Instrumentation, Measurements, and Experiments in Fluids

This title is primarily focused on essentials required for experimentation in fluids, explaining basic principles, and addressing the tools and methods needed for advanced experimentation. It also provides insight into the vital topics and issues associated with the devices and instruments used for fluid mechanics and gas dynamics experiments. The second edition adds exercise problems with answers, along with PIV systems of flow visualization, water flow channel for flow visualization, and pictures with Schlieren and shadowgraph—from which possible quantitative information can be extracted. Ancillary materials include detailed solutions manual and lecture slides for the instructors.

Dr. Rathakrishnan is the Editor-In-Chief of International Review of Aerospace Engineering Journal and International Review of Mechanical Engineering Journal.

He has contributed a limit for jet control, termed: "Rathakrishnan Limit." (Rathakrishnan E., Experimental Studies on the Limiting Tab, AIAA Journal, Vol. 47, No. 10, October 2009, pp. 2475-2485). Some of his other contributions to jet technology include: positioning twin-vortices behind flat plate at Reynolds number as high as 5000 and brought out the physics behind this possibility at Reynolds number, which is greatly lager than the limiting Reynolds number of around 160 reported by Von Karman for position twin vortices behind a circular cylinder; introducing and demonstrating the concept of Breathing Blunt Nose (BBN), which decreases the high pressure at the nose and increases the low pressure at the base, resulting in considerable drag reduction, without any adverse effect, of a blunt-nosed body meant for hypersonic operation ; proving with quantitative and qualitative proof that the supersonic free jet issuing a nozzle is wave dominated; institutionalizing the axial coordinate relation for Laval nozzle design; demonstrating that the splitter plate should be off-centered in order to weaken the vortices at the base of a bluff body; showing that overexpanded jets can operate Hartmann-Sprenger tube as efficiently as undrex- panded jets. Dr. Rathakrishnan is the Chairman of 2 National Conference and 3 International Conference. He has been invited to speak at 47 lectures and delivered 8 Keynote Lectures. He has published 8 articles in national journals and 135 international journals. He has authored 10 books.

Dr. Rathakrishnan was honored in the Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellowship in 2014. He was awarded the Journal of Visualization Award in 2007. The President of India presented him with the Excellence in Aerospace Education Award in 2003.