prof.dr.ir. S. Vanapalli | People Pages: Find employees & contact details

Srinivas Vanapalli’s academic roots are from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras with a bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering. He later received an electrical engineering master’s degree (cum laude) from the University of Twente. He received his PhD title for 'High frequency operation and miniaturization aspects of cryocoolers' at UT, a major part of this work is carried out at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, USA.

Srini has a mix of industrial and academic experience and has worked so far in three continents. His research interest is cryogenics where disciplines thermodynamics, material sciences, fluid, and heat transfer meet. He received the 2019 Mulholland award for excellence in cryogenic engineering which is given to recognize significant achievement in a particular areas of cryogenics.

Srini leads the Applied Thermal Sciences lab within the Energy Materials and Systems cluster where his team explores fundamentals and applications of thermal sciences in both space and time domains. The core competence of his group is heat and mass transfer phenomena in the cryogenic temperature range from 200 K to 4 K. His approach combines formulation of conceptual models, experiments, and numeric. The topics of his research are problem-driven and his team seek to solve grand societal challenges related to energy and life sciences.

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Expertise

Physics
- Temperature
- Cooling
- Heat
- Gaseous State
- Ice
- Performance
- Liquid Nitrogen
Engineering
- Microcooler

Organisations

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Cryocoolers: Joule-Thomson and Stirling type

Hydrogen liquefaction and storage: small scale hydrogen liquefiers and storage

Multiphase flow and heat transfer at low temperatures: imbibition of liquid nitrogen in porous media, cryogenic droplet evaporation physics, freeze concentration.

Stirling thermodynamics: Oscillating flow and heat transfer physics

Sublimation physics: Dry Ice (CO2) Leidenfrost layer dynamics, Schlieren imaging of density gradients around dry ice, dry ice sublimation in storage boxes, CO2 thermodynamic sublimation phase diagram for a binary mixture.

Cryogenics in Applied Lifescience: Cryofixation of biomedical materials, frozen transport, & cryo-handling.

Technology development: Additive manufacturing, Micromachining

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

please see the home page of Applied Thermal Sciences lab

Publications

2024

Modeling of a liquid nitrogen droplet evaporating inside an immiscible liquid pool, Article 125444. Zhang, Z., Zhao, H. & Vanapalli, S.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2024.125444Experimental and theoretical investigation of the Leidenfrost dynamics of solid carbon dioxide discs sublimating on a solid substrate, Article 125300. Purandare, A. S., Cuartas-Vélez, C., Smeman, N., Schremb, M., Bosschaart, N. & Vanapalli, S.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2024.125300Sublimation Kinetics of Carbon Dioxide. University of Twente. Purandare, A.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036561198A non-invasive capacitive sensor to investigate the Leidenfrost phenomenon: a proof of concept study, Article 10565. Purandare, A. S., Rijs, J., Sagar, P. & Vanapalli, S.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-61222-zExperimental and theoretical analysis of solute redistribution during a progressive freeze concentration process, Article 107288. Zhang, Z., Joy, M. & Vanapalli, S.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2024.107288

2023

A nitrogen Leidenfrost droplet on a water pool: Experiments, theory and simulations of droplet shrinkage and ice formation, Article 124658. Schremb, M., Kalter, M. & Vanapalli, S.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2023.124658Cryogenic sub-cooling. Vanapalli, S. & Holland, H.https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/083271638/publication/WO2023244112A1?q=WO2023%2F244112Development of a lab-device for evaporation-free supply of pure liquid nitrogen for droplet- and jet-generation, Article 6421. Schremb, M., Kalter, M. & Vanapalli, S.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-31955-4A protocol for accurately calibrating thermocouples at cryogenic temperatures, Article 012079 (Accepted/In press). Purandare, A. & Vanapalli, S.https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/1301/1/012079Experimental and theoretical investigation of the dry ice sublimation temperature for varying far-field pressure and CO2 concentration, Article 107042. Purandare, A., Vanapalli, S. & Verbruggen, W.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2023.107042

Research profiles

What defines me as a teacher?

Experiment with better ways to achieve success
Value the students and respect them.
Inspire students by drawing parallels between the subject matter and students everyday experiences. Also walking through several examples.
Belief in mentoring students and showing them the path to learn themselves.
Provide thought provoking examples (not just a text book).

Affiliated study programs

Courses academic year 2023/2024

Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.

Courses academic year 2022/2023

My research is supported by national, european funding agencies and industry.

Funding entities: NWO-TTW, EU, TKI-HTSM, TKI-Energy, ZonMW, ESA & Air Liquide

What drives me as a scientist is the exciting wealth of knowledge and surprises I come across in my research, either in the lab or in discussions with my team. We built a little cryogenic fluids playground and often me and my students try things out of curiosity, very often transforming into serious multi-year projects. I believe in sharing this curiosity with the general public and to high-school students, with a hope to ignite the STEM flame in them. My outreach efforts were recognized recently by the MESA+ Dave Blank Outreach Award.