Chinmay Sameer Kulkarni

Contact
Information

Room No. 387, Hostel No. 9

IIT Bombay, Powai
Mumbai - 400 076, India

Phone: +91-91677-81753
Email: chinmay.kulkarni@iitb.ac.in
Date of Birth: 12th October 1993

Research
Interests

Computational Fluid Dynamics, Combustion, Numerical Modeling, Energy Science

Education

Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India

July 2011 - Present

Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering with Honors

Minor in Electrical Engineering
- CGPA: 9.55/10
- Ranked 1st in a class of 149 students
- Average grade of 9.90/10 in core Mechanical Engineering courses
Honors
and
Awards

Conferred with the prestigious T.K. Subramaniyan Award for Academic Excellence
for the academic year 2014-2015, awarded to only one student in the entire department
Awarded the Institute Academic Prize for excellent academic achievements across all
departments (top 10 out of 873) during the academic year 2013-2014
Awarded the O. P. Jindal Engineering and Management Scholarship (OPJEMS)-2014
for excellence in academic activities (awarded to 80 students across all engineering institutes)
Awarded the prestigious DAAD-WISE Scholarship by the German Academic Exchange
Service to pursue a research internship in Germany for summer, 2014
Offered the Mitacs-Globalink Fellowship to work on a research project in Canada
Awarded AP grades for exceptional performances (top 1% of the class) in the following 5
courses: Applied Thermodynamics, Kinematics and Dynamics of Machines, Manufacturing
Processes-I, Introduction to Numerical Analysis, Solid Mechanics Laboratory
Scored a semester performance index (SPI) of 10.0/10.0 in the 4th semester (Spring 2013)

Publications

Ambekar, A., Bhangale, R., Chatterjee, R., Kulkarni, C., Kumar, S., Chowdhury, A.,
Glow-Plug-Assisted Combustion of Nitromethane Sprays in a Constant Volume Chamber,
Accepted for publication in Applied Thermal Engineering, by Elsevier,
doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2014.11.043
Kulkarni, C., Zhen, X., Schmid, H-J.,
Application of Monte Carlo Method & CFD to Aerosol Droplet Formation Analysis,
Submission Under Review

Bachelors
Thesis

Multiphase Magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) Flows

April 2014 - Present

Guide: Prof. Upendra Bhandarkar, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay

Co-guide: Prof. Kowsik Bodi, Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Bombay
Created a new solver in OpenFOAM to simulate viscous MHD flow by implementing the
electric potential method as opposed to the conventional magnetic induction method
Tested the solver to determine the accuracy, rate of convergence and the computational time
requirement and concluded that it is equally accurate, requires less power and converges faster
for lower Hartmann Numbers as compared to the default MHD solver in OpenFOAM
Modified the existing multiphase solver by incorporating the electric potential method to
model a two-phase MHD flow wherein only one species responds to the applied magnetic field
Comparison of the outputs of two-phase and single-phase MHD solvers yields various measurable
property changes that will be used to detect Helium leaks in HCLL1 blankets of fusion reactors
1 HCLL:

Helium Cooled Lead Lithium

Research
Experience

Binary Aerosol Droplet Formation Analysis

Particle Technology Institute, University of Paderborn, Germany
Guide: Prof. Hans-Joachim Schmid

May 2014 - July 2014

Studied steady state particle development in binary aerosols by using the Monte-Carlo method,
and considering the interplay between various events such as nucleation, coagulation, breakage
and surface growth to predict temporal evolution of the system
Developed a CFD2 model in OpenFOAM to compute velocity fluxes at all cell interfaces, and
applied Monte Carlo method for all cells to calculate cell particle distribution at every timestep
Modeled advective and diffusive particle & vapor transport between neighboring cells as
random processes governed by velocity fluxes and existing particle distribution and integrated
the CFD model with Monte Carlo code, to yield the spatial and temporal particle distribution
Developed a parallel processing algorithm for high efficiency; tested the package on OCULUS
high performance cluster and validated results by comparing with available experimental data
Numerical Modeling of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech, USA
Guide: Prof. Shashank Priya

May 2013 - July 2013

Programmed an application to generate an optimum unstructured meshing topology for 2

dimensional simulations of Vertical Axis Wind turbines (VAWTs)
Performed CFD simulations using ANSYS Fluent package for laminar and turbulent flows to
analyze the effects of different flow properties on steady state characteristics of the VAWT
Developed a program which works in unison with the CFD software to simulate dynamic
startup of a VAWT and its response to unsteady flow conditions by computing modified
angular velocity of the turbine for every timestep, feeding it back to the running simulation
Results were used to modify the blade design and airfoil placement for high power generation
Glow Plug Assisted Spray Combustion of Nitromethane
Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
Guide: Prof. Arindrajit Chaudhury

March 2013 - May 2014

Experimentally analyzed constant volume spray combustion of Nitromethane and studied the
effects of varying the chamber pressure, Oxygen percentage and spray duration on parameters
such as heat release rate and ignition spontaneity and delay
Designed a constant volume combustion system for mono-propellants with an optical window
to capture details via high speed photography for a better study of the ignition process
Analyzed the combustion products using Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy to obtain its
composition and concluded that the fuel burns through a combination of turbulent premixed
combustion, turbulent diffusion spray combustion, and turbulent diffusion film combustion
Modeling of Cryogenic Air Distillation Column
Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
Guide: Prof. Milind Atrey

March 2014 - Present

Simulated the operation of a cryogenic air separation column for various input feeds, different
purities and operating pressures through MATLAB to optimize a new column design
Implemented a new approach to yield optimal values of various input parameters such as feed
rate and feed purity for the most efficient operation of an existing separation column
Benchmarked the developed codes against the commercially established software, ASPEN
Future plans include accounting for unsteady nature of the process as well as deriving strategies
to control production and purity of gases for different operating pressures
2 CFD:

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Technical
Experience

IIT Bombay Racing: Student Team Project

Faculty Advisor: Prof. Ramesh K Singh

April 2012 - January 2013

Designed the suspension geometry and the wheel assembly for second edition of the electric
racing vehicle by IIT Bombay Racing Team, that participated in the Formula Student UK-2013
Modeled various components of front and rear suspension in SolidWorks and validated the
designs through structural and thermal analysis in ANSYS for assured durability
Selected
Course
Projects

Finite Elemental Analysis of Wire Electrical Discharge Machining

Manufacturing Processes-II, Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
Guide: Prof. Ramesh K Singh

Fall 2013

Simulated the machining wire for thermal loads and analyzed the vibrational behavior of the
wire due to the reaction forces to calculate the mechanical stresses developed in the wire
Determined wire diameter, material properties and applied power for optimum wire life by
combining thermal and vibrational loading of the wire during machining
Analysis of Bridges Under Moving Vehicular Loads
Vibration Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay
Guide: Prof. V. Kartik

Fall 2014

Analyzed mode shapes of bridges for free vibrations as well as for constant transverse loads
Modeled traveling vehicles as moving point loads to identify the modes of oscillation and
determined the distribution and speed of individual vehicles in order to achieve resonance
Teaching &
Mentorship
Experience

Teaching Assistant: Introduction to Numerical Analysis

Department of Mathematics, IIT Bombay

Spring 2014

Guided 45 students in a course on numerical techniques used in computational physics &

engineering by conducting weekly tutorials and additional help sessions
Assisted the professors by evaluating quiz as well as mid-semester exam answer sheets
Institute Student Mentor and Department Academic Mentor
Student Mentorship Program, IIT Bombay

April 2014 - Present

Selected as part of the 79 member team of senior students to help the first year students settle
down and acclimatize; mentor to 12 freshmen during their formative days in the institute,
guiding them on their academic and extra-curricular endeavors
Guiding 2 academically under-performing students via one-to-one counselling; key role in
development of the department blog, a compendium of information for departmental courses
Technical
Skills

Computer Aided Design (CAD):

Computer Aided Engineering (CAE):
Computatioanl Fluid Dynamics (CFD):
Programming Languages and Interfaces:

SolidWorks, CATIA, AutoDesk360

ANSYS, MSC Adams
OpenFOAM, ANSYS-FLUENT
C, C++, JAVA, MATLAB, Scilab, GNU-Octave

Relevant
Coursework

Applied Thermodynamics, Advanced Heat Transfer, Computational Methods in Thermal and

Fluids Engineering, Turbulence and Combustion Modeling, Cryogenic Engineering, Propulsion
Digital Electronics, Signals and Systems, Controls and Communication, Probability

ExtraCurricular
Activities

Avid drummer; performed at various inter-collegiate events and won several awards
Enthusiastic about traveling and exploring culture; traveled across more than 10 countries