https://eng.ua.edu/eng-directory/dr-sundar-rajan-krishnan/
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=V0Xf7GwAAAAJ&hl=en
Sundar Rajan Krishnan is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Alabama (UA). He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1998 from Shanmugha College of Engineering (now SASTRA University), which was affiliated to Bharathidasan University in India.
Subsequently, he earned his Master’s and Doctoral degrees from The University of Alabama (UA) in 2002 and 2005, respectively. After completing a postdoctoral appointment at Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago, IL, Prof. Krishnan began his academic career as an Assistant Professor at Mississippi State University, where he earned tenure and promotion to Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering. He returned to UA as a tenured Associate Professor in 2017 and was promoted to Professor in 2021.
Since July 2024, he has taken additional responsibilities as the Associate Department Head for Graduate Studies. In collaboration with Prof. Kalyan Kumar Srinivasan, he set up the single-cylinder engines laboratory as part of the UA Engines and Combustion Laboratory (ECL). His research is focused on experimental and computational investigations of advanced low temperature combustion (LTC) concepts (e.g., dual fuel combustion, partially premixed combustion) and alternative fuels – both liquid fuels (e.g., oxymethylene ethers (OMEx), alcohols (methanol, ethanol, butanol, etc.)) and gaseous fuels (e.g., natural gas, propane, etc.) — for improving fuel efficiencies and power densities of future IC engines, while simultaneously reducing pollutant emissions. He is also interested in thermodynamic combustion modeling (first law, second law, and exergy analyses), system-level simulations with GT-Suite, CFD simulations of engine processes, and waste energy recovery.
With current and former colleagues over the past 25 years, Professor Krishnan has performed some of the first research efforts on advanced dual fuel LTC concepts for achieving very low engine-out NOx and soot emissions. His research has been supported by the US Department of Energy, ARPA-E, Propane Education and Research Council, US Department of Education, heavy-duty engine OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers. He has published over 75 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers and has advised or co-advised more than 25 M.S. and Ph.D. students.
He is currently advising or co-advising 4 Ph.D. students and 1 M.S. student. Professor Krishnan is currently Vice Chair of the ASME Internal Combustion Engine Division, the Chair of the ASME ICE Forward 2023 conference, Chair of the Advanced Combustion Committee of the ASME ICE Division, and a longtime session organizer/reviewer for various journals and conferences (SAE, ASME) related to combustion and IC engines. He has previously served as an Associate Editor (2019-2022) of the ASME Journal of Energy Resources Technology.
