About
Welcome to my website. I have completed my Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland (UMD), where I served as a Graduate Research Assistant with Prof. Arnaud Trouvé. My Ph.D. research topic was Development of a Lagrangian-Eulerian Modeling Framework to Describe Thermal Degradation of Porous Fuel Particles in Simulations of Wildland Fire Behavior at Flame Scale.
My academic journey includes earning a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering from Cairo University. Prior to my doctoral studies, I gained valuable experience in computational modeling of thermal-fluid systems at Optumatics in Cairo, Egypt. I have also worked previously at Canon Nanotechnologies in Austin, TX as an Engineering Intern, at the American University of the Middle East as a Laboratory Instructor, and at Cairo University as Teacing Assistant.
My interests include: Fire, Thermal management, Propulsion, Aerodynamics, Turbulence, CFD, software development, and High-Performance Computing.
Research Work
Unstable flame structure and gas-to-liquid thermal feedback in pool fires
Conducting Fine-grained Large Eddy Simulations (LES) on a standard 30-cm methanol pool fire setup, we assess the accuracy of existing fire models in predicting flame structure and heat transfer rates to the liquid fuel surface. The emphasis is on grid design and spatial resolution, with varying attention given to LES model formulations, particularly radiation treatment. The simulations mirror experimental observations, capturing flame instability and vortex ring formation. Results indicate that, with a sufficiently fine grid, current fire models can predict gas-to-fuel thermal feedback, though simulations tend to overestimate feedback intensity by 25%.
Simulations of thermo-chemical degradation of solid biomass particles under oscillatory heating conditions
This study explores the burning process of biomass fuel particles under oscillatory heat flux conditions resembling flapping flames or fluctuations in irradiation over natural vegetation. Numerical simulations reveal a quasi-linear response to fluctuating irradiation or local gas temperature, suggesting negligible effects of oscillations. However, a non-linear response occurs with unsteady convective heating, resulting in increased heat transfer, higher temperatures, elevated fuel mass loss rates, and shorter burnout times.
Simulations of hypersonic flow at Mach 8 around a sphere cone using a morphing continuum approach
An openFoam CFD library is utilized to create a non-equilibrium flow solver, extending a set of fluid governing equations known as Morphing Continuum Theory (MCT). Initially introduced by A. Eringen for micropolar continuum fluids, MCT was later derived by J. Chen and colleagues from statistical mechanics and adopted for turbulence and hypersonic simulations.
Boltzmann-Curtiss description for flows under translational non-equilibrium
The Boltzmann–Curtiss formulation, known as Morphing Continuum Theory (MCT), describes gases with both rotational and translational degrees-of-freedom. Its first-order solution reveals a stress tensor influenced by particle density, temperature, and total relaxation time. Employing a new bulk viscosity model improves shock structure and temperature profiles in numerical simulations, showing significant enhancements over NS equations under nonequilibrium conditions compared to experimental measurements and DSMC method.
Transonic axial flow compressors with tandem rotor blades
Tandem rotor blades offer the potential to enhance transonic axial flow compressor performance, achieving a higher pressure ratio per stage and reducing the overall compressor weight. Numerical investigations of an optimal tandem rotor design, based on the inflow characteristics of the reference transonic rotor 'NASA Rotor 37,' demonstrate significant improvements in flow turning and diffusion without flow separation. The tandem design exhibits a 17% increase in total pressure ratio and a 2% increase in rotor adiabatic efficiency at the design point compared to the baseline rotor.
Analysis of hypersonic flows using Ideal Dissociating Gas (IDG) model
Ideal Dissociating Gas (IDG) model is adopted in a shock-tunnel problem to analyze the flow relaxation behind shocks, the non-equilibrium expansion in the nozzle and the flow behind an oblique shock.
Incompressible Navier-Stokes Solver and Iterative Methods
This study compares the convergence of different classical algorithms, such as Jacobi, Gauss-Seidel (GS), Alternating Direction Implicit (ADI), Successive Over-Relaxation (SOR) and its line variants, and V cycle Multi Grid, using a dveloped Fortran-90 code running on a single processor. More details can be found here and here.
Taylor-Green vortex at different convective schemes
Dissipative error of different convective schemes available in OpenFoam is examined in a DNS simulation of the classical Taylor-Green vortex problem. The plots compare the predicted evolution of the kinetic energy and enstrophy with the exact solution.
Decay of homogeneous isotropic turbulence in LES
The classical isotropic box turbulence problem is used to examine different LES subgrid-scale models. The plots show the predicted grid resolved kinetic energy (GS) and the total kinetic energy (GS+SGS) and the data by Comte-Bellot and Corrsin (CBC). The results show that the Dynamic K-equation model over predicts the SGS kinetic energy.
Education
University of Maryland
PhD in Mechanical Engineering, 2023
Advisor: Prof. Arnaud Trouvé
Cairo University
MSc in Aerospace Engineering, 2015
BSc in Aerospace Engineering, 2011
Publications
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