Dr. Dhananjay Kumar
Assistant Professor
School of Energy Science and Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati
Dr. Kumar’s research focuses on hydrogen combustion and the development and prototyping of engines that run on hydrogen, compressed natural gas (CNG), hydrogen-enriched CNG, methanol, and ethanol.
He combines experiments in engines and combustion chambers with computational modelling to study how fuels mix with air, ignite, and burn. He uses optical diagnostics, including shadowgraph, diffused back-illumination (DBI), and schlieren imaging, to investigate fuel sprays, gaseous jets, and flame propagation. His research interests also include turbulent combustion modelling and the thermal management of lithium-ion batteries, particularly the conditions that lead to thermal runaway in electric and hybrid vehicles.
He earned his B.Tech at NIT Mizoram and his M.Tech and PhD in Mechanical Engineering at IIT Kanpur. Before joining IIT Guwahati, he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Engine Research Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.