Ratan Joarder

Biography

Ratan Joarder is an Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at IIT Kharagpur.

Research Interest

My research interest is in combustion and high speed Aerodynamics. Specifically I have worked in the areas of experimental and numerical studies of supersonic combustion, drag force measurements in a short duration test facility e.g. shock tunnel. In recent times I have worked on the characterization (including radiative heat loss) of a laser induced spark and its efficacy in the ignition of combustible mixture and on wave drag reduction. A new experimental facility on laser ignition of liquid fuel spray-air mixture and combustion spectroscopy is under development. In the numerical simulations, the ongoing efforts are to improve the spatial accuracy to fourth order of a compressible chemicallly reaction flow solver (developed in-house) which will be used for studies on LES of combustion. Being an engineer, the sole aim of the above studies is to solve real life problems related to Aerospace combustion and high speed aerodynamics. The endeavor has always been to try and simplify things to maximum possible extent. Students make an important part in my research/study in the sense I learn a lot from them while teaching as well as when they express their own ideas in research. I extend liberty in choosing the areas students want to work on and encourage independent thinking (updated in December 2016).