Location
Mechanical & Aerospace Building, Rm 333
122 Engineer's Way, Rm. 333
Charlottesville, VA 22903
Google Scholar Reacting Flow Lab

About

Professor Chelliah joined the University of Virginia in the Fall of 1992. He received his PhD degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University in January 1989. After completion of his Ph.D., he continued his research at Princeton University as a Research Associate/Staff Member from 1988-1992. His research interests include fundamental interactions between finite-rate kinetics and fluid transport phenomena, with applications to fire initiation, propagation, and mitigation; basic combustion aspects related to gas-turbine engines; turbulence-chemistry interactions in hypersonic engines; endothermic cooling using jet/rocket fuels; kinetics of ceramic material (SiC, BN, ...) synthesis, and many others.  

Professor Chelliah is an active member of the Combustion Institute, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He is a Fellow of ASME, Fellow of the Combustion Institute, an Associate Fellow of AIAA, and a visiting Fellow of Peterhouse College at Cambridge University. In 2016, he was the Thomas Jefferson Fellow at the Downing College at Cambridge University. 

Education

B.S. ​Mechanical Engineering, University of Moratuwa in Sri Lanka, 1981

M.S. ​Mechanical Engineering, SUNY at Stony Brook, 1984

Ph.D. ​Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, 1989

Research Interests

Fluid Mechanics
Chemical kinetics and model reduction
Combustion
Hypersonic propulsion
Soot nucleation, growth, and oxidation
Synthesis and life-cycle analysis of ceramic materials
Fire initiation, propagation, suppression

Selected Publications

Thermal decomposition of methyltrichlorosilane/
hydrogen/ inert mixtures at conditions relevant for
chemical vapor infiltration of SiC ceramics, Int. J. Chem. Kinetics, (2022). K. Dang, H.K. Chelliah
https://doi.org/10.1002/kin.21550
Sooting Limits of Non-premixed Counterflow Ethylene/Oxygen/Inert Flames using LII: Effects of Flow Strain Rate and Pressure (up to 30 atm), Combustion And Flame, 195 (2018), Pp. 267-281. B.G. Sarnacki, H.K. Chelliah
Abstract
On the Axisymmetric Counterflow Flame Simulations: Is there an Optimal Nozzle Diameter and Separation Distance to Apply Quasi One-Dimensional Theory?, Combustion Science and Technology, 187 (2015), Pp. 37-59. R.F. Johnson, A.C. Vandine, G. Esposito, H.K. Chelliah
Skeletal reaction models based on principal component analysis: Application to ethylene–air ignition, propagation, and extinction phenomena, Combustion and Flame 158 (2011), Pp. 477–489. G. Esposito, H.K. Chelliah
Self-sustained Acoustic-Wave Interactions with Counterflow Flames, J. Fluid Mechanics, 560 (2006), Pp. 249-278. A.C. Zambon, H.K. Chelliah
Dynamics of Water Droplets in a Counterflow Field and Their Effect on Flame Extinction, Combustion and Flame, 115 (1998), Pp.158-179. A.M. Lentati, H.K. Chelliah
An experimental and theoretical investigation of the dilution, pressure and flow-field effects on the extinction condition of methane-air-nitrogen diffusion flames. Symposium (International) on Combustion, Elsevier. 1991. Proc. Combust. Inst., 23 (1991), Pp. 503-511. H.K. Chelliah, C.K. Law, T. Ueda, M.D. Smooke, F.A. Williams

Courses Taught

MAE2100: Thermodynamics
MAE3120: Thermal System Analysis
MAE4320: Rocket Propulsion
MAE4610/4620: Mechanical Engineering Design I & II
MAE6100: Thermo-mechanics
MAE6130: Non-equilibrium gas dynamics
MAE7150: Combustion
APMA212: Multivariable Calculus
ENGR164: Engineering Design
MAE207: Dynamics

Awards

Fellow of the Combustion Institute 2019
Fellow of American Society of Mechanical Engineers 2018
Thomas Jefferson Visiting Fellow at Downing College, Cambridge, UK 2016
Visiting Fellow at Peterhouse College, Cambridge, UK 2015
Associate Fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 2004

Featured Grants & Projects

AFOSR-NSF Understanding flow compressibility and heat release effects on turbulent combustion and assessment of subgrid scale models.
Rolls Royce Soot formation and oxidation in gas turbine engine conditions using a high-pressure counterflow flame reactor and tubular flow reactor.
Rolls Royce Understanding the coupling mechanisms between finite-rate chemistry and transport of silicon carbide synthesis and infiltration processes in a tubular flow reactor.
NASA-AFOSR National Center for Hypersonic Combined Cycle Propulsion