TRANSPORT OF HEAT, MASS, AND MOMENTUM ARE OFTEN accompanied by spatial and temporal pattern formation. Understanding the cause of pattern formation is pivotal as this research has application to the processing of materials on earth and under microgravity conditions. Such processes include additive manufacturing of metals, bulk crystal growth of semiconductors, thin film growth during evaporation, and electroplating.

IN THE AREA OF INSTABILITIES, IT IS THE GOAL of the present research to examine the physics of the spontaneous generation of spatial patterns in processes that involve solidification, electrodeposition, resonance, and free-surface convection. The pattern formation is associated with instabilities of a parent state as a control parameter is changed. Other processes of interest that involve instabilities are shearing flows with viscous dissipation of heat and oscillatory flows where flow reversal is the cause of non-rectilinear patterns.

THE MATHEMATICAL METHODS USED IN OUR RESEARCH are related to bifurcation theory, non-linear energy methods, and perturbation techniques. The experimental methods involve flow sensing by infrared imaging, shadowgraphy, and electrochemical titration.

Education

Ph.D., 1978, Illinois Institute of Technology (1981)

Awards & Distinctions

• Fellow of the American Society Gravitational and Space Research
• University of Florida Foundation Professorship Award, 2022
• Edmond Safra Professor, Technion, 2019
• University Term Professor, 2018-2021
• Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers
• Fellow of the American Physical Society
• Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Fellow of the institute of Mathematics and Applications
• Academician of International Academy of Astronautics
• Institute of Advanced Study Fellowship, Durham University
• W. Fulbright Distinguished Chair Professorship
• Fulbright Scholar Award
• Humboldt Research Fellowships
• Distinguished Achievement and Education Award, National Engineering Council
• Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowships
• Chevron Professorship, IIT Madras

selected Publications

• A. Ganesh, D. Pillai and R. Narayanan, Effect of low-frequency AC forcing on the morphological instability arising in electrodeposition J. Eng. Math.  132, p.16 (2022)
• B. Dinesh, T. Corbin and R. Narayanan, Thin-film Rayleigh-Taylor instability in the presence of a deep periodic corrugated wall, J. of Fluid Mechanics, Volume 931, Issue R5, 2021
• B. Dinesh and R. Narayanan, Branching behaviour of the Rayleigh–Taylor instability in linear viscoelastic fluids, J. Fluid Mechanics, A-63 pp. 1-27, volume 915, (2021)
• B. Dinesh and R. Narayanan, Nature of branching in electrohydrodynamic instability, 6, pp 054001, Phys. Rev. Fluids. May 6 (2021)
• D. Pillai, K. Sahu and R. Narayanan,” Electrowetting of a leaky dielectric droplet under a time-periodic electric field,” Phys. Rev. Fluids.,6, 073701 (2021)
• K.L. Ward, S. Matsumoto, and R. Narayanan, “ The Electrostatically fForced Faraday Instability- Theory and Experiments”, J. Fluid Mech., 862,pp 696-731, (2019)
• G. Dietze, J. Picardo and R. Narayanan, “Sliding Instability of Draining Fluid Films”,  J. Fluid Mech. 857, pp 111-141 (2018)
• D. Pillai and R. Narayanan, “Interfacial Dynamics of a Confined Liquid Vapor Bilayer Undergoing Evaporation”, J. Fluid Mech.  857, pp1-37, (2018)
• D. Pillai and R. Narayanan, “D. Pillai and R. Narayanan, “Nonlinear Dynamics of  Electrostatic Faraday Instability in Thin Films”, J. Fluid Mech. 855, p R4 (2018)
• D. Pillai and R. Narayanan, “Rayleigh Taylor Stability in an Evaporating Binary Mixture”, J. Fluid Mech, 848, R1  (2018)
• S.V. Diwakar, V. Jajoo, S. Amiroudine, S. Matsumoto, R. Narayanan and F. Zoueshtiagh, “Influence of capillarity and gravity on confined Faraday waves”, Phys Rev. Fluids,  3, 073902, (2018)
• N.B. Brosius, K.L. Ward, S. Matsumoto, M. Sansoucie, and R. Narayanan, “Faraday forcing of high temperature levitated liquid metal drops to measure surface tension”, Nature (microgravity), 4, N.10 (2018)
• J. Picardo and R. Narayanan, “Interfacial pattern selection in defiance of linear growth, J. Fluid Mech., 829, 345-363, (2017)