Lopamudra Palodhi

Research Philosophy

Nature has a unique way of forming fascinating patterns. The dark clouds swirling above, the falling raindrops, making little puddles, the waves in the mighty ocean – they all form beautiful patterns through flow of some form of fluids, whether air or water or a combination of both. It is this inherent pattern formation that forms the crux of my research as computational physicist. My research interests in physics broadly relate to computational fluid dynamic, where I focus on investigating the development of instabilities in fluids and plasma system, which are instrumental in pattern formation. I develop mathematical models and solve numerically to explore the physics supporting the dynamics of the system.

Research Grants

PI, Pattern Formation: A Thermodynamic Study, WOS-A, Department of Science & Technology, India, INR 39 Lacs (2022-2025)
PI, An Interdisciplinary Study of Light Pollution in Indian Context, Innovative Project Scheme, University of Delhi, Delhi, India, INR 5 Lacs (2013-2014)

Interface Instabilities in Fluids

As a scientist in the mathematics department at IIT Ropar (2022-till), my interest lies in understanding the mixing of two fluids and the evolution of patterns formed. Specifically, I study a particular kind of hydrodynamic instability, often known as Viscous fingering instability which develops when two fluids have contrasting viscosities. The name comes from the fact that, when such instability occurs, finger like patterns is formed at the interface. When we have partially miscible fluids, the physics of the development of the finger’s changes. The fingers formed initially are fragmented into tiny droplets. This happens because of thermodynamic effects. I develop mathematical models to simulate numerically such dynamics to understand the physical phenomena. Primarily, Darcy’s equation coupled with Cahn-Hilliard equation is solved using finite element solver through CFD COMSOL software.

Cold Spray & Materials Science

The Cold Spray (CS) technology is a class of thermal spray technology that is characterized by its ability to deposit extremely dense coatings at relatively low temperatures. Here, particles with supersonic speed are allowed to pass through de-Naval nozzle and deposit on a substrate. Efficiency of deposition is a strong function of the kinetic energy of the incident particles. Below a threshold velocity (critical velocity), particles rebound from the substrate whereas, if the velocity is too high, they will erode the substrate instead of depositing. Hence, the critical velocity, once estimated, can be used for optimization of the process parameters, resulting in high deposition efficiency. Accurate modeling of the critical velocity is one of the major challenges that needs to be addressed in the field of CS technology and formed the focus of my work while working as post-doctoral fellow in the Mechanical Engg. Department at IIT Ropar (2019-2021). Investigating the important parameters for highest deposition, and prediction of the critical velocity is obtained by developing theoretical models (mainly using conservation equations) and numerical modeling (through software like ABAQUS and ANSYS).

Astrophysical plasma

The eruptive features in the form of flares, solar wind etc. are highly energetic plasmas and correspond to various kinds of transient magnetic activities. One of the most intriguing questions is how the strong magnetic field is generated. I try to understand the sources and the basic physical processes by which the strong magnetic field is generated. During my PhD in the Physics Dept. at University of Pisa, Italy (2007-2010), I was involved in theoretical and computational study of the nonlinear plasma dynamics of magnetized plasmas with focus on fundamental processes of magnetic field generation. Vlasov equation coupled with Maxwell’s equations are solved computationally to investigate the dynamics. Such energetic magnetic field also develops during the absorption of ultra-energetic laser pulse by a solid target, in laser-plasma experiments. Such phenomena lead to thermal anisotropy driven instability, which ultimately generates large magnetic amplitude. These are investigated in collaboration with Dr. Mark E Dieckmann, from Linkoping University, Sweden, through particle-in-cell simulations.

Mathematics @ IIT Ropar

Fluid Dynamics Research Lab

Indian Institute of Technology

plopamudra@gmail.com, lopa.palodhi@iitrpr.ac.in