Associate Professor Sridhar Ravi

My Expertise

Biomechanics, Bio-mimetics, Fluid Mechanics, Flight Control, Fluid-Structure Interaction, Compliant Actuators, Aerial and Aquatic Locomotion, Neuroethology, Collective Behaviour, Insect Flight

Keywords

Fields of Research (FoR)

Aerospace Engineering, Aerodynamics, Animal Behaviour, Animal Structure and Function, Flight Dynamics

Biography

Associate Professor Sridhar Ravi is the Deputy Head of the School of Engineering and Technology at UNSW Canberra and leader of the Bio-Engineering Research Group.

Dr. Sridhar Ravi completed Bachelors of Engineering (Aerospace) and PhD from RMIT University in 2007 & 2011 respectively. For his PhD, Dr. Ravi studied the influence of wind turbulence on the aerodynamic performance of wings. Between 2012 and 2014 he was a Post-Doc in the Dept. of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology in Harvard University where he studied insect and bird flight in complex spatial and wind environments. From 2015 – 2017 Dr. Ravi worked in Chiba University and University of Bielefeld on JSPS Fellowship and Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship respectively. Here he studied bio-inspired design and neuroethology of flight through complex environments. Dr Ravi returned to Australia in 2017 as a Lecturer in RMIT University in 2019 joined UNSW-Canberra as a Senior Lecturer.

My Research Activities

Ongoing Projects:

1) Compliant musculoskeletal actuation in insects and bio-inspired designs for flying robots

2) Robust flight control systems for miniature blimps

3) Effects of passive wing rotation on aerodynamics performance of flapping wings

4) Influence of ground effect on oscillating wings

5) Voice-coil based wing actuation systems for flapping wings

My Research Supervision

Areas of supervision

We are always keen to for motivated researchers interested in multi-disciplinary research join our group. There are numerous undergraduate Honours Projects, Master by Research and PhD positions available. Postdoctoral positions are also available, please contact me for more information.

For Masters and PhD students:

Ph.D. scholarships ($35,000 per year) are available for high-achieving students (with H1/High Distinction in UG and/or Masters by Research) in engineering, mathematics or relevant sciences under my supervision. If you are interested contact me at Sridhar.ravi@adfa.edu.au

We are also very supportive and provide support to candidates who are in preparing applications for independent sources. Please contact me for more information.

Masters and PhD Topics NOW AVAILABLE

(1) Aerodynamics of flapping flight in and out of ground effect

(2) Influence of gusts on dynamic stall

(3) Compliant actuation and transmission systems for miniature flying systems

(4) Obstacle detection and avoidance in insects

(5) Biomechanics and neuroethology of flight through cluttered environments

(6) Robust flight-control system for miniature lighter-than-air robots

(7) Multiphase boundary layer flows