Propulsion
Research in Propulsion has been pursued in the Department since 1967. The Department is unique in India in offering a postgraduate specialization in Propulsion.
Research in air-breathing propulsion focuses on aerodynamics, computational fluid dynamics, aerothermodynamics, structural analysis, and materials technology. Past work, largely funded by the Aeronautics Research and Development Board (ARDB), has addressed gas turbine combustion, heat transfer, blade and rotor vibration, fuel control systems, engine sizing, transonic axial compressors, contra-rotating fans, tandem cascades, and turbine material lifing. These projects have supported postgraduate research and resulted in publications in national and international forums.
Fundamental propulsion sciences have also been applied to nuclear reactor heat transfer and biomedical device development.
Current research areas include swept and transonic compressor blades, hypersonic propulsion and heat transfer, compressor loss modeling and performance prediction, engine intake and component CFD analysis, material lifing, infrared signature suppression, and stall/surge prediction.
Ongoing thrusts include aerodynamic heating of hypersonic vehicles, microchannel cooling of turbine blades, aerothermal analysis of hypersonic propulsion units, axial-flow compressor loss modeling, and the development of a novel infrared signature suppression system with minimal performance penalties.