Dr Ankit Dilip Kumar

Henslow Fellow 2024

Dr. Ankit Dilip Kumar is a Henslow Fellow at Robinson College and works in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. His research is on thermoacoustic and hydrodynamic instabilities in turbulent reacting flows, with applications in the energy and aerospace sectors.

With over 80% of global energy derived from combustion of carbon-based sources, retrofitting existing technology to burn zero-carbon fuels like hydrogen is a cost-effective strategy for decarbonising the energy sector. However, gas turbine combustion faces significant challenges from thermoacoustic instabilities, a two-way coupling between heat and pressure that can cause destructive vibrations. Ankit’s work focuses on understanding these interactions in hydrogen-fuelled systems, modelling them through numerical simulations, and finding mitigation strategies using techniques prevalent in the study of nonlinear dynamical systems.

Long-term exposure to aircraft noise is linked to insomnia, which can result in cognitive decline and mental health issues. Ankit’s research also includes modelling direct combustion noise from aircraft engines, with particular attention to the link between noise and common hydrodynamic instabilities in gas-turbine combustors. This link enables the development of simple, cost-effective models for predicting noise and designing inherently silent combustors.

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