Meet the NatFlows Group …

Current Students
PhD Students
AKANKSHA GUPTA

AKANKSHA GUPTA

PhD Student

I received my BTech and MTech (Integrated Dual Degree) in Mechanical Engineering from IIT (BHU), Varanasi, India, in 2013. From 2013-2017, I worked as an Assistant Professor at Galgotias University, Greater Noida, India. To pursue my career in research and academia, I joined PhD Program at IIT Kanpur in August 2017 in EnGeo Lab with Dr. Anirban Guha (currently, at the University of Dundee, UK). My research interests are aligned with oceanic and atmospheric flows. My PhD research is on understanding the interaction of surface waves with rippled seafloor with/without mean current and study its effect on tracer particles such as pathogens, sediments, plastic (microplastics), algae, nutrients, and others. I am continuing this work with Dr. Guha. I joined NatFlows Lab in 2019. I have received prestigious fellowships during my PhD tenure, namely, Raman-Charpak Fellowship, Shastri Indo-Canadian Research Student Fellowship, and Commonwealth Split-Site Fellowship to pursue my thesis work in France, Canada, and Scotland respectively. Apart from research, I also enjoy exploring places and cuisines, watching movies and series, cooking and drawing.
MS (Research) Students
AKASH PAUL

AKASH PAUL

MS (Research) Student

I did my Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology in 2017. I joined IIT Kanpur in 2020 after working in Infosys for 19 months. Currently, in NatFlows Lab, I am simulating fish school swimming in different configurations like tandem, square, triangular and diamond using a Fluid-Structure Interaction solver LUMA which is based on LBM (Lattice Boltzmann Method) coupled to an FEM using IBM (Immersed Boundary Method). It is believed that fishes in school take advantage of oncoming vortices through hydrodynamic interactions between vortices and fish body which help them in efficient swimming. My aim is to study such interactions using the modified FSI solver LUMA. I enjoy listening to music, observing mountains, watching football, playing guitar and travelling.
CHANDAN KUMAR POTHAL

CHANDAN KUMAR POTHAL

MS (Research) Student

I received my Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from National Institute of Technology Rourkela. Then I worked in ZF Wind Power Company for two years as structural analysis engineer. I joined IIT Kanpur for MS (Research) in August 2020. In NatFlows Lab, I am investigating the effect of flexible splitter filament on the wake generated by square cylinder at low Reynolds numbers using the soap film tunnel which we have designed and fabricated. I am a cinephile and a sports enthusiast. I also enjoy portrait sketching.
MTech Students
Akshay B Menon

Akshay B Menon

MTech Student

I completed my Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from College of Engineering, Trivandrum. I joined IIT Kanpur in 2021 to pursue MTech. Currently, in NatFlows lab, I am investigating the effect of flexible flap length on jet behavior and thrust production, for flexible airfoil pitching in quiescent fluid. I am a motorsports enthusiast, a cinephile and an avid collector of trivia and coins. I also dabble in hobby electronics.
Sarthak K Patel

Sarthak K Patel

MTech Student

I completed my Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from L. D. College of Engineering, Ahmedabad, Gujarat. I joined NatFlows lab in October 2021. We have designed and constructed soap film tunnel. Using the 2-D film flow, I am involved in understanding the drag to thrust transition criterion for flapping flexible airfoil. I am an amateur photographer, enjoy listening to poetry in Gujarati and Hindi. I dabble in Gujarati theatre.
BTech Students
AKARSH RAJ

AKARSH RAJ

BTech Student

I am a third year undergraduate pursuing Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Currently, I am working on a Fluid-Structure Interaction solver based on Lattice-Boltzmann formulation coupled with Immersed Boundary Method. Further, I want to study the reasons for different fish school configurations using flexible filaments to understand the hydrodynamic benefits they derive from specific arrangements like square, triangular and diamond, and the effect of inter-distances among them. I am also trying to understand the procedure to formulate the deformations in simple structures like filaments while interacting with flow. My interest lies in Fluid Mechanics, CAD modelling, Solid Mechanics, and Rigid Body Dynamics. I love to play flute, read books, watch movies, and ride my mountain bike in my free time.
CHAITANYA SAHNI

CHAITANYA SAHNI

BTech Student

I am a third year undergraduate student pursuing my degree in Mechanical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. I have been a part of NatFlows Lab since June 2021. Currently, I am working on incorporating active motion capabilities to rigid and flexible filaments in an Open-Source software LUMA. We have succeeded in giving prescribed motion to rigid and flexible filaments, and currently working on modifying the solver to add extra DOFs. I aim to study motion of actively swimming filaments in different configurations to analyse the propulsive efficiency and hydrodynamic benefits gained by the filaments mimicing fishes in school. I am an avid sports fan and love to play volleyball and table tennis. I usually spend my free time reading technology related articles or watching videos.
Keshav Birdi

Keshav Birdi

BTech Student

I am a third-year undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering at IIT Kanpur. I have been a part of NatFlows Lab since April 2022. Currently, I am working on making a setup for making bubbles of controlled size to understand the particle movement in thin elastic layers. I am interested in fluids, aerodynamics. I love playing table tennis, cricket, and watching horror movies!
Ananya Priyadarshi

Ananya Priyadarshi

BTech Student

I am a third-year undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering at IIT Kanpur. I am working on visualizing the flow past various bluff bodies attached with flexible filaments using soap film tunnel. Further, I aspire to examine the hydrodynamics of fish schools by observing the structures of flow past flexible filaments arranged in diamond configuration representing fish school. My focus is on understanding the benefits of specific arrangements and distances between the filaments. My interests include Fluid Dynamics, CAD modelling, and machine learning. I enjoy reading novels and digital painting.
Vikas Varshney

Vikas Varshney

BTech Student

I am a third-year undergraduate pursuing Civil Engineering at IIT Kanpur. I have been a part of NatFlows Lab since May 2022. I am motivated to explore hydrodynamics of flapping filaments in different configurations. I enjoy playing badminton, solving Rubik's cube, listening to music, and watching movies.
Varshitha Janavi Purra

Varshitha Janavi Purra

BTech Student

I am a third-year undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering at IIT Kanpur. I am very much interested in fluid mechanics and applied math. At NatFlows lab, I am using OpenFoam to run simulations of a foil attached with flexible surface flapping in quiescent fluid. I love reading novels and watching TV shows/movies in my free time.


NatFlows Lab ALUMNI


AMAN SONI

AMAN SONI

MTech (2022)

Aman graduated from IIT Kanpur in 2022 with his MTech degree in Mechanical Engineering. Prior to that, he received his BTech in Mechanical Engineering from Ajay Kumar Garg Engineering College, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University, Uttar Pradesh, India. His thesis work involved rigorous experiments to understand the role of flexible trailing edge flap attached to the rotary blades on forward flight performance of unmanned helicopter. This work shows performance enhancement with such flap attachment.
Currently, Aman works at TATA Consulting Engineers Limited, Bangalore.
ROHIT SAINI

ROHIT SAINI

BTech-MTech (2022)

Rohit received his BTech-MTech (BT-MT) degree in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 2022. In NatFlows Lab, he investigated thickness induced transition of the wake generated by purely pitching foil in freestream flow.
Currently, Rohit is working as Risk Associate in Uniorbit Technologies Pvt Ltd. (Uni Cards), Mumbai.
AVINASH GOYAL

AVINASH GOYAL

MTech (2022)

Avinash graduated from IIT Kanpur in 2022 with his MTech degree in Mechanical Engineering. Prior to that, he received BTech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Ropar. In NatFlows Lab, he explored the effect of inter-distance on wake interaction dynamics of flapping airfoils arranged in parallel configuration.
Currently, Avinash is working as R&D Engineer at Sedemac Mechatronics, Pune.
MUHAMMAD NAJVAN

MUHAMMAD NAJVAN

MTech (2021)

Najvan graduated from IIT Kanpur in 2021 with his MTech degree in Mechanical Engineering. Prior to that, he received his BTech in Mechanical Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Surathkal, India. In NatFlows Lab, Najvan worked on identifying the effect of pitching airfoil thickness on wake dynamics and aerodynamics forces. The numerical investigation culminated in finding a very interesting wake bifurcation phenomenon and the relevant physical mechanism. He enjoys playing football and listening to music.
Currently, Najvan is working as a data scientist at PharmaACE Analytics, Pune, India
DIPAK ASHOK LOKHANDE

DIPAK ASHOK LOKHANDE

MTech (2021)

Dipak graduated from IIT Kanpur in 2021 with his MTech degree in Mechanical Engineering. Prior to that, he received his BE degree in Mechanical Engineering from Government College of Engineering and Research, Avasari, Pune, India. In NatFlows Lab and VTOL Lab (Aerospace Engineering), Dipak experimentally investigated the effect of geometric features such as shape, size, thickness, slicing and sweepback angle of flexible flap attached to a hovering model helicpter rotor blade. We observed aerodynamic performance improvement in terms of thrust and power loading by consuming less power. He enjoys playing badminton, chess and acoustic guitar.
Currently, Dipak is working as a Business System Analyst (IT Manager) at Axis Bank Ltd.
BRIJESH KUMAR SUMAN

BRIJESH KUMAR SUMAN

MTech (2021)

Brijesh graduated from IIT Kanpur in 2021 with his MTech degree in Mechanical Engineering. Prior to that, he received his BTech degree in Mechanical Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Patna. In NatFlows Lab, Brijesh numerically investigated the effect of Strouhal number, inter-foil distance and pitching frequency of the airfoils in tandem in-line configuration on wake dynamics. His study focused on the higher Strouhal number regime, specially St > 0.35, where interesting wake pattern are observed.
Currently, Brijesh is working at Mahindra & Mahindra Pvt. Ltd.
CHAYANIT NIGALTIA

CHAYANIT NIGALTIA

MTech (2019)

Chayanit graduated from IIT Kanpur in 2019 with his MTech degree in Mechanical Engineering. Chayanit initiated computational studies in NatFlows Lab using OpenFoam software. He numerically investigated deflection of jet generated by foil flapping in quiescent fluid and observed gradual and sudden switching modes. Chayanit played crucial pioneering role in the making of NatFlows Lab during its inception.
Currently, Chayanit is working in Johnson Matthey Chemicals India Pvt. Ltd.
Lt. Col. B. M. MANOJ KUMAR

Lt. Col. B. M. MANOJ KUMAR

MTech (2019)

Lt. Col. Manoj, working in Indian Army, graduated from IIT Kanpur in 2019 with his MTech degree in Mechanical Engineering. In NatFlows Lab and VTOL Lab (Aerospace Engineering), he worked on experimental investigation of flexible blade flaps for rotary wing application, especially for helicopters. He is well experienced in flying helicopters. Lt. Col. Manoj played very crucial pioneering role in the making of NatFlows Lab during its inception.
KUNDAN KUMAR

KUNDAN KUMAR

BTech-MTech (2018)

Kundan is the First MTech Student to graduate from the NatFlows Lab. He received his BTech-MTech (BT-MT) degree in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 2018. In NatFlows Lab, he experimentally investigated the effect of length and flexural rigidity of flexible surface attached to a pitching airfoil on momentum addition to the surrounding fluid and corresponding flow and thrust generation. His focus was on understanding the deformation characteristics of flexible surface and its coupling with flow generation. Kundan along with Noorul played crucial pioneering role in the making of NatFlows Lab during its inception.
Currently, Kundan is working in Tata Motors Ltd., Pune
KIRTAN THAKKAR

KIRTAN THAKKAR

BTech (2017)

Kirtan received his BTech degree in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 2017. In NatFlows Lab, he worked in the BTP (BTech Project) team with Ravi and Shubham to design, fabricate and demonstrate a Seed-Dibbler which is a semi-automatic seed sowing machine. This project received the Best BTP Award of the Department. After short stints of one year each at Mahindra & Mahindra, Ather Energy and as hardware packaging engineer, he received his Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Ohio State University specializing in locomotion of bipedal robots.
Currently, Kirtan is working as a software control engineer at Pxing robotics focussing on quadruped commercialization.
RAVI KOTHARI

RAVI KOTHARI

BTech (2017)

Ravi received his BTech degree in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 2017. In NatFlows Lab, he worked in the BTP (BTech Project) team with Kirtan and Shubham to design, fabricate and demonstrate a Seed-Dibbler which is a semi-automatic seed sowing machine. After graduation, he worked for two and half years at TATA Steel as maintenance engineer for Blast Furnace and auxiliary systems. Ravi studied Automotive Engineering at RWTH, Aachen, Germany, specializing in Intelligent energy controllers for Plug in hybrid vehicles.
Currently, Ravi is interning at Audi and focussing on object detection and motion forecasting using Deep neural net.
SHUBHAM GAJBHIYE

SHUBHAM GAJBHIYE

BTech (2017)

Shubham received his BTech degree in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 2017. In NatFlows Lab, he worked in the BTP (BTech Project) team with Kirtan and Ravi to design, fabricate and demonstrate a Seed-Dibbler which is a semi-automatic seed sowing machine. After graduation, he worked for two years at Capgemini as an Associate Consultant for a Malaysian telecom giant, and interned as a Product Manager at Alexa International, Amazon.
Currently, Shubham is pursuing MBA from IIM Calcutta, India.


Research Associates


PRASHANT KUMAR JAISWARA

PRASHANT KUMAR JAISWARA

SRF (2021 – 2022)

Prashant received his BTech-MTech Dual Degree in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 2012. In NatFlows Lab, Prashant worked as Senior Research Fellow. He was involved in exploring the effect of flexibility in flapping foil on flow and thrust generation in quiescent fluid using high speed imaging and PIV. His hobbies are to watch documentaries and to follow popular science articles.
Currently, Prashant works as Assistant Manager at HMX-ATE Enterprises, Ahmedabad.
SANTHOSH KUMAR S

SANTHOSH KUMAR S

SRF (2019 – 2020)

Santosh received his BE degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Park College of Technology (Anna University, India) and his MTech degree in Aerospace Engineering from University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, India. During Masters, he worked in collaboration with PRISME Laboratory in Université d'Orléans, France to experimentally investigate drag reduction in superhydrophobic fractal spheres. Currently, he is working as Fluid Dynamics Engineer in ‘The ePlane Company’. Santhosh joined the NatFlows Lab in September 2019 as Senior Research Fellow. He worked on understanding the effect of flexibility in flapping foil on flow and thrust generation. Santosh played important role in setting up the lab and the experiments. Apart from work, he enjoys being a nemophilist who love to capture beautiful moments.