Rahul Agrawal 16D070022

Mechanical Engineering UG Third Year (B.Tech.)

Indian Institute of Technology Bombay Male
DOB: 29 August 1998

Examination University Institute Year CPI / %

Graduation IIT Bombay IIT Bombay 2019 0.00
Intermediate/+2 CBSE Jayshree Periwal High School 2016 97.60
Matriculation CBSE Maheshwari Public School 2014 10.00

Research Statement
I am interested in boundary layer characteristics of complex natural flows such as hurricanes and gust storms
using superstatistical analysis to understand turbulent phenomenon using both experimental tools and CFD.
I am also oriented towards race car aerodynamics - problems of drag and downforce over flat plate
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Conference Papers
• Rahul Agrawala , Harika Gurramb , Chelakara Subramanianc , Jean Paul Pinellid , Rituparna Basue , Statistical
Analysis of Hurricane IRMA, in 5th American Association for Wind Engineering Workshop 2018
• Rahul Agrawala , Chelakara Subramanianb , Steven Lazarus c , Effect of terrain on characteristics of near
surface wind flow , in 5th American Association for Wind Engineering Workshop 2018
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abstracts submitted

Internship & Key Projects

Statistical Analysis of Hurricane IRMA May-July 2018
Guide: Prof. Chelakara Subramanian | Internship Florida Institute of Technology
Analyzed real-time pressure and velocity data for Hurricane IRMA (2017) to explain its effect over roofs
• Utilized Variable Time Averaging, to predict 5 min as characteristic time scale for hurricane winds
• Obtained skewness = 0.03, kurtosis = 1.61, indicating non-gaussian pressure fluctuations. Modeled energy
transport using correlation and justified slower convergence of Reynolds stress
• Coded the structure functions via pressure, velocity data to identify nature of vortex structures
• Obtained power spectra to show multi-modal periodicity in pressure and velocity due to fluctuations
Effect of terrain to near surface wind flow May-July 2018
Guide: Prof. Chelakara Subramanian | Internship Florida Institute of Technology
Modeled effect of terrain on non-dimensionalised wind speed vs height profile using LiDAR based experiments
• Plotted results similar to first order step input curves with R2 value = 0.98 which contradicts classical
near surface log-law or power law dependence of velocity with height for multiple terrains
• Reproduced Kaimal spectra justifying the correctness of experimental and computational methods
• Compared temporal behaviour of velocity and turbulence intensity to examine vortex nature in flow
• Characterized surface roughness as residual height, calculated it to be 10-20% of Atm. Boundary Layer
Direct Numerical Simulation of Taylor Green Vortex Feb-Apr 2018
Guide: Prof. Abhilash Chandy | Course Project-Essentials of Turbulence IIT Bombay
• Performed Direct Numerical Simulation based on Incompact3d code for Homogeneous Turbulence
• Generated vorticity isosurface and enstrophy maps to compare turbulent structures with Reynolds No.
• Observed a trend in turbulent kinetic energy similar to the research paper, Small structure of Taylor
green vortex for large energy scales even with 4 times coarser grid
• Plotted energy dissipation rates and velocity field at time steps of 2 sec each for multiple Re values
YDSE Flow Metric Gauge Feb-Apr 2018
Guide: Prof. Amit Agrawal | Course Project-Mechanical Measurements IIT Bombay
• Innovated construction of a wave optics based mechanical gauge to measure flow rate in a channel
• Optimized Young’s Double Slit experiment to measure strain in an object placed orthogonal to stream
• Achieved III order accuracy & maximum permissible velocity of flow close to 25 m/s, using Polymer Foam
Pressure Variation with Injection Timing in SI Engine Jan-July 2018
• Simulated effect of spark and injection timing on pressure & temperature for hydrogen SI engine
• Designed a CAD Model to incorporate Injector Valve, Spark-Plug, flat piston head and bowl geometries
• Justified trends in pressure and its derivative due to ignition timing through mixing characteristics.Plotting
thermodynamic data for Gaussian, Exponential and Uniform injection curves
Minor Course Projects - Essentials of Turbulence Feb 2018-Present
• DNS of Linearly Stratified Atmospheric Flow
– Re-developed Incompact3d code for homogeneous turbulence to flow over a flat plate
– Adjusted boundary effects using 3rd order temporal scheme, maintained wall at bottom and no
shear at top boundary. Adding linear stratification for turbulent boundary layers
• LES and DNS comparison for turbulent energy spectrum, Reproduced 3-D energy spectrum via sharp
spectral filter and matched mean energy dissipation rate in small scaled viscous range upto 90% accuracy

Other Technical Projects

Cathode Ray Tube Television : Material Analysis July-Nov 2017
Guide : Prof. Parag Bhargava | Course project-Engineering Metallurgy IIT Bombay
• Reviewed manufacturing of Flyback Transformer and Phosphor Screen and understood the behavior of
6 solid materials including electrical steel, enameled wire, shadow masks
• Analyzed industrial manufacturing processes like Vacuum Pressure Impregnation, Gel casting etc
Relative Motion - Logarithmic Spiral May-June 2017
Institute Technical Summer Project, Electronics and Robotics Club IIT Bombay
• Simulated and physically designed 3 particles in an equilateral triangle which move with constant speed
keeping their directions always oriented towards each other using castor wheeled robots
• Minimized light intensity detection problem to record a collision time within 5% error range of theory
• Designed the chassis and circuits for motor and LEDs incorporating RPM Control and camera placement
Shift and Add Multiplier February-April 2017
Guide : Prof. M.B.Patil | Course Project-Digital Electronics IIT Bombay
• Designed a digital calculator which performed multiplication of two numbers by Shift and Add Algorithm
• Demonstrated multiplication between various binary numbers in binary coded decimal format
• Integrated the boolean coupling logic, fed input into 4-bit Full Adders, used IC 7495 shifters

Academic Achievements
• Ranked 6th in a batch of 150+ in the Mechanical Engineering Department (Present)
• Achieved All India Rank 137 in JEE-Main out of 1.5 million candidates (2016)
• Secured All India Rank 485 in IIT JEE-Advanced out of 200,000 candidates (2016)
• Scored 2400/2400 in SAT II in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics Level-2 (2016)
• Recipient of Annual Scholarship under National Talent Scholarship Scheme (2012)
• Awarded KVPY Fellowship (Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana) by the Government of India (2014)
• Ranked in top 1% students in NSEP, NSEA (National Standard Examination- Physics, Astronomy) (2015)

Relevant Courses and Technical Skills

TFE Essentials of Turbulence, Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer*,
BioFluid Mechanics*, Galerkin Methods in Fluid Dynamics*, Fluid Mechanics Lab
Programming & Math Programming by C/C++, Probability & Random Processes, Signals and Systems*,
Calculus, Data Analysis, Algebra, Numerical Analysis, Differential Equations

Software MATLAB, Octave, Paraview, CONVERGE CFD, Ansys-Fluent, SOLIDWORKS, AutoCAD

OS and Programming Windows, Ubuntu, OpenMPI (Parallel Programming), C, C++, Fortran, Python

*to be completed by Nov 2018

Positions of Responsibility
Department Research Coordinator, Mechanical Engineering April 2018-Present
Undergraduate Academic Council, IIT Bombay
• Promoting first-hand research outlook through projects with professors via Portal for Project Allocation
• Contacting professors to re-furbish course structure to allow more projects and hands-on exposure
Competitions & LYP Coordinator July-Dec 2017
Mood Indigo, Asia’s Largest College Cultural Festival
• Supervised the finale of MI-Idol, a vocals competition broadcasted live by a reputed channel, Colors
• Formulated rules and oversaw on-ground execution of MI’Nem - a Rap Singing competition
Assistant Sponsorship Manager, Team Shunya May-Dec 2017
Group of 70 students building a Net Zero energy consuming solar powered house