Aerodynamics, Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer and Combustion Chemistry. The building blocks of propusion systems. While feedback control is also an integral part, courses like these primarily cover the mechanical aspects of propulsion systems.

Dr. Koppillil Radhakrishnan visited APSYS lab in January 2023 as a part of a visit to IIT Kharagpur India. Dr. Radhakrishnan is an Indian space scientist who headed the Indian Space Research Organisation between November 2009 and December 2014 as Chairman of Space Commission, Secretary of the Department of Space and Chairman of ISRO.

Flame oscillations under certain flow and equivalence ratio conditions can be controlled using open loop and closed loop controls. Different flame shapes, lift off characteristics can be observed, along with periodic behavious in flame anchoring location. Flame heat release modulations, anchoring, oscillations suppression using acoustic forcing and the effect of resonant burning on NOx emission are important topics of research being addressed.

Schlieren flow visualization is based on the deflection of light by a refractive index gradient. The index gradient is directly related to flow density gradient. Due to this deflection an intensity pattern is created on a screen. Here an initial test of Schlieren using a cangle flame is shown.