Alternative Fuel combustionRenewable and alternative fuels for aviation have advantages of lesser emissions and clean burning ability. This project involves modeling the oxidation of these fuels using a representative mixture. Theoretical in nature, the research focus is on identifying such a suitable mixture and arriving at a kinetic scheme to predict the fuel's combustion behavior from a fundamental approach. This opens up avenues to study several `drop-in alternatives' to current day aviation fuels.Pre-requisiteStrong desire to pick up combustion kinetics concepts (no prior familiarity is required) |
Reduced Reaction Models For CombustionReaction mechanisms that describe the oxidation of a fuel are huge with several thousands of individual steps. While using them in computations, compact representations of these schemes are essential. This project involves developing a black box tool to reduce reaction mechanisms based on existing ideas as the first step. Improvements will be suggested to existing methods, their pros and cons will be evaulated, and the perfect order in which they must be applied to achieve best results will be investigated.Pre-requisitePenchant for writing stand-alone codes and interest in combustion |
Optimization in CombustionThe progress rates of individual steps in the oxidation of fuels are uncertain. In combustion studies, optimized models are arrived at by taking these uncertainties into account. This project involves developing a black box tool to optimize reaction schemes based on existing ideas to begin with. A starting point will be the in-house code -- Reaction mechanism optimization. Improvements will be suggested to existing methods to achieve reduced computational cost as well ensure physical meaning in the optimized models.Pre-requisitePenchant for writing stand-alone codes and interest in combustion |
Biodiesel CombustionBiodiesel is being increasingly used in combination with diesel fuel in CI engines because of being renewable and resulting in reduced emissions. This project focuses on a fundamental study to identify the importance of different constituents in biodiesel and thereby develop a kinetic model to describe its oxidation. This opens up options to study blends of biodiesel with diesel fuel as well.Pre-requisiteStrong desire to pick up combustion kinetics concepts (no prior familiarity is required) |