Specialisation:

Fluid mechanics,
Heat transfer,
Measurements,
Inverse techniques,
Numerical simulation,
Optical imaging

Major Professional Contributions:

Dr. Muralidhar has conducted a wide range of experiments and performed numerical simulation in subjects related to fluid mechanics and heat transfer. Over hundred and twenty full-length articles arising from this research have been published in well-known international journals apart from wide-ranging monographs and book chapters. His work has led to better understanding of transport phenomena in porous media, jets and bluff-body wakes, flow control, crystal growth, dropwise condensation, and biomedical flows. Dr. Muralidhar’s research finds applications in gas hydrates and enhanced oil recovery, regenerators, and growth of optical crystals. His work on interferometric tomography, fluid-fluid interfaces and schlieren imaging of convection patterns around growing crystals is well-recognized and have appeared as invited review articles. He has a filed international patent related to enriching coarse MRI images of blood flow and several Indian patents on (i) design of a peristaltic pump for time-dependent flow rates and (ii) imaging chaotic flow in enlarged arteries, (iii) enhanced solar stills, (iv) optical determination of thermal diffusivity, and one on (v) wall heat flux sensor using a single thermocouple sensor.

In his tenure as Head, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dr Muralidhar was successful in increasing the number of students in the doctoral program. At the same time, a large number of new faculty joined the Department and major funding for equipment was secured from the Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi. He brought focus on micro-engineering – mechanics, transport, imaging, and manufacturing, within the Department. As Dean, Research and Development, he consolidated groups on solar energy, advanced mechanics, and high performance computing. The Institute saw a substantial growth in project funding during this period. Dr Muralidhar created research outlets for undergraduate students, resulting in activities such as an autonomous vehicle and a lunar rover, a popular publication called NERD, an informal student group called POWER dedicated to solving industry-oriented problems, and an all-India conference series for undergraduate students, called ICARUS. As Dean, Faculty, he contributed to significant expansion of the institute in terms of hiring of faculty and postdoctoral fellows, while streamlining assessment procedures.
Dr. Muralidhar has coordinated a national multi-institutional initiative on solar hydrogen generation, a multi-institutional project on CFD code development on unstructured grids, and an initiative on futuristic mechanics. He has coordinated research on unconventional hydrocarbons in a Pan IIT-ONGC consortium. He is also engaged in research related to biomedical modeling and disease progression, and liquid-vapor interfacial phenomena over textured surfaces with special attention on the three-phase contact line. He has co-authored monographs on optical measurement techniques, transport in porous media, and modeling dropwise condensation.

A large number of students of Dr. Muralidhar have opted for life in the academia and research laboratories around the world.

Consultancy Areas:

Sector Associated With:

Academic

Sectors Interested to Offer Service:

Water purification

Professional Experience

Laser imaging

Numerical simulation

Keywords

Fluid mechanics, Heat Transfer, Interfacial phenomena, Droplet dynamics, Phase change process