Inside the experiments
Interfaces in motion
From droplet impact to frost formation and particle entry: a closer look at our multiphase-flow experiments.
Droplet impact on surfaces
Watch the droplets approach, impact, and evolve at the interface.
Frost formation
Experimental views of ice structures and surrounding droplets, bringing our work on condensation and freezing into focus.
Explore phase-change research →
Particle entry & cavity dynamics
Two experimental views of particle entry into liquid, showing the splash and cavity formed at the air–water interface.
Explore multiphase-flow research →Selected Work by Theme
Multiphase Transport & Phase Change
We study how liquid, gas, and solid phases interact through moving interfaces, capillary forces, and coupled heat and mass transfer. Condensation, frosting, and boiling form a central part of this work. Complementary studies of droplet impact, bubble and cavity dynamics, and particle entry into liquid pools address multiphase flows without requiring phase change. Experiments, high-speed imaging, thermal measurements, and numerical modelling connect these mechanisms to water harvesting and thermal systems.
Condensation
Vapor-to-liquid phase change, condensate removal, surface wettability, and heat and mass transfer in humid air.
Condensation study (2025)Frosting & freezing
Condensation followed by ice nucleation, ice bridging, and frost growth on engineered surfaces.
Frosting study (2025)Boiling
Liquid-to-vapor phase change, bubble dynamics, and heat transfer on structured surfaces.
Pool-boiling study (2025)- Prasanna Kumar Billa, Cameron Tropea, and Pallab Sinha Mahapatra. Entry and penetration of a superhydrophobic sphere into a deep pool. Physical Review Fluids, 2026.
- Tibin M. Thomas, Pallab Sinha Mahapatra, and Ranjan Ganguly. Atmospheric water vapor condensation on a vertical surface: Effects of confinement. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2025.
- Mohd Zahid, Ashok Kumar Raipilli, Arvind Pattamatta, and Pallab Sinha Mahapatra. Sustainable humid air condensation: insights into nanoengineered surfaces. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2025.
- Praveen Dhanalakota, Md Motiur Rahaman, Pallab Sinha Mahapatra, Anand A. R., Sarit K. Das, and Arvind Pattamatta. Insights into Pool Boiling Heat Transfer on Minichannel Surfaces through Point and Field Measurements. ASME Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2025.
- Ashok Kumar Raipilli, Nishith Balagirithar, and Pallab Sinha Mahapatra. Droplet impact on patterned wettable surface: Experiments and numerical analysis. Physics of Fluids, 2025.
- Prasanna Kumar Billa, Tejaswi Josyula, Cameron Tropea, and Pallab Sinha Mahapatra. Motion of a rigid sphere penetrating a deep pool. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2025.
Functional Wetting Surfaces
Functional wetting surfaces are created by controlling surface chemistry, roughness, wettability contrast, and hierarchical micro/nano texture. These interfaces enable wetting transitions, droplet guidance, trapped-bubble removal, fog harvesting, condensation control, and improved performance in wickless thermal devices. The work connects fabrication, surface durability, ageing, and interfacial physics to practical fluid-control strategies.
- Tejaswi Josyula, Laxman Kumar Malla, Tibin M. Thomas, Srinivasa Sagar Kalichetty, Pallab Sinha Mahapatra, and Arvind Pattamatta. Fundamentals and Applications of Surface Wetting. Langmuir, 2024.
- Jasafa Showket, Shibangi Majumder, Nirbhay Kumar, Soumyadip Sett, and Pallab Sinha Mahapatra. Fog harvesting on micro-structured metal meshes: Effect of surface ageing. Micro and Nano Engineering, 2024.
- Laxman Kumar Malla, Praveen Dhanalakota, Hemanth Dileep, Pallab Sinha Mahapatra, and Arvind Pattamatta. Surface Wettability Modifications and Applications in Wickless Heat Pipes. Surfaces and Interfaces, 2024.
- Imdad Uddin Chowdhury, Pallab Sinha Mahapatra, and Ashis Kumar Sen. A wettability pattern-mediated trapped bubble removal from a horizontal liquid–liquid interface. Physics of Fluids, 2022.
- Imdad Uddin Chowdhury, Pallab Sinha Mahapatra, and Ashis Kumar Sen. Shape evolution of drops on surfaces of different wettability gradients. Chemical Engineering Science, 2021.
Open-Surface Microfluidic Platforms
Open-surface microfluidic platforms use engineered wetting pathways, geometry, and capillary forces to guide liquids without closed channels. Our work explores autonomous droplet transport, splitting, rapid mixing, liquid wicking in paper and fabric, and paper-based diagnostic devices for applications such as milk adulteration detection. The central goal is to convert simple surface and geometric cues into reliable microfluidic functions for sensing, sample handling, and compact analytical systems.
- Pallab Sinha Mahapatra, Ranjan Ganguly, Aritra Ghosh, Souvick Chatterjee, Sam Lowrey, Andrew D. Sommers, and Constantine M. Megaridis. Patterning wettability for open-surface fluidic manipulation: fundamentals and applications. Chemical Reviews, 2022.
- Imdad Uddin Chowdhury, Pallab Sinha Mahapatra, Ashis Kumar Sen, Arvind Pattamatta, and Manish K. Tiwari. Autonomous transport and splitting of a droplet on an open surface. Physical Review Fluids, 2021.
- Subhashis Patari, Priyankan Datta, and Pallab Sinha Mahapatra. 3D Paper-based milk adulteration detection device. Scientific Reports, 2022.
- Subhashis Patari, Imdad Uddin Chowdhury, Jitendra Kumar, and Pallab Sinha Mahapatra. Dynamics of liquid flow through fabric porous media: Experimental, analytical, and numerical investigation. Physics of Fluids, 2023.
- Subhashis Patari and Pallab Sinha Mahapatra. Liquid wicking in the paper strip: an experimental and numerical study. ACS Omega, 2020.
Energy & Thermal Management Applications
Energy and thermal management research translates interfacial transport and phase-change physics into compact cooling technologies. The group works on flat thermosyphon heat sinks, pulsating heat pipes, minichannel and wickless heat-transfer surfaces, localized cold plates, graphite-assisted heat spreading, immersion cooling, and battery thermal management for Li-ion pouch cells. These studies combine experiments, infrared thermography, electrochemical-thermal modelling, machine-learning-based temperature-field reconstruction, and design optimization for high-performance energy systems.
- Hemanth Dileep, Pallab Sinha Mahapatra, and Arvind Pattamatta. Lightweight thermal management strategy for Li-ion pouch cells using localised cold plate and graphite sheet. Thermal Science and Engineering Progress, 2026.
- Shreyash Acharjee, Hemanth Dileep, Pallab Sinha Mahapatra, and Arvind Pattamatta. Full-field surface temperature reconstruction of immersion-cooled Li-ion pouch cells from sparse thermocouples using a hybrid ANN-CNN framework. International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, 2026.
- Hemanth Dileep, Shreyash Acharjee, Pallab Sinha Mahapatra, and Arvind Pattamatta. Immersion cooling of lithium-ion pouch cells: Comparative heat-transfer performance of dielectric fluids with machine learning based temperature field reconstruction. Journal of Energy Storage, 2026.
- Hemanth Dileep, Indrajith Mahadev Patil, Pallab Sinha Mahapatra, and Arvind Pattamatta. Integrated graphite–insulation sheet with cold plate for effective thermal management in pouch-type lithium-ion modules. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2025.
- Praveen Dhanalakota, Hemanth Dileep, Laxman Kumar Malla, Pallab Sinha Mahapatra, and Arvind Pattamatta. A novel integrated flat thermosyphon heat sink for energy-efficient chip-level thermal management in data centers. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2024.
Collective & Active Matter
Collective and active matter research examines how local interactions produce organized behavior at larger scales. We study active-passive mixtures, microswimmers, particle clouds, repeated predator-prey interactions, mixing by smart active particles, segregation, and transitions between dynamical states. Simulations, modelling, and data-driven strategies are used to understand how activity, confinement, particle fraction, and interaction rules control emergent motion and transport.
- Thomas Jacob, Siddhant Mohapatra, Rajalingam A., Sam Mathew, and Pallab Sinha Mahapatra. Mixing of a binary passive particle system using smart active particles. Scientific Reports, 2026.
- Siddhant Mohapatra and Pallab Sinha Mahapatra. Behavioural response of prey to repeated attacks by non-coordinating predators. Scientific Reports, 2025.
- Margam Ramprasad, Shubhadeep Mandal, and Pallab Sinha Mahapatra. Motion of a microswimmer in a lattice of obstacles: Effect of thermal fluctuations. Physical Review E, 2025.
- Naveen Kumar Agrawal and Pallab Sinha Mahapatra. Alignment-mediated segregation in an active-passive mixture. Physical Review E, 2021.
- Pallab Sinha Mahapatra, Ajinkya Kulkarni, Sam Mathew, Mahesh V. Panchagnula, and Srikanth Vedantam. Transitions between multiple dynamical states in a confined dense active-particle system. Physical Review E, 2017.