Dusty Gas Flow Dynamics

My webpage link: https://home.iitk.ac.in/~aasheesh/

Computational modeling of dusty gas flows by developing an in-house particle based solver

Physics of plume surface interaction(PSI): PSI involves high-speed chemically reacting plumes interacting with a planetary surface. Near plume region behaves as a continuum. Under rarefied conditions, the continuum assumption is not valid farther away from plume; therefore, kinetic-based equations of motion are more applicable. For this work we are using only particle based methods in the whole domain. We are using DSMC for the plume flow and DEM for the granular particle flows and particle-particle interactions.

Obscure view of lunar surface as the Apollo 15 landers nears the lunar surface. The green rectangle outlines a crater. Adapted from (Immer, Lane, Metzger, & Clements, 2011
Plume Surface Interaction

Problems reported during Apollo landing: Obstruction to the pilot’s vision, degradation of thermal control surfaces, dust penetration into the vehicle, damage to solar cells and pressurized vessels, damaged astronaut’s suit, surveyor’s optical mirror(183 meteres from Apollo) was damaged due to the dust particles cast out by Appollo during descent

A schematic showing the various physical phenomena that arise when modeling plume impingement on dusty surfaces

1A. B. Morris, “Simulation of rocket plume impingement and dust dispersal on the lunar surface,” Ph.D. dissertation (The University of Texas at Austin, 2012).

Erosion flux variation along the lunar surface for hovering altitude of 4 m.

Chinnappan, A.K., Kumar, R., Arghode, V.K., 2021. Modeling of dusty gas flows due to plume impingement on a lunar surface. Physics of Fluids 33, 053307.

According to Apollo Astronaut John Young: “Dust is the number one concern in returning to the moon”

Aerospace Applications

Martian Entry of vehicle

Martian entry (due to suspended particles in the Martian environment): When a space shuttle enters into the martian environment it creates a bow shock and increases the heat flux which is the same mechanism as happens in the earth atmosphere as well. However, because of the presence of the suspended particles in the Martian atmosphere the heat flux will get increased. The suspended particles can change the flow behaviour such as shock standoff distance which intern affect the heat flux of the body.

Effect of Particle drag on another partical

Instantaneous snapshots from PR–DNS of a homogeneous suspension of particles. (a) Incompressible flow with flp/flf = 1000 showing fluid velocity (red: high, blue: low) (Lattanzi et al., 2021a). (b) Compressible flow past fixed spheres showing a 2D cross-section of the 3D flow highlighting fluid dilatation (black/white) and vorticity (red: positive, blue: negative) (Khalloufi, 2021).

Aasheesh Bajpai

  • Prime Minister Research Fellow at Aerospace Engineering Department, IIT Kanpur.

  • Affiliated with Non-Equilibrium Flow Simulation Laboratory, Aerospace Engineering Department, IIT Kanpur

  • M.tech in Cryogenic Engineering from Cryogenic Engineering Center, IIT Kharagpur.

  • Former member of PED Laboratory, Cryogenic Engineering Center, IIT Kharagpur

  • B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from Mechanical Engineering Department, AKGEC Ghaziabad [AKTU, Lucknow].

  • GATE 2016, 2017 qualified.

  • BARC written exam qualified in 2017

Research Interest

My current research area is 'Dusty Gas Flow Dynamics' in which we are doing ''Computational modeling of dusty gas flows by developing an in-house particle based solver''. The research work, based on molecular/particle based methods to develop/validate/perform dusty gas flow dynamics for applications such as planetary landing and beyond.

Previously I was working with Prof. Parthasarathi Ghosh at PED Lab at Cryogenic Engineering Centre, IIT Kharagpur where I was a part of development of the test rig towards experimental investigation of Reverse Brayton Cryocooler used for cooling of High Temperature Superconductors. The objective of this work is to build a laboratory scale reverse Brayton cryocooler to generate performance data at different operating conditions.

Advisor information

Prof. Rakesh K. Mathpal

Non-equilibrium Flow Simulation (NFS) LaboratoryDepartment of Aerospace EngineeringIndian Institute of Technology KanpurKanpur, India 208016Tel : (91) 512 259 6301(Office)Email : rkm@iitk.ac.in

Educational Qualification

  • Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 2007-2011.
  • M.Tech., Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, 2001-2003.
  • B.Tech., Mechanical Engineering, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, 1997-2001.

Professional Experience

  • Associate Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Kanpur, 2018-to date
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Kanpur, 2012-2018
  • Post Doctoral Researcher, The Pennsylvania State University, 2011.
  • Research Scientist, Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, ISRO, 2003-2007
Resume_for_PMRF_FORM (1).pdf


Curriculum Vitae-Aasheesh Bajpai

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Az-hhwPgPx-WdO79unu_ejpnhe1kUiOZ/view?usp=sharing

Course work during PHD

  • HEAT TRANSFER IN AEROSPACE APPLICATIONS

  • AERODYNAMICS II

  • ACOUSTICS IN FLUIDS

  • ADVANCED THEORY OF TURBOMACHINERY

Details of the research Project

The research work, based on molecular/particle based methods to develop/validate/perform dusty gas flow dynamics for applications such as planetary landing and beyond. The code that needs to be developed for dusty gas flows is by coupling the in-house flow solver with yet to be developed discrete element method (DEM) solver. The method used to solve the non-equilibrium flow encountered in the high speed aerothermodynamic environment is particle-based method called Direct Simulation Monte Carlo method (DSMC). The present in-house DSMC code called Non-equilibrium Flow Solver (NFS) will be used for the required task. The scalability of the in-house NFS code is reported in our published article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compfluid.2017.10.006. A fully functional solver would help to perform efficient real-time dusty gas flow dynamics during planetary landing and modelling of other geo-physical situations such as avalanches and landslides etc.

PMRF Teaching Duties

  • I have done a teaching assistantship under Prof. Raj Ganesh S. Pala for ESO-202: Thermodynamics (Jan21- May21)


  • I have done a teaching assistantship under Prof. Rakesh Kumar for AE451A: Experiments In Aerospace Engineering (July21-Nov21)


  • Guided one student for her summer internship (June21-July21)

  • Judged Kendriya Vidyalaya students in 28th NCSC, 2021


  • Prepared lectures on youtube for Introduction to Thermodynamics for HBTU, Kanpur students and also for the general public


  • Offered live sessions on NPTEL in Jan 2022 semester as part of PMRF work (Feb22 - April22), 8 Weeks for "Introduction To Programming In C"