications.

Currently, students are working on fundamental as well as conceptual design level studies in combustion predominantly using simulation techniques. Software as OpenFOAM, COMSOL, ANSYS-FLUENT, CONVERGE, CANTERA are being utilized for these purposes. Design and fabrication of an experimental combustion test rig is also in progress, which would allow experiments in turbulent flames in near future. Some simple experiments can be rigged in various laboratories of the Mechanical Engineering dept. Focus of industrial combustion studies is on turbulent lean premixed combustion and low temperature combustion strategies for reducing various air pollutants such as NOx and particulate matter. However, they require solving challenges with carbon-monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons emissions and combustion dynamics. Another focus area is on combustion studies relevant to rural applications and small and medium scale Indian industries.

Teaching:

MCL345 – Reciprocating IC engines – 1st semester (July-Nov 2018, 2019, will also be offering in 2020)

MCL818 – Heat, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning – 2nd semester (Jan-May 2019)

MCL343 – Introduction to Combustion - 2nd semester (Jan-May 2020)

Co-instructor in MCL321 – Automotive Systems - (Jan-May 2019, 2020)

 

Students:

PhD -1: Sandeep Lamba, working on ‘Fundamental mechanisms of carbon-monoxide production in unsteady flame scenario’, using OpenFOAM and CANTERA platform.

PhD -2: Satyam Jaiswal, working on ‘Testing of emerging industrial burner concepts for gas turbine applications in a turbulent combustion setup with tunable acoustics’.

M.Tech. -1:  Rohit Jiwane, working on ‘Design of a Tunable acoustics test rig setup for turbulent flame test setup’, using the COMSOL software and hand calculations.

M.Tech. -2:  Rahul Pandey, working on ‘Fuel-air mixing enhancement studies in a swirl based industrial burner’, using ANSYS-FLUENT platform.

M.Tech. -3: Himanshu Lal, working on ‘Development of reduced order thermodynamic models towards Digital twin of industrial chillers’, using hand-calculations, Python and R programming.

B.Tech. -1: Rajat Kharbanda and Rohit Kumar, studied ‘Spray injection behavior in intake manifold of a dual-fuel RCCI engine’ using ANSYS-FLUENT in 2018.

B.Tech. -2: Priyadarshan Jawanjal and Krishn Meena, studied ‘Simulation of Aeroacoutics of a multiple Cavity Based Noise source in corrugated pipes’ using ANSYS-FLUENT in 2019.

B.Tech. -3: Alok Kumar and Saurav Paikrao, studied ‘Experiments on Aeroacoutics of a corrugated pipes’ using air-flow test setup in 2019

B.Tech. -4: Saurabh Dhabu and Rishabh Jangid, studied ‘Shape optimization of an exhaust gas sampling probe for uniform multi-point distribution’ using ANSYS-FLUENT in 2019.

B.Tech -5: Swapnesh Agrawal and Divyansh Rana, studied ‘Design and Development of Forging Furnaces for Hand-tool Clusters’, using ANSYS-FLUENT in 2019. Also continuing the same in 2020.

B.Tech -6: Alok Kumar and Saurav Paikrao, working on ‘Design for Energy Efficiency in Jaggery making Furnaces for rural Indian applications’, using ANSYS-FLUENT in 2020.

B.Tech -7: Anmol, Subhashish and Satyam, working on ‘Designing of a fast circuit breaker for HVDC Applications’, using hand-calculations and COMSOL in 2020.

Future interests or projects in pipeline:

-          Multiphase CFD simulations of Diesel engine combustion chamber targeting low NOx and soot emissions

-          Combined heating, cooling and power (CHCP) solutions for Indian economy. This would also use many concepts from the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning) discipline

-          Combustion in propulsion (aerospace) applications

 

Note for Students applying for internships:

1) It might be difficult to reply to requests immediately, so feel free to send a reminder.

2) I would not be able to sponsor your visit and stay at present. For funded internship, kindly visit IIT Delhi website, for call for such applications.

3) Before sending mail, please check if any of the above research interests of mine resonates with yours.

4) I am open to utilizing various online collaboration tools