The Department of Aerospace Engineering focuses on a variety of Research areas that includes Aerospace and general applications. We have a good number of faculty members with extensive research experience from nationally and internationally reputed labs/institutions. We also have three Research Track faculty members focussing on fundamental and applied research. Our research areas are grouped into major domains like Aerodynamics, Structural Mechanics, Propulsion, and other topics like Flight Dynamics, Space Mechanics, and various interdisciplinary areas.

The Aerodynamics Domain focuses on areas like Airplane/Airfoil Aerodynamics, Unsteady Aerodynamics, Aerodynamics of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Bio-Inspired Aerodynamics Optimization and Theoretical / Experimental / Computational Aerodynamics, under incompressible aerodynamics. Applied research on Aerodynamics focuses on Automotive Aerodynamics, Wind Turbine Aerodynamics, Heat Transfer Enhancement Techniques, Flow Control Techniques and Wind Assisted Ship Propulsion. In compressible aerodynamics, we focus on Supersonic Flow Measurements and Visualizations by using Pitot-tube with Pressure Scanner, Schlieren and Shadowgraphy. Jet flow research is one of the most sought topics by research scholars/students and our in-house developed jet facility aids research topics like studies on High-Speed Jets, Jet Flow Control, Multi-stream Coaxial Jets and Jet Flow Aeroacoustics. On the very high-speed regime, we focus on Re-entry Aerodynamics, Hypersonic Aerothermodynamics of Space vehicles, Rarefied Gas Dynamics simulations using Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC). Fundamental studies on Multiphase flows are also carried out via experiments (by using High Speed Camera Visualizations) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (ANSYS Fluent and OpenFOAM®). The topics include studies on bubble and droplet dynamics with/without phase change (Evaporation, Boiling and Condensation).

The Structural Mechanics Domain focuses on areas like Aircraft/Aerospace Structural Mechanics, Composite Structures and Vibrations. Research areas in Vibrations include Random Vibrations, Vibration analysis of passive and active landing gears, Stability Analysis and Controllers via Matlab Simulink and Ansys. The studies on composite structures include Tapered and Curved Laminates, Sandwich Structures, Hybrid Laminates and Multi-scale Laminated Composites. The advanced studies on composite structures include high strain rate characterization and impact mechanics using advanced techniques like the Digital Image Correlation (DIC). The other research areas like recycling of Fibre Reinforced Polymer composites, repair on laminated composites and structural health monitoring focuses on the maintenance of Aircraft/Aerospace Structures. Emerging topics like Aircraft System Design via Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are also considered.

The Propulsion Domain focuses on Propulsion, Combustion and Thermal Sciences. The specific interests are in the areas of Aircraft and Rocket Propulsion like performance characterization of Solid, Liquid and Hybrid Propellants. Advanced techniques like electric propulsion are also being studied extensively. Experimental and computational methods are involved to study various propulsion and combustion phenomena. Reacting Flows, Combustion, Heat Transfer and Turbomachinary are other research areas considered for research. Flame Dynamics, Thermo acoustics and Fire Dynamics in Normal and Microgravity are advanced topics researched presently.

The Flight Dynamics topics include Flapping Wing mechanisms and performance, UAV Flight Dynamics and performance of Aerial Robots/Drones. The space mission related research focuses on Spacecraft Dynamics like Attitude Control and Trajectory Optimization. The general space research includes topics like Space Debris Mitigation, Spacecraft Collision Avoidance System, Deep Space Exploration and Autonomous automation. The interdisciplinary research areas include Fluid Structure Interaction, Aero-elasticity, Flame Dynamics studies with Non-linear Dynamics and usage of statistical tools in various aerospace domains.