Undergraduate Years 2022-2026
I am a member of The University of Alabama's Randall Research Scholars Program, America's oldest interdisciplinary undergraduate research program. RRSP pairs undergrads with a professor in their field to conduct research.
During my freshman year, my first engineering class was Thermodynamics I, under Dr. Kalyan Srinivasan. After meeting with him after class, I joined his research project in UA's Engines and Combustion Lab. His lab studies alternative fueling strategies on asingle-cylinder research engine (SCREs), specifically, a diesel-type motor based on the PACCAR MX-11. By studing new fueling strategies such as diesel-natural gas or diesel-butanol, we can increase engine efficiency and decrease emissions.
The lab both conducts engine experiments and designs computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations of the combustion process. I joined the simulation side, and began learning to conduct simulations in the Coverge CFD software. Simulation serves dual purpose to the ECL: we can simulate many fueling strategies, retaining the most promising for experiment, and we can use simulations validated against experiments to assess how the fuel actually burns in the engine according to its geometry and intial conditions.
My current work focuses on simulating low-temperature combustion of a dual-fueling strategy using natural gas as the primary fuel (mixed thoroughly with air intake) with a fuel-injected diesel pilot. I presented my work at the 2024 American Society of Mechanical Engineers Internal Combsution Engines Forward conference in San Antonio, TX.