I slept and dreamt that life was joy.I awoke and saw that
life was service.I acted and behold, service was joy. 
                            - Tagore                              

About me


Welcome to my portfolio!
I'm a CFD enthusiast with a primary focus on modeling gas flows, and my long-term goal is to become a distinguished researcher in developing energy-efficient and eco-friendly flow systems using CFD as a tool. Currently, I'm working as a research scholar in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology Madras, under the guidance of Dr. Nagabhushana Rao Vadlamani.

My doctoral work involves proposing active flow control techniques to mitigate the flow separation problem in a pitching airfoil, and I'm conducting a numerical study using an in-house high-fidelity NS solver. On this website, you'll find more information about my research, publications, and professional experience.

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Research work

Doctoral thesis work

Supervisor: Dr. Nagabhushana Rao Vadlamani

Airfoil surface pitching motion is encountered in many engineering applications such as rotor-crafts, MAVs, and rapid maneuvering of fixed-wing air-crafts. The pitching motion of airfoil beyond the critical angle of attack causes boundary layer (BL) separation. The BL separation reduces aerodynamic performance characteristics, particularly loss of lift produced and increase in the drag generated. Moreover, the dynamic stall associated with pitching motion is a major safety concern.

The project proposes active flow control techniques to mitigate the flow separation problem in a pitching airfoil. A numerical study is proposed using an inhouse high fidelity NS solver.

Fig. Stages in pitching motion of an airfoil (Ref. Choudary et al. (AIAA journal - 1994)
Fig. Stages in pitching motion of an airfoil - Preliminary results from simulation

Publications from Doctoral thesis

1. Plasma flow control on a pitching airfoil, Abdul Gafoor CP, Nagabhushana Rao Vadlamani, International Journal of Advances in Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics (ISTAM-22 Special Issue), (Under Review)
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2. Entropically Damped Artificial Compressibility Solver Using Higher Order Finite Difference Schemes on Curvilinear and Deforming Meshes, Achu Shankar, Abdul Gafoor CP, Sumit Sarvankar, Adrian Arasu, Nagabhushana Rao Vadlamani, (Draft of the manuscript is completed)
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3. Active flow control using plasma actuators in cavity flows, Korumilli Satya Kumar, Ganesh Nampelly, Abdul Gafoor CP, Vadlamani Nagabhushana Rao, Paper presented in 23𝑟𝑑 Annual CFD Symposium 2022, CFD Division of Aeronautical Society of India
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4. Plasma flow control on a pitching airfoil, Abdul Gafoor CP, Nagabhushana Rao Vadlamani, Paper presented in 67𝑡ℎ Congress of the Indian Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics(ISTAM).

5. Investigation of DBD plasma flow control on a 3D pitching airfoil, Abdul Gafoor CP, Nagabhushana Rao Vadlamani, 15th International Symposium on Experimental Computational Aero-thermodynamics of Internal Flows. (Abstract accepted)
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Publications

Journal

Transport behavior of pressure-driven gas flow in a nanochannel and the variation of thermal accommodation coefficient
Prabha, Sooraj K; Gafoor, CPA; Sathian, Sarith P;
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer
2021
Elsevier
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2021.121528

Journal

Variation of momentum accommodation coefficients with pressure drop in a nanochannel
Prabha, Sooraj K; Sathian, Sarith P; C P, ABDUL GAFOOR;
Physical Review E
2020
American Physical Society
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.102.023303

Journal

Numerical investigation of piston bowl geometry and swirl ratio on emission from diesel engines
Abdul Gafoor C.P, Rajesh Gupta;
Energy Conversion and Management
2015
ELSEVIER
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2015.06.007

Conference

VELOCITY CORRELATION OF PRESSURE-DRIVEN FLOW IN A NANOCHANNEL
Sooraj K Prabha; ABDUL GAFOOR CP;
Proceedings of the 25th National and 3rd International ISHMT-ASTFE Heat and Mass Transfer Conference (IHMTC-2019)
2019

Conference

Combined effect of initial swirl and bowl geometry on spray - A numerical simulation
Abdul Gafoor C.P, Rajesh Gupta;
24 th National Conference on I.C. Engines and Combustion
2015

Education

Ph.D. Scholar, Aerospace Engineering
9.1/10
2021-present
Indian Institute Of Technology Madras, Chennai – India
M.tech. in Thermal Engineering
9.26/10
2015
Maulana Azad National Institute Of Technology, Bhopal, MP – India
B.tech. in Mechanical Engineering
7.0/10
2011
College Of Engineering - University Of Kerala, Trivandrum, Kerala – India

Ph.D. Course works

AM5630
Foundation of Computational Fluid Dynamics
AS5020
Aerospace Propulsion
AS6000
Basic Concepts in Aerospace Engineering
ID6020
Introduction of Research (Institute Module)
AM5018
Experimental Techniques in Fluid Mechanics
AS6020
Introduction to Incompressible Turbulence
AS6041
Advanced CFD - Eddy Resolving Methods
AS5621
Design and Analysis of Turbomachines

Experiences

Research Fellow - DST(Govt. of India)-SERB Funded
Nov. 2017 – Dec. 2020
Vidya Academy of Science and Technology, Thrissur
Ad-hoc Lecturer - Mechanical Engineering
July 2015 – May 2017
National Institute Of Technology, Calicut
Lecturer - Mechanical Engineering
July 2012 – July 2013
Vedavyasa Institute Of Technology - Calicut

Teaching Assistantship

Institute TA
AS 5020 - Aerospace Propulsion (July - Nov. 2022)
AS 6041- Advanced CFD - Eddy Resolving Methods (Jan - May 2023)
NPTEL TA
Rocket Propulsion Jan - April 2023
PMRF TA
Jan - May 2022
Place of Work : PALS NANDI PROJECT
Nature of Work : PALS-Naandi STEM is fun is an initiative to teach first-year
engineering college students in state-run colleges. The program aims to teach fundamental science concepts through small home experiments or minor projects. The NANDI project team will assign minor projects on different topics to a group of students. This work will be mentored and evaluated. The assigned duties are:
1. Create small demonstration/explanation videos and documents (An example here)
2. Mentor students in their minor projects
3. Monitor the evaluation process and provide feedback to the students on their performance
Aug - Feb 2023
Place of Work : Teach to Learn project team at IIT Madras - Teach in 10 project
Nature of Work : Teach in 10 project aims to provide pedagogical, interpersonal, and hands-on skills training to rural school students through a 3-layered mentoring system. At the end of the mentoring process, a 10 minutes teaching video will be recorded professionally by each rural student and will be uploaded to a web portal for public access. The uniqueness of this project lies in these 3 layers of mentoring. A detailed explanation of the 3 layers (mentioned below) is below:
My contribution will come in the Layer 2 mentoring part. The mentoring process involves,
• Teach the student basic concepts related to the chosen topic for the video (In this
project, we chose a Hot air balloon, and scientific concepts like Buoyancy and flotation
are explained in the video).
• Help him to connect the basic concepts related to the device with his school textbook
contents.
• Demonstrate the concepts through small experiments.
• Make the script and help the student with the presentation skills.
The 10 minute video recorded as part of this work can be found here.

Abdul Gafoor C P
Research scholar
Department of Aerospace Engineering
IIT Madras

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