K Krishna

Ph.D.

Mechanical

Engineer with 7+ years of combined research and industrial experience in CFD, thermal-fluid sciences, conjugate heat transfer, multiphase flow, and thermal management. Experienced in developing high-fidelity steady-state and transient CFD simulations using Star-CCM+, ANSYS Fluent, and COMSOL Multi-physics for electric motor cooling, hydrogen storage systems, and compact heat exchangers. Demonstrated success in improving thermal performance through simulation-driven design optimization, achieving 2× enhancement in heat transfer coefficient in E-Motor and 50% reduction in hydrogen charging time.

Experienced in numerical model development, topology optimization, experimental validation, and multidisciplinary collaboration for advanced thermal system design.

Senior CFD Engineer at Tata Consultancy Services (2024-12 – Present)

Postdoctoral Researcher at IIT Madras (2024-06 – 2024-12)

• Developed CFD models for compact heat exchangers in hydrogen storage.
• Applied topology optimization to improve heat transfer while reducing material usage.
• Evaluated multiple thermal management concepts using simulation-driven design.

PhD Researcher at IIT Madras (2019-07 – 2024-06)

Led transient multiphase CFD development for oil-cooled induction motor rotors using Star-CCM+.

• Owned end-to-end simulation workflow including CAD preparation, meshing, physics setup, solver tuning, validation and reporting.
• Engineered rotor cooling strategies delivering ~2× improvement in heat transfer coefficient.
• Performed conjugate heat transfer analysis of rotor, stator, shaft and lubricant interactions.
• Supported thermal design verification for next-generation electric machines.
• Executed parametric design studies to optimize cooling architecture and reliability.
• Collaborated with cross-functional product teams to convert simulation results into design recommendations.
• Co-inventor on US patent: Rotor end ring cooling for induction machines (Filed 2026).
• Developed coupled heat transfer, mass transfer, and reaction kinetics CFD models for metal hydride hydrogen storage reactors using COMSOL Multi-physics.
• Designed and optimized bio-inspired fin structures, topology-optimized fins, and innovative heat exchanger configurations to enhance reactor thermal performance.
• Reduced hydrogen charging time by approximately 50% through simulation-driven thermal optimization.
• Improved heat transfer performance by developing novel thermal enhancement techniques for compact hydrogen storage systems.
• Designed, fabricated, and experimentally evaluated thermally optimized metal hydride reactors to investigate hydrogen charging and discharging characteristics under various operating conditions.
• Performed experimental validation of CFD models by comparing hydrogen absorption/desorption behavior, reactor temperature distribution, and thermal response with numerical predictions, demonstrating excellent agreement.
• Conducted numerical validation, grid independence studies, and extensive parametric analyses to ensure model accuracy.

Ph.D. in Thermal Engineering – Indian Institute of Technology Madras (2024-06)

M.Des. in Mechanical Systems Design – IIITDM Kancheepuram

B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering – AP IIIT RK Valley