We study interfacial transport, wetting, droplets, multiphase systems, thermal management, and collective dynamics across scales, connecting fundamental fluid mechanics with energy, diagnostics, healthcare, and environmental applications.
Our research is organized around engineered interfaces, open microfluidic platforms, multiphase transport, thermal applications, and collective systems.
Liquid handling without closed channels: droplet routing, splitting, mixing, wicking, paper/fabric microfluidics, and diagnostic platforms.
02Designed interfaces where chemistry, texture, wettability contrast, coatings, and ageing control liquid repellency and spreading.
03Droplets, particles, vapor-liquid transport, condensation, evaporation, capillarity, and coupled heat and mass transfer.
04Compact cooling for batteries, electronics, data centers, heat pipes, thermosyphons, cold plates, and heat spreaders.
05Emergent transport in active-passive mixtures, microswimmers, particle clouds, collective dynamics, segregation, and mixing.
Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Madras
The group combines experiments, modelling, simulations, visualization, surface fabrication, thermal diagnostics, and data-driven methods to understand transport phenomena in complex fluid systems and translate them into useful technologies.
Prof. Pallab Sinha Mahapatra is also associated with the ISRO-IIT Madras Centre of Excellence for Fluid and Thermal Sciences since 2025.
A snapshot of current directions spanning open-surface microfluidics, engineered wetting, phase change, and thermal systems.
Passive droplet motion, splitting, and mixing on open surfaces using wettability and geometry gradients.
Nanoengineered and patterned surfaces for condensation, fog harvesting, and phase-change transport.
Cold plates, thermosyphons, heat pipes, and machine-learning-aided thermal field reconstruction.
Selected recent journal papers from the group. The complete list is available on the Publications page.
Hemanth Dileep, Pallab Sinha Mahapatra, and Arvind Pattamatta.
Billa Prasanna Kumar, Cameron Tropea, and Pallab Sinha Mahapatra.
Thomas Jacob, Siddhant Mohapatra, Rajalingam A, Sam Mathew, and Pallab Sinha Mahapatra.
Tibin M Thomas, Pallab Sinha Mahapatra, and Ranjan Ganguly.
Ashok Kumar Raipilli, Nishith Balagirithar, and Pallab Sinha Mahapatra.
Billa Prasanna Kumar, Tejaswi Josyula, Cameron Tropea, and Pallab Sinha Mahapatra.
Hemanth D received the Institute Research Award for the PhD thesis from IIT Madras.
Dr. Siddhant Mohapatra joined Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany as a postdoctoral fellow.
Dr. Gayathri R joined University College London, UK as a postdoctoral fellow.
We welcome motivated students interested in fluid mechanics, interfacial transport, surface engineering, multiphase systems, thermal management, and collective dynamics.
Multiscale Multiphysics Group © 2026 | Design & Developed By: Dr. Pallab Sinha Mahapatra