Aerospace Engineering

Research » Aerospace Engineering

Research Activities

Research activities in the Department of Aerospace Engineering are in the form of both academic and sponsored research. The latter is mainly utilized to upgrade laboratory research equipment and facilities. Industrial consultancy is also typically research-based (RBIC). Research projects worth nearly 10 Crore Rupees have been undertaken by our faculty in the last 6-7 years, including the project under the FIST Scheme of DST. The faculty members of this department have also actively participated in the CFD Centre set up with DST support a few years ago.

Topics

Specific topics of research currently engaged in by our faculty within the above areas of their interests are

  • Computational fluid dynamics and combustion
  • Vortex methods of fluid flow analysis
  • Large-eddy simulation of turbulence
  • Transonic and oscillatory flows
  • Jet mixing and impingement
  • Fuel injection strategies
  • Low-density flows
  • Shock waves and hypervelocity flows
  • Acoustic waves and their propagation
  • Combustion and combustion instabilities
  • Supersonic combustion
  • Optical flow and combustion diagnostics
  • Solid propellant combustion
  • Nano-aluminium production & combustion
  • Structural Mechanics and analysis
  • Analysis of plates and shells
  • Composite structures
  • Fatigue and fracture mechanics
  • Fretting fatigue
  • Contact mechanics

Laboratories

Broadly, there are six laboratories

  • Gas Dynamics (GD) Laboratory
  • Rarefied Gas Dynamics (RGD) Laboratory
  • Combustion and Flow Diagnostics (CFD) Laboratory
  • Rockets and Missiles (R&M) Laboratory
  • Structures Laboratory
  • Computers and Fluids Laboratory (CFL)The CFL houses a host of computers for numerical studies.
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Facilities

The following facilities are develop to undertake the research in the above topics

  • Supersonic wind tunnel
  • Self-correcting transonic wind tunnel
  • Oscillatory flow test rig
  • Supersonic free jet facilities
  • Combustion-driven shock tube/shock tunnel
  • PLIF and PIV
  • Fluid energy mill
  • Solid propellant strand burner
  • Composite solid propellant processing facility
  • Slotted burner with acoustic drivers
  • Dump/bluff-body combustors with optical access
  • Supersonic combustion facility
  • Erosive burning test facility
  • Moire (interferometry, holography) image processing facility
  • 10 T Fatigue testing machine, 5 Ton UTM
  • Rarefied gas dynamics facility
  • Phase Doppler particle analyzer (PDPA)
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Findings

The following is a collage of the significant findings by our faculty in recent years

 

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Formulation of composite solid propellants with multiple regimes of plateau burning rates over a wide pressure range

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Oscillatory studies on laminar premixed flame
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Three-dimensional simulation of flame spreading over thin solid fuels in microgravity environment

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Heating on the base of a sphere cone-flare model in the hypersonic shock tunnel.
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PIV of swirl flow from a gas turbine swirler

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Computation of Incompressible flow past a circular cylinder - vorticity contours
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Flow field of injection behind a wedge in combustor duct- schlieren pictures

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Contact problems and fretting fatigue friction coefficient studies: variation along contact length,
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Quantitative information on mixing of supersonic streams using Mie scattering

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Contact problems and fretting fatigue friction coefficient studies: evolution with number of cycles
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Glow discharge picture of a low density freejet

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Warped normal of thick laminate