133 W Pulteney, Corning, NY 14830

 

PROFILE

 

• Mechanical Engineer with over 3 years experience in CFD/ FEA using Fluent, Moldex 3D, Polyflow, ANSYS, Pro/Mechanica; Mesh Generation using Gambit, Gridgen, Moldex Mesh and product design using Pro/Engineer, Rhinoceros, Solidworks and AutoCAD.
• Successfully worked on more than 100 projects in design and analysis of mechanical and electrical components using CFD, FEA and CAD tools to optimize flow pattern, balance runner design, optimize cooling design etc.
• Can excellently analyze, interpret and justify CFD simulation outcomes and recommend solutions to practical industrial problems.
• Over two years of research experience in the design of extrusion dies using CFD, Fluent products, and CAD, Pro-e, and presented some research papers.
• Proven ability in creating 2D and 3D geometries, mesh generation and post processing CFD/FEA results.
• Demonstrated ability in designing, setting up and conducting laboratory experiments.
• Strong mathematical and analytical abilities, excellent communication and presentation skills and ability to work on multiple projects with good project management skills.

 

EDUCATION

M. S. in Mechanical Engineering, May 2004
Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL                       
GPA: 4.0 / 4.0                                                                    

B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering, June 2000
Jawaharlal Nehru Technological Univ., Kakinada, India
 

EXPERIENCE

 

Corning Inc.
Process Modeling Engineer

• Understand the fundamentals of batch flow inside twin screw machine and extrusion dies to extrude ceramic material into honeycomb structures.

• Investigate the flow of coating material inside the coater for fiber coating at high speeds.
• Details cannot be revealed because of the proprietary nature of the projects.
   

EPS Flotek                                                                                                                                07/04 – present
CFD Analyst

• Work with customers on projects from the design stage through production to design and develop Mechanical and Electrical components like connectors, housings, lead frames, caps, batteries etc. using CFD and CAD tools.

• Worked on consulting projects with companies like Molex, BASF, Visteon, Motorola, ITW, Fermi lab etc., in various industrial applications, including Automotive, Medical devices etc.
• Performing CFD simulations for injection molding operations using Moldex 3D, a CFD software package, and provide technical input and recommend solutions to optimize product designs.
• Optimize Flow analysis to optimize product design, identify optimum process conditions, remove weld lines, eliminate gas traps, verify the flow orientation of the part, identify areas of high stress or temperature, identify appropriate gate locations and investigate alternative design options.
• Perform Packing analysis to minimize volumetric shrinkage, reduce thermally-induced residual stresses and identify and reduce potential sink marks.
• Perform Cooling analysis to optimize the cooling channel design by avoiding hot spots in the mold, identify the cooling channels where heat extraction is poor, reduce thermal residual stresses due to differential mold cooling and to achieve uniform cooling throughout the tool.
• Perform Shrinkage and Warpage analysis to identify the dominant mechanism causing shrinkage and warpage of the part, reduce the stress concentration effects of the molded part under external loadings and constraints, produce parts with less warpage and to evaluate the structural design of the part.
• Have prepared training manuals on the use of the software and provided training to numerous customers.
• Interact with users providing advice and guidance on the use of Moldex 3D.
• Responsibilities also include diverse range of functions including customer technical support and training to existing customers, marketing and sales efforts by providing technical information, sample simulations and demonstrations to prospective customers, and attending trade shows, conferences and exhibitions.

 

Northern Illinois Centre for Accelerator and Detector Development                                               05/02 – 05/04

Research Assistant

• Extensively involved in research on design of extrusion dies and have publications in prestigious journals, see below. Designed extrusion dies for Scintillator Extrusion facility at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL and Illinois State University, Normal, IL.

• Designed dies to extrude Polystyrene into different hollow profiles, rectangular profile with one hole at its center and rectangular profile with ten holes.

• Designed a die and performed calibrator cooling simulation to extrude Polystyrene into U-profile.

• Optimized die design by performing flow and heat transfer simulations using commercial CFD software, Polyflow. Simulation results are compared with experimental results to improve new die designs. Modified die profiles are optimized with an objective to improve accuracy of extrudate product dimensions.

• The developing flow and heat transfer of Newtonian fluids through a square duct is studied and analyzed using Polyflow to validate the efficiency and accuracy of the software. The velocity and temperature values at all nodes at different surfaces as obtained from Polyflow are compared with the values obtained analytically and these values are used to calculate friction factor and Nusselt number at the surfaces.

 

Mechanical Engineering Department, NIU, DeKalb, IL                                                                      08/02 – 05/04

Graduate Assistant

• Setting up and conducting lab sessions, preparing handouts, grading exams and assignments, assisting students with problems and projects for the courses Experimental Methods in Mechanical Engineering, Heat Transfer and Fluid Mechanics.

• Design and Fabrication of Integrated Laboratory Station: A new, modern Integrated Laboratory Station is designed and fabricated which incorporates modern developments in instrumentation and experimentation, utilizing computerized data acquisition (DAQ) and LabVIEW with signal conditioning (SCXI). The objective of building the new Lab Station is to introduce different kinds of modern sensors including its working principles to undergraduate students and perform measurements.

• A CFD study of flow separation and losses in a centrifugal fan impeller at various blade angles is performed using commercial CFD package, Fluent 6.0. A computational model of a single passage of the impeller is designed and the turbulent flow through the domain is simulated. The simple geometry of the impeller allowed a single blade to be analyzed due to the circumferential periodicity of the flow. A parametric study was performed at various blade angles to analyze the effects of flow separation on the performance of the fan.

• Introduced new lab sessions and CFD software Flowlab to undergraduate students.

 

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., Hyderabad, India                                                                                     02/01 - 12/01

Product Design Engineer

• Work encompasses all phases of mechanical engineering in various areas of designing, drafting, evaluating and manufacturing work performed.

• Modeled 3D computer-enhanced models such as plastic injection moulds, press tools, connecting rod, dies, centrifugal fan impellers, solid flywheel, bearings and guides, jigs and fixtures using Pro Engineer.

• Validate design changes and revise engineering drawings for release.

• Three-dimensional FEM of the connecting rod, bushing, pin, and piston for the four cylinders automotive Engine is designed using Pro-Engineer. The model was meshed, and then imported into ANSYS as SOLID 45 elements. Contact analysis is performed on various mating surfaces using CONTACT 174 real constants option.

• Automotive seating comfort analysis: Objective of the project is to develop an automotive seat vibration comfort by conducting a detailed structural analysis on both the foam and the seat frame dealing with parameters viz. static and dynamic displacements of seats.

• The optimum dimensions of a crane hook which can take up to ten thousand pounds of load are obtained using Pro-Mechanica. Also an attempt has been made to optimize the crane hook dimensions, such that, for minimum material it can take the designed load.

• The optimum dimensions of the centrifugal pump are calculated and the pump is designed according to the given specifications for NFCL, India.

 

Institute of Engineers                                                     Hyderabad, India                                      07/00 - 12/00

Instructor

• Taught Engineering Mechanics, Engineering Graphics, Engineering Mathematics, Strength of Materials and Fluid Mechanics to Engineering Undergraduates.

 

SOFTWARE SKILLS

 

• CFD/ FEA       : Fluent, Polyflow, Moldex 3D, Gambit, ANSYS, Hyper Mesh, Hyper Extrude

• CADD                         : Pro/Engineer, Pro/Mechanica, Rhinoceros, AutoCAD, Uni-Graphics

• Others              : LabVIEW, MathCAD and Mat Lab

• Unix, Ms-Dos, Windows, C, C++, HTML, DHTML, ASP 3.0, Winrunner and Loadrunner.

 

PUBLICATIONS (Most of the work is performed using CFD and CAD to optimize extrusion die design)

 

• Srinivasa Rao Vaddiraju, M. Kostic, L. Reifschneider, A. Pla-Dalmau, V. Rykalin, A. Bross, “Extrusion simulation and experimental validation to optimize precision die design”, SPE ANTEC proceedings, Chicago, IL, 2004.

• Louis G. Reifschneider, M. Kostic, Srinivasa Rao Vaddiraju, “Computational Design of a U-profile die and calibrator”, SPE ANTEC proceedings, Chicago, IL, 2004.

• M. Kostic, Srinivasa Rao Vaddiraju, “Optimization of a Profile-Extrusion Die Design using Inverse CFD simulation”, Fluent/Polyflow User’s group meeting, Dearborn, MI, 2004.

• M. Kostic, Srinivasa Rao Vaddiraju, Louis G. Reifschneider, “Design Optimization of Extrusion Die for a Thick-Walled Hollow Profile”, submitted to Polymer Engineering and Science journal.

• Reifschneider, L.G., M. Kostic, and Srinivasa Rao Vaddiraju, "The Use of CFD Simulation for extruded profile product design", submitted to Polymer Engineering and Science journal.

• M. Kostic, Srinivasa Rao Vaddiraju., et al.  “Design of Modern, Integrated Laboratory-Station (ILS) for Engineering Experimental Courses,” Submitted for ASEE-2005 IL-IN Section Conference, American Society for Engineering Education, De Kalb, IL, April 1-2, 2005.

 

PROJECTS

 

Masters’ Thesis:

Finite Element Simulation of Flow of Polymer in an Extruder Die - A three dimensional flow and heat transfer simulation of polystyrene in an extruder die and the free surface deformations with swelling after the die is studied and analyzed using Polyflow with an objective to improve accuracy of extrudate dimensions.

Design of Function Generator:

A layout for the synthesis of a four-bar function generator based on freudenstein equations is developed in Pro/E such that the program calculates the required lengths of the coupler and follower for any given length of the crank, input and output angles.

A study on Phase Change Problems:

The rate of change of phase of water due to heating or cooling is calculated theoretically and analyzed using Fluent.

 

RELATED COURSE WORK

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Fluid Mechanics and Polymer Dynamics

Advanced Conduction Heat Transfer

CAD/CAM

CAD of Mechanical Systems

Finite Element Analysis with ANSYS

Advanced Finite Element Analysis for Mechanical Engineers

Advanced Mechanics of Materials

Advanced Vibrations

 

 REFERENCES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST