🔥 Fire & Thermal Research Laboratory

Dr. Sudheer Siddapureddy | IIT Dharwad

Advancing Fire Safety & Thermal Engineering Research

Welcome to FTRL

The Fire and Thermal Research Laboratory (FTRL) at IIT Dharwad is emerging to facilitate studies on open and compartment pool fires both experimentally and numerically, and also heat transfer investigations like jet impingement cooling and e-vehicle battery cooling. Some of the major focuses in this fire research laboratory are to establish innovative techniques for measuring different parameters in stand-alone and multiple pool fires. One of the major focuss in the thermal research laboratory are jet impingement, and battery thermal management.

Explore Our Research
15+
Journal Papers
25+
Conference Papers
5+
Students Graduated
10+
Years Experience

🎥 Laboratory Showcase Video

Watch our state-of-the-art facilities and ongoing research in action

🔥 Fire Experiments

Live pool fire testing

⚗️ Lab Facilities

State-of-the-art equipment

👥 Team at Work

Students and researchers

📊 Research Impact

Real-world applications

🔥 Pool Fire Research

Experimental and numerical studies on single and multiple pool fires, flame characteristics, and heat transfer mechanisms.

🌡️ Thermal Management

Advanced cooling techniques including jet impingement and battery thermal management for e-vehicles.

🤖 Fire Safety AI

Application of AI and machine learning in fire safety engineering and thermal analysis.

Research Areas

Pool Fire Dynamics

  • Single and multiple pool fires
  • Flame height correlations
  • Heat transfer mechanisms
  • Thermal radiation studies
View Publications

Jet Impingement Cooling

  • Multiple air jet impingement
  • Heat transfer coefficients
  • Jet plate thickness effects
  • Industrial applications

Battery Thermal Management

  • E-vehicle battery cooling
  • Thermal management systems
  • Heat dissipation studies
  • Safety applications

Fire Safety Engineering

  • Evacuation modeling
  • Fire retardant materials
  • Intumescent coatings
  • Building fire safety

AI in Fire Research

  • Machine learning applications
  • Thermal imagery analysis
  • Fire prediction models

Numerical Simulations

  • Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS)
  • CFD modeling
  • Large Eddy Simulations
  • OpenFOAM applications

Our Research Team

Dr. Sudheer Siddapureddy

Dr. Sudheer Siddapureddy

Principal Investigator

Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering

Contact

Current Team

Dr. Naveen Kumar

Dr. Naveen Kumar

Institute Post-Doctoral Fellowship (iPDF)

CFD, Turbulence, Combustion

Heena Ismail Shaikh

Heena Ismail Shaikh

PhD Student

Jet Impingement Studies

Vikas R

Vikas R

PhD Student

Multiple Pool Fires

Surendra

Surendra

Master Student

Ongoing Research

Alumni - Recent Graduates

Dr. Bathina Siva Kumar

PhD Graduated (2023)

Double Pool Fires Research

Arun Pattanashetti

Arun Pattanashetti

PhD Graduated (2025)

Co-axial Swirling Jets

Current Interns

Aadhi Shankar R S

Aadhi Shankar R S

Cancer Diagnosis using Thermal Imagery

AI & Medical Applications

Mareddy Naveen Kumar Reddy

Mareddy Naveen Kumar Reddy

Battery Thermal Management

E-Vehicle Applications

Dhananjay Patel

Dhananjay Patel

AI and ML in Fire Safety

Machine Learning Applications

Ajay Kumar Juvvala

Ajay Kumar Juvvala

Numerical Studies on Bioreactors

Computational Studies

Undergraduate Projects

Tamminaina Syam Kumar

Tamminaina Syam Kumar

Fire Rescue Drone

B.Tech Project

Ujjawal Nirwan

Ujjawal Nirwan

Battery Thermal Management

B.Tech Project

Manindra Singh Rathore

Manindra Singh Rathore

Battery Thermal Management

B.Tech Project

Vikas Kumawat

Vikas Kumawat

Battery Thermal Management

B.Tech Project

Publications

Explore our latest research contributions in fire safety and thermal engineering.

📚 View Google Scholar Profile

Recent Selected Journal Publications

Flow modelling of a rocket nozzle using hydrogen and methane propellants

Authors: Naveen Kumar and Sudheer S

Journal: Advances in Space Research, 2025

This study focuses on the flow modeling of high-area ratio (HAR) rocket nozzles, which are essential for achieving high-speed propulsion.

Experimental Investigation of Flame Height and Air Entrainment of n-heptane Double Open Pool Fires

Authors: Siva KB and Sudheer S

Journal: Experimental Heat Transfer, 2024

Study on flame characteristics and thermal radiation in double pool fire configurations.

Measurement of Local Nusselt Number and Local Recovery Factor for Impinging Multiple Compressible Jets

Authors: Heena IS, Sudheer S, and Prabhu SV

Journal: Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, 2025

In this experimental study, he appropriate reference temperature is identified for the compressible impinging jet.

Experimental Investigation of Flame Height and Air Entrainment of n-Heptane Double Open Pool Fires

Authors: Siva KB and Sudheer S

Journal: Experimental Heat Transfer, 2022

Comprehensive study on flame dynamics in multiple pool fire scenarios.

Heat Transfer to Bodies Engulfed in Di-tert-butyl Peroxide Pool Fires - Numerical Simulations

Authors: Sudheer S, Klaus-Dieter Wehrstedt and Prabhu SV

Journal: Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, 2016

Numerical investigation of heat transfer mechanisms in hazardous chemical fires.

Patent

Design of a Probe for Measuring Radiative Heat Flux of Combustion Systems

Inventors: S.V. Prabhu, S. Kumar, V.M. Reddy and S. Sudheer

Application Number: 3368/MUM/2012

Innovative probe design for accurate measurement of thermal radiation in fire environments.

Laboratory Facilities

State-of-the-art equipment and facilities for fire and thermal research.

🔥 Pool Fire Test Facility

  • Multiple pool fire setups
  • Various fuel types capability
  • Temperature measurement systems
  • Infrared thermography

📊 Data Acquisition Systems

  • High-speed temperature logging
  • Multi-channel data recording
  • Real-time monitoring systems

🌡️ Heat Transfer Equipment

  • Jet impingement test setup
  • Heat flux measurement devices
  • Thermal imaging systems

💻 Computational Resources

  • High-performance computing cluster
  • CFD software licenses
  • Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS)
  • MATLAB and specialized tools

🔬 Material Testing

  • Conical heater
  • Fire retardant testing
  • Material characterization
  • Thermal property measurement

SPROUTS Experiments

Specialized Pool fire Research and Outstanding Undergraduate Training Setup

Our SPROUTS facility enables comprehensive experimental studies on pool fires with advanced measurement techniques and safety protocols.

Contact Information

Get in touch for collaborations, research opportunities, or academic inquiries.

📧 Email

sudheer@iitdh.ac.in

📞 Phone

+91 836 2309658

🏢 Office

Department of Mechanical Engineering
IIT Dharwad

📍 Address

Indian Institute of Technology Dharwad
Dharwad, Karnataka, India - 580011

📧 Send Email 📚 Request Lecture Notes

Research Interests & Collaborations

Student Opportunities

We welcome undergraduate and graduate students interested in fire safety research, thermal engineering, and computational studies.

Industry Collaboration

Open to partnerships with industry for applied research in fire safety, thermal management, and product development.

Academic Exchange

Interested in collaborations with other research institutions and participation in joint research projects.