About me

I am presently working as an Assistant Professor at the School of Advanced Engineering, UPES Dehradun. I teach Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses from Fluid and Thermal Science stream and allied areas. I have completed a doctorate (PhD) degree in Fluid and Thermal Science (FTS) stream from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Kanpur, India. My research interest lies in mini/micro/nano-scale physical phenomena related to microfluidics and thermal engineering and in renewable/sustainable energy engineering. I worked in areas of novel flow manipulation techniques using Ferrofluids for the augmentation of thermal transport in low Reynold number flows at mini/micro-scales under the supervision of Prof. Sameer Khandekar (Personal Webpage). The work was mainly focused on single-phase laminar convective flows and two-phase Taylor bubble/slug flows of ferrofluids. 

I am actively seeking a postdoc/research associate position in relevant domains. A synopsis of the PhD thesis can be seen here.

My Google Scholar, Research Gate and Linkedin profiles.

Education

PhD (Mechanical Engineering, IIT Kanpur, India): Jan 2014 - Feb 2022

  Thesis title: Single-phase and Two-phase Convective Transport Phenomena in Ferrofluids

B.Tech (Mechanical Engineering, IIITDM Kancheepuram, India): Aug 2007 - June 2011

   Undergraduate Project: Design and analysis of Tubular type air pre-heaters

Ongoing works

Thermal Characterization of the passive thermal systems for ground and space applications

Dynamics of ferrofluid droplets in a magnetic field: Numerical and experimental investigations.

(High-speed imaging and phase-field method based numerical investigation of the phenomena)

Numerical and experimental investigations of the two-phase flow of ferrofluids subject to externally applied magnetic fields.

Publications

Journal articles

1. Shah R. K. and Khandekar S. (2022) Influence of External Magnetic Manipulation on Thermal Transport Characteristics of the Bubble-Slug Flow of Ferro-nanocolloids, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, (Volume 646, 5 August 2022, 128936), DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfa.2022.128936 (I.F. -  5.518) Preprint.

2. Shah R. K. and Khandekar S. (2022) On-demand Augmentation in Heat Transfer of Taylor Bubble Flows Using Ferrofluids, Applied Thermal Engineering, DOI: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2022.118058 (Volume 205, 25 March 2022, 118058) (I.F. -  6.465) Preprint

3. Shah R. K., Drave J. K., Khandekar S. (2021) Thermal Transport in Laminar Convective Flow of Ferrofluids in the Presence of External Magnetic Field, ASME Journal of Heat Transfer, June 2021, DOI: 10.1115/1.4050411, (I.F. - 1.855).

4. Shah R. K. and Khandekar S. (2020) Manipulation of Taylor - Bubble Flow in a Magneto - Fluidic System, Colloids and Surfaces A:  Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, Feb 2020, DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfa.2020.124589 (I.F. - 5.518).

5. Shah R. K. and Khandekar S. (2019) Exploring Ferrofluids for Heat Transfer Augmentation, Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, Nov 2018. DOI: 10.​1016/​j.​jmmm.​2018.​11.​034 (I.F. -  3.097).

6. Kole M., Shah R. K., Khandekar S. (2022), Energy-efficient thermal management at low Reynolds number with air-ferrofluid Taylor bubble flows, Int. Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, May 2022, DOI: 10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2022.106109  (I.F. - 6.782).

7. Pratap D., Shah R. K., Khandekar S. and Soni S. (2022) Photothermal effects in small gold nanorod aggregates for therapeutic applications, Applied Nanoscience, Feb 2022, DOI: 10.1007/s13204-022-02456-z, (I.F. - 3.869) Preprint.

8. Impact dynamics of ferrofluid droplets on a hydrophobic surface in an applied magnetic field (in preparation).

9. Shah R. K. and Khandekar S., Magnetic manipulation of the Taylor flow of ferrofluids: A phase-field based numerical investigation (in preparation).

Conference papers/extended abstracts

1. Kole M., Shah R. K., Khandekar S., Heat transfer augmentation of air-ferrofluid Taylor bubble flow in presence of a magnet, Proc. 4th International ISHMT-ASTFE Heat and Mass Transfer Conference (IHMTC-2021), Paper # IHMTC 2021-198, IIT Madras India, Dec 17-20, 2021 (DOI: 10.1615/IHMTC-2021.1230).

2. Shah R. K., and Khandekar S., Effect of magnetic manipulation of Taylor flow of ferrofluids on two-phase heat transfer, Proc. Joint 20th International Heat Pipe Conference and 14th International Heat Pipe Symposium (Joint IHPC and IHPS - 2021), Paper #82, Gelendzhik, Russia, Sept 7-10, 2021.

3. Shah R. K., Drave J. K., and Khandekar S., Magnetic manipulations of Taylor flow of ferrofluid in microchannels, Proc. 7th International Conference on Micro and Nano Flows (MNF 2021), Abstract #36, Imperial College London, May 24-26, 2021 (Link).

4. Kole M., Shah R. K., and Khandekar S., Air-ferrofluid Taylor bubble flow as an energy-efficient coolant at low Reynolds number, Proc. 7th International Conference on Micro and Nano Flows (MNF 2021), Abstract #38, Imperial College London, May 24-26, 2021.

5. Shah R. K., and Khandekar S., 'HEAT TRANSFER AUGMENTATION IN FERROFLUIDS IN PRESENCE OF EXTERNAL MAGNETIC FIELDS', Proc. 5th International Conference on Computational Methods for Thermal Problems (ThermaComp - 2018) held at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore on 9-11 July 2018 (link). 

6. Shah R. K., Asfer Md. and Khandekar S., CONTROL AND MANIPULATION OF AIR - FERROFLUID TAYLOR BUBBLE FLOW IN A MAGNETO-FLUIDIC SYSTEM, Proc. 2nd International ISHMT-ASTFE Heat and Mass Transfer Conference (IHMTC - 2017) organized by BITS Pilani at Hyderabad Campus on Dec 28-30, 2017 (link). 

Technical Skills

• Experimental investigations of flow physics through optical visualization techniques (Confocal Microscope, High-speed Imaging, PIV Measurements).

• IR Thermography and micro-thermometry, Heat transfer measurements, Thermal Conductivity measurements of Solids and fluids using Transient plate source (TPS) method.

• Expertise in Multi-physics (Electric and Magnetic field (AC/DC), CFD, Microfluidics, Thermal and Chemical Science modules) and Multi-phase numerical simulations (Level-set and Phase-field) on COMSOL Multiphysics platform (6+ years of experience).

• Ansys, Nastran/Patran, Matlab, Labview, Tecplot, Origin plot, ImageJ, MS office

Academic distinctions and awards

• P K Sharma Best paper award at 2nd International ISHMT-ASTFE Heat and Mass Transfer Conference (IHMTC-2017) organized by BITS Pilani at Hyderabad Campus from Dec 28-30, 2017 (Certificate).

• Graduate Teaching Assistantship (TA) at IIT Kanpur (Jan 2014 - Dec 2018).

• Qualified GATE-2011 examination with 93.5% percentile. 

• Merit-cum-means (MCM) scholarship awarded by IIITDM, Kancheepuram (Aug 2007 - June 2011).

• Qualified and ranked among the top 2% in JEE-Mains (erstwhile AIEEE)  exam in 2007.

Conferences and Workshops 

• Joint 20th International Heat Pipe Conference and 14th International Heat Pipe Symposium (IHPC-2021) organized by MPEI at Gelendzhik, Russia (7-10 September 2021).

• 7th International Conference on Micro and Nano Flows (MNF 2021) organized by Imperial College London (24 - 26 May 2021) 

• 5th International Conference on Computational Methods for Thermal Problems (ThermaComp - 2018) at IISc, Bangalore (9-11 July 2018)

• 24th National and 2nd International ISHMT-ASTFE Heat and Mass Transfer Conference (IHMTC-2017) organized by BITS Pilani at Hyderabad Campus on Dec 28 - 30, 2017.

• Indo-French workshop on Phase-Change Thermal Systems (Nov 29 - Dec 01, 2016) organized by IIT Kanpur and INSA-Lyon.

Work Experience

• Senior Project Engineer (April 2022- July 2022) - Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Kanpur

• Senior student research associate (Jan 2020 - Feb 2022) - Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Kanpur

• Project Associate at IIT Kanpur (Sep 2012 - May 2013) - Worked on Vibration and stress analysis of 125 mm Field gun barrels manufactured by Ordnance Factories.

• Design Engineer at a start-up collaboration between IISc, Bangalore - Suryagen Renewable Energy Pvt. Ltd. (Oct 2011 -  Aug 2012) - Worked on the Design and Development of Solar Power based off-grid Cooling solutions. 

• Design Engineer - Trainee at Hind High Vacuum (HHV) Pumps Pvt. Ltd (July 2011- Sep 2011).