KK
// Experimental Fluid Dynamics
Ph.D. Candidate, Aerospace Engineering
CMAT Lab · Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering
Arizona State University
// About
I'm an experimental fluid dynamicist working on turbulent boundary-layer separation and its control through engineered surface conditions. My dissertation uses directional riblet textures to impose high- and low-momentum pathways in the near-wall flow — showing that small surface modifications can drive outsized changes in separation behavior.
My toolkit is optical diagnostics at scale: planar and stereoscopic PIV, high-speed PIV at 1 kHz, Shake-the-Box volumetric particle tracking at 7 kHz and above, and combined PIV/PLIF on particle-laden jets. I design and run full wind-tunnel campaigns — model integration, instrumentation, acquisition, and analysis.
Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering · expected Jan 2027
Arizona State University
Advisor: Prof. Gokul Pathikonda · GPA 3.65/4.00
B.E., Mechanical Engineering · 2020
SASTRA Deemed University, India
// Selected Work
Dissertation core
Converging–diverging riblets over a backward-facing hump create spanwise-periodic high- and low-momentum pathways. PIV shows separation-region turbulence differs by up to 30% between pathways — while bulk boundary-layer properties change by only a few percent.
Multiphase flows
Combined PIV/PLIF measurements of how inertial particles modulate entrainment and scalar mixing in turbulent jets — linking particle inertia to large-scale transport.
Methods
Time-resolved measurements with time-lag correlations tying upstream boundary-layer content to separation dynamics; full 3D Shake-the-Box tracking across the ramp for volumetric strain and stress fields.
// Output
Geometry-Induced Separation of a Boundary Layer Over Directional Riblets
Directional riblets and three-dimensional boundary-layer separation
[Sweat-dynamics study — co-authored]
Inertial particles in turbulent jets
Full PDFs available on request.
// Trajectory
Arizona State University · Experimental boundary-layer separation & optical diagnostics
Arizona State University
SASTRA Deemed University, India · Mechanical Engineering
// Get in touch