Muhammad Akbar, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor, Mechanical EngineeringContact
Office: PARB A234Phone: 912-966-7831
Email: ma140@mail.gatech.edu
Research Thrusts
Thermal and Fluid SciencesEducation
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004M.S., Engineering Science and Mechanics, The University of Alabama, 2001
M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1998
B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1995
Research Interests
- Computational fluid dynamics
- Transport phenomena in complex flow systems
- Heat and mass transfer
- Micro systems flow
- Multiphase flow
- Renewable energy
Dr. Akbar’s general research area is thermo-fluid sciences. He has expertise and experience in simulation as well as experimentation, with the primary focus being on theoretical and computational modeling. He has undertaken theoretical and numerical investigations of Taylor bubbles in capillaries, and has proposed better correlations for slug lengths and pressure drops in such capillaries. Slug flow, dominated by Taylor bubbles, is observed both in large and micro-channels, and covers an extensive portion of the entire flow regime map. One important use of this research is in monolithic catalyst converters, which are extensively used in multiphase reactors and in Otto engines. For a project funded by the Department of Energy, he has experimentally studied the three phase slurry flow in vertical columns and has proposed hydrodynamic conditions that optimize the oxygen based bleaching. For a project sponsored by the NASA Langley Research Center, he has numerically investigated the feasibility of a thin-film evaporative cooling scheme for a high power laser crystal and has recommended optimum flow arrangements to ensure low and uniform operating temperature of the crystal. He has performed numerical investigations into a wide variety of complex multiphase problems, and has published several refereed journal articles and participated in several conferences. He has involved undergraduate students in research and has designed a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) course for them. Two of his undergraduate students received the Georgia Tech President’s Undergraduate Research Awards (PURA) in Spring 2006. One of the students has studied the inclusion particles removal from molten steel using a zigzag channel. The other student has studied the two-phase flow in a microchannel bend. Both of the studies are done numerically, and Dr. Akbar is following up the research after them. He is member of ASME. He has a deep passion for excellence and entrepreneurship in both research and education.
