We use theory, computation, and data-driven methods to investigate and manipulate the dynamics of complex fluids and soft materials relevant to energy, biomedical, and environmental applications.

About PI

Manish Kumar

The Complex Fluids DS-CFD Lab is led by Dr. Manish Kumar, Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur under guidance of Prof. Suman Chakraborty, his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University working with Prof. Arezoo M. Ardekani, and completed his postdoctoral training with Prof. Michael D. Graham in Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and with Prof. Jonathan B. Freund in the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His selected honors include the Future of Rheology Excellent Speaker Award (2025), Trailblazers in Engineering Fellow (2024), Society of Engineering Science Future Faculty Award (2023), Society of Rheology Best Poster Award (2021), Ross Fellow (2017), Sikharini Nag Memorial Award (2017), and DAAD Fellow (2016).

Selected publications

M. Kumar, C. R. Constante-Amores, and M. D. Graham, “Elastoinertial turbulence: Data-driven reduced-order model based on manifold dynamics,” Journal of Fluid Mechanics (Rapids), vol. 1007, p. R1, Mar. 2025. Doi: 10.1017/jfm.2025.130
M. Kumar and M. D. Graham, “Nested travelling wave structures in elastoinertial turbulence," Journal of Fluid Mechanics, vol. 993, p. A8, Aug. 2024. Doi: 10.1017/jfm.2024.597
M. Kumar, J. S. Guasto, and A. M. Ardekani, “Lagrangian stretching reveals stress topology in viscoelastic flows,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 120, no. 5, Jan. 2023. Doi:10.1073/pnas.2211347120
M. Kumar, D. M. Walkama, J. S. Guasto, and A. M. Ardekani, “Flow-induced buckling dynamics of sperm flagella,” Physical Review E, vol. 100, no. 6, p. 063107, Dec. 2019. Doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.100.063107
M. Kumar, S. Aramideh, C. A. Browne, S. S. Datta, and A. M. Ardekani, “Numerical investigation of multistability in the unstable flow of a polymer solution through porous media,” Physical Review Fluids, vol. 6, no. 3, p. 033304, Mar. 2021. Doi:10.1103/PhysRevFluids.6.033304

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