The internal combustion engine is one of the most influential inventions of the world economy. Conventional spark-ignition (SI) and diesel engines continue to show substantial improvements in efficiency, power, and degree of emission control. These improvements gain value due to global energy security demand and environmental awareness. My research covers wide and multi-disciplinary areas of internal combustion engines. This includes both (i) fundamental understanding of various in-cylinder processes (using optical engine diagnostics), and (ii) application of gaseous fuels (in particular) in both SI and diesel engines with emphasis on stationary application (including modern combustion strategies). My research group utilizes both experimental and modeling/simulation approaches to investigate engine and engine components for the improvement of fuel economy and reduction of exhaust emissions. With my background in electrical engineering, our group is, now, also involved in modeling of electric and hybrid powertrain systems and their components, including real time data acquisition of electric vehicles and performance analysis.
To enable these studies, our group has developed/ focused on following broad areas:
Developed a (patented) fuel flexible (gaseous) spark-ignition engine test facility which could be operated under desired composition of gaseous fuels for clean energy (with emphasis on stationary application) - This setup is used for the investigation of safe engine operating limits, where low operating load is limited by cycle-to-cycle combustion variations and high operating load is limited by engine knocking or pre-ignition.
Established a (patented) common-rail direct-inject diesel engine test facility with flexibility to control fuel injection timing, duration and number of injections - This setup is capable of operating the engine under diesel, dual-fuel and low temperature combustion modes with desired composition of gaseous fuel as the primary fuel.
Developed small-bore optical engines (both PFI and DI types) for two- and three-wheeler applications (in collaboration with our industrial partner) - These setups are used for conducting flow, fuel distribution and combustion studies for fundamental understanding of complex in-cylinder processes.
Developed a small-bore gasoline direct-injection engine for three-wheeler application.
It is also important to incorporate modeling and simulation efforts with experiments, hence we have developed in-house zero- and one-dimensional models of engine and engine components, and also use commercial code (i.e. CONVERGE CFD) for multi-dimensional numerical simulations.
Current Research Scholars:
PhD Scholars
Velugula Ravi (me19d407) (2019b - Present) (co-guided by Prof. A Ramesh, IITM) (TSA), Nadeem Abdul Hameed (me19d047) (2020a - Present) (S1), Pradeev Elango (ME20D009) (2021a - Present) (with Prof. A Ramesh, IITM) (S2), Penmatsa Sandeep Varma (me20d023) (2021a - Present) (S1), Kartheeswaran A (me20d028) (2021a - Present) (co-guided by Dr. TNC Anand, IITM) (S1), Pradeep Menon (ME20D035) (2021a - Present) (RPM), Kislay Kishore (me21d026) (2021b-Present) (RPM), Bhavsar Divyakumar Ashit (me21d053) (2022a-Present) (S1), Priyank Gupta (ME22D064) (2022b-Present) (RPM), Soumyanil Nayek (me22d054) (2023a-Present) (RPM).
MS Scholars
Bundele Hiresh Vijay (me18s029) (2018b- Present), Gobinda Sardar (me23s024) (2023b-Present), Debraj Ghosh (me25s039) (2025b-Present).
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Graduated Students:
PhD Scholars:
(1) Sachin Kumar Gupta (ME15D062), PhD degree (2020)
Topic: Experimental and Computational Studies of Engine Characteristics Including Operating Limits of a Biogas-Fueled Spark-Ignition Stationary Engine.
(i) Awarded with International Travel Support from SERB, India to attend the 12th Asia-Pasific Conference on Combustion (ASPACC-2019), Fukuoka, Japan, (ii) Recipient of Institute Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, (iii) Selected for Institute Research Award 2019-2020, (iv) Accepted post-doctoral position at IIT Delhi.
(2) Jubin V. Jose (ME15D054), PhD degree (2023) (with Prof. A Ramesh, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Madras)
Topic: Experimental and Numerical Studies on the Development of a Small Bore GDI Engine.
(i) Selected for Institute Research Award 2022-2023, (iv) Accepted employment at M/s Caterpillar Inc., Bengaluru.
(3) Velugula Ravi (ME19D407), PhD degree (2025) (Co-guided by Prof. A Ramesh, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Madras)
Topic: Design and Development of a Small-Bore Gasoline Direct-Injection Optical Engine, and Investigation of In-cylinder Flow.
(i) Accepted employment for the post of Assistant Professor at Dayananda Sagar University, Karnataka.
MS (by research) Scholars:
(1) Adatrao Sagar Suresh (ME15S018), MS degree (2018)
Topic: Distortion Analysis, and Error Estimation in the Calibration Procedure for Engine Flow Diagnostics.
(i) Awarded with DAAD (= German Academic Exchange Service) scholarship for internship at Bundeswehr University Munich (German: Universität der Bundeswehr München), Germany, (ii) Accepted the PhD program at TU Delft, Netherlands.
(2) Priyabrata Mohapatra (ME15S025), MS degree (2019)
Topic: A Simplified One-Dimensional Mathematical Model to Study the Transient Thermal Behavior of an Oxidation Catalyst for Dual-Fuel Engine Application.
(i) Accepted employment at M/s. Royal Enfield, Chennai.
(3) Saurabh Sanjay Sadafale (ME15S081), MS degree (2020)
Topic: Phenomenological Modeling and Experiments to Investigate the Combustion and Emission Characteristics of a CRDI Diesel Engine.
(i) Completed an internship at the Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Japan from February 12 to March 10, 2018 (financially supported by the STSI Program), (ii) Accepted employment at M/s. Bajaj Auto Limited.
(4) Sreeharsh Nair (ME17S005), MS degree (2020)
Topic: Mathematical Modeling Including Transient Conversion Characteristics of a Diesel Oxidation Catalyst.
(i) Accepted employment at M/s. Mahindra & Mahindra Limited.
(5) Pradeep Menon (ME15S010), MS degree (2021)
Topic: A Computational Study to Investigate the Combustion and Emission Characteristics of a Small Diesel Engine Through In-Cylinder Strategies.
(i) Employed at M/s. Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, (ii) Accepted the PhD program at IIT Madras.
(6) Shubham Garg (ME16S041), MS degree (2021) (co-guided by Dr. Srikrishna Sahu)
Topic: PLIF Imaging of Fuel Distribution in a Small Port-Fuel-Injection Spark-Ignition Engine using Planar Laser-Induced Fluorescence.
(i) Selected for the PhD program at University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, (ii) Accepted employment at M/s Renault Nissan Automotive India Pvt. Ltd.
(7) Afaque Alam (ME17S079), MS degree (2022)
Topic: PIV Data Acquisition and Analysis of Cycle-to-cycle Variations in a Small SI Engine at Different Throttle Openings.
(i) Accepted the PhD program at West Virginia University, Morgantown, USA.
(8) Soumyanil Nayek (ME19S017), MS degree (2022)
Topic: Outlier Detection and Correction for In-cylinder Engine Flow Fields and Cycle-to-cycle Variation Analysis using Quadruple Decomposition.
(i) Accepted the PhD program at IIT Madras, India.
(9) Prajwal R (ME19S012), MS degree (2022) (with Prof. A Ramesh)
Topic: Development of a pre-chamber ignition system for a small-bore automotive SI engine for ultra-lean operation using gasoline and neat methanol fuels.
(i) Accepted employment at M/s. Morgan Stanley, Mumbai.
(10) Ramesh KJ (ME14S201), MS degree (2023)
Topic: Ananlysis of combustion noise in a small common-rail direct-injection diesel engine.
(i) Employed at M/s. Kistler Instruments India Pvt. Ltd.
(11) Gaurav Anil Shinde (ME15S078), MS degree (2023)
Topic: In-cylinder flow analysis in a small spark-ignition engine at low throttle opening and low speed.
(i) Accepted employment at M/s Renault Nissan Automotive India Pvt. Ltd.
(12) Pratik Mondal (ME21S042), MS degree (2024)
Topic: State of charge estimation of lithium-ion batteries using deep learning techniques.
(i) Accepted employment at M/s Vantage Research.
(13) Chandra Kumar Chandrakar (ME20S025), MS degree (2024) (with Dr. S Varunkumar)
Topic: Zero-dimensional modeling of various in-cylinder phenomena of spark ignition engine.
(i) Accepted employment at M/s Lennox.
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MTech Students:
(1) Pradheep R (AT14M006), MTech degree (2016) (with Profs. Pramod S Mehta, and SR Chakravarthy)
Topic: Measuring Mixture Distribution in a PFI Engine using Planar Laser-Induced Fluorescence.
(2) V Balaji (AT14M010), MTech degree (2016) (co-guided by Profs. Pramod S Mehta, and SR Chakravarthy)
Topic: In-cylinder Crank Angle Resolved Flame Temperature Measurement in a Spark-Ignition Engine with Optical Access using Two-Colour Method.
(3) Rakesh Gohane (ME11B144), BTech and MTech (Dual degree) (2016)
Topic: A Numerical Study to Determine the Centroids of Circular Marks for Camera Calibration in Flow Diagnostic Techniques.
# Published his work in Proc. IEEE, International Conference on Computing, Analytics and Security Trends (CAST-2016), doi:10.1109/CAST.2016.7914959.
(4) Ashish Bisht (ME14M009), MTech degree (2016)
Topic: Evaluating the Influence of Fuel Injection Parameters on the Macroscopic Spray Characteristics of a GDI Engine at Different Operating Conditions.
# Published his work in Journal of Visualization, doi:10.1007/s12650-019-00559-4.
(5) Ali Ahammed Jasim (ME12B076), BTech and MTech (Dual degree) (2017)
Topic: In-Cylinder Flow Analysis using Proper Orthogonal Decomposition in a Spark-Ignition Engine Assembly.
# Published his work in SAE Powertrains, Fuels & Lubricants Meeting (2018), doi:10.4271/2018-01-1770.
(6) Sachin M George (ME16M035), MTech degree (2018)
Topic: Development of a Phenomenological Model for Studying the Performance, Combustion and Emission Characteristics of a Spark-Ignition Engine.
# Published his work in 12th Asia-Pacific Conference on Combustion (ASPACC-2019), Fukuoka, Japan, Paper Number-1203.
(7) Pramod Borado (ME16M059), MTech degree (2018)
Topic: Computational Study of a Spark-Ignition Engine Operating at Different Loads and Compression Ratios.
(8) Muhammad TP (ME16M088), MTech degree (2018)
Topic: Development of a Computational Fluid Dynamic Model of a Small Spark-Ignition Engine, Incorporating Boundary Conditions from 1-D Modeling Approach.
(9) Dola Pavan (ME14B081), BTech and MTech (Dual degree) (2019)
Topic: Analysis of Cycle-to-cycle Variations of Spray at Different Injection Pressures using Proper Orthogonal Decomposition.
# Published his work in Journal of Flow Visualization and Image Processing, doi:10.1615/JFlowVisImageProc.2021036244.
(10) Kamble Tushar (ME17M077), MTech degree (2019)
Topic: Installation of a CRDI Diesel Engine, and its Performance, Emission, Combustion and Noise Characteristics.
# Published his work in IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, doi:10.1088/1757-899X/912/4/042031.
(11) Nikhilraj PV (ME17M080), MTech degree (2019)
Topic: Analysis of Cycle-To-Cycle Combustion variations in a Spark-Ignition Engine Operating Under Gasoline and Biogas.
# Published his work in 12th Asia-Pacific Conference on Combustion (ASPACC-2019), Fukuoka, Japan, Paper Number-1434.
(12) Viswas Mohanan (ME17M082), MTech degree (2019)
Topic: Determining Optimum Spark Advance and Engine Emissions using Artificial Neural Network.
# Published his work in 12th Asia-Pacific Conference on Combustion (ASPACC-2019), Fukuoka, Japan, Paper Number-1334.
(13) Kamble Sumit Shalivahan (ME17M087), MTech degree (2019)
Topic: Development of a Phenomenological Model to Predict the Combustion Characteristics of a Common-Rail Direct-Injection (CRDI) Diesel Engine.
(14) Sanjeev Kumar (ME18M069), MTech degree (2020)
Topic: Development and Validation of a Simplified Model for Diesel and Dual-Fuel Combustion Modes in a CRDI Diesel Engine.
(15) Asteek Chauhan (ME18M082), MTech degree (2020)
Topic: Performance, Combustion and Emission Characteristics of a CRDI Diesel Engine at Different Loads Operating Under Dual-Fuel Mode.
(16) R Siva Subramanian (ME17M528), MTech degree (2021)
Topic: Dual Loop EGR System, Their Benefits in Emission and Fuel Consumption.
(17) Hemant Kumar Thakur (ME18M035), MTech degree (2021) (co-guided by Prof. A Ramesh)
Topic: CFD Studies on the Characteristics of a Small Bore GDI Engine Under Different Injection Strategies and Piston Geometries.
# Published his work in SAE International, doi:10.4271/2020-01-0286.
(18) Harikrishna B Yaduladoddi (ME19M040), MTech degree (2021)
Topic: Analysis of PIV In-cylinder Flow Data Using Proper Orthogonal Decomposition.
(19) Pranay Nirapure (ME20M035), MTech degree (2022)
Topic: Energy Management in Hybrid Electric Powertrain by Model-based Approach for Two-wheeler Applications using Matlab/ Simulink.
(i) Accepted the PhD program at Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, USA.
(20) Ashish Raghav (ME21M012), MTech degree (2023)
Topic: Determining Performance Characteristics of the Electric Vehicle and its Components.
(21) GJ Raaghav Rakshan (ME22M034), MTech degree (2024)
Topic: Development of a pre-chamber turbulent jet ignition system for a retrofitted SI engine fueled with methane by performing CFD studies.
(22) Rahul Aboo (ME23M048), MTech degree (2025)
Topic: Analysis of in-cylinder flow in a small-bore direct-injection optical engine: A numerical study.
(23) Sanket Kurli (ME23M055), MTech degree (2025)
Topic: Development of a pre-chamber turbulent jet ignition system for a retrofitted SI engine fueled with methane by performing experimental and CFD studies.
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Post-doctoral (or equivalent) Scholars:
Dr. Sachin Kumar Gupta (28/1/2020 to 27/7/2020), PhD from IIT Madras: Experimental and computational studies of biogas fuelled spark-ignition engine (supported by IPDF).
Dr. Srinibas Tripathy (7/12/2020 to 31/7/2021), PhD from IIT Kharagpur: Development of electro-magnetic variable valve actuation system for camless engine (supported by ERP).
Dr. Caneon Kurien (23/2/2021 to 03/01/2023), PhD from University of Petroleum and Energy Studies: Ammonia based combustion in engines (supported by IPDF).
Dr. Caneon Kurien (04/1/2023 to 05/10/2023), PhD from University of Petroleum and Energy Studies: Hydrogen energy based combustion engines (supported by NPDF).
Dr. Senthil Kumar P (03/10/2023 to 31/12/2024), PhD from IIT Madras: Development of HCNG fueled SI engine (supported by RBC).
Dr. Pradeep P (05/12/2024 to Present), PhD from Madras Institute of Technology, Chennai: Ammonia-diesel dual-fuel combustion in compression-ignition engine (supported by IPDF).
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Project staff:
# Karthikeyan R, Project Technician (01/03/2017 to 31/03/2018).
# Priyabrata Mohapatra, Project Associate (02/04/2018 to 31/05/2018).
# Sakthivel R, Project Associate (25/04/2018 to 10/06/2019).
# Karthikeyan R, Project Associate (29/10/2018 to 30/09/2019).
# Saurabh S Sadafale, Project Associate (01/11/2019 to 31/12/2019).
# Mithun Babu M, Project Associate (26/12/2019 to 10/10/2021).
# Sreeharsh Nair, Project Associate (01/01/2020 to 08/03/2020).
# Sreeharsh Nair, Project Associate (06/07/2020 to 31/01/2021).
# Subhasish Das, Project Associate (12/4/2021 to 15/5/2021).
# B Hiresh Vijay, Junior Research Fellow (01/04/2021 to 30/11/2021).
# Afaque Alam, Project Associate (02/08/2021 to 31/12/2021).
# Soumyanil Nayek, Junior Research Fellow (21/01/2022 to 31/12/2022).
# Sadhish Kumar M, Project Associate (October 3, 2023 to March 9, 2024).
# Chandra Kumar Chandrakar, Project Associate (April 1, 2024, to May 31, 2024).
# Sridhaar K, Project Trainee (May 6, 2024 to September 16, 2024).
# Velugula Ravi, PhD Research Scholar (Sept 20, 2024 to June 30, 2025).
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