Many engineering systems like land-operated gas turbine engines and rocket engines with combustion as the main source for power generation exhibit critical transitions to undesirable states. In a confined combustion system, there can be positive feedback between fluctuations in pressure from the sound waves and fluctuations in heat release rate, which can lead to the growth of pressure fluctuations and eventually lead to high amplitude periodic oscillations known as thermoacoustic instability. Thermoacoustic instability is an undesirable phenomenon that can cause structural failure, beset the thermal protection system, mangle the control system, and lead to catastrophic events such as the failure of space missions and shut down of gas turbine power plants. The thermoacoustic systems are often too intricate to perform a detailed investigation. But to expound the onset of thermoacoustic instability, determining the amplitude of periodic oscillations a description and analysis of nonlinear effects is necessary. Dynamical systems theory is a well-developed subject that describes the evolution of nonlinear (and even linear) systems. Hence, it makes perfect sense to adapt the concepts from dynamical systems theory to understand and examine the dynamics of thermoacoustic systems.
My research objective is to develop an understanding of the rate-dependent transitions in thermoacoustic systems which can increase the stable operating range of the engines and their reliability and use several early warning signals for safe operation in such complex systems.