Dr. Sarada Kuravi

Lab:

Renewable Energy and Thermal Systems (REThermS) Laboratory

Research Interests

Thermal Sciences and Energy

Storage, transport, and utilization of renewable and alternative energy

Renewable and Alternative Energy: Clean and sustainable energy, concentrating solar power (CSP), geothermal energy, concentrating photovoltaics (CPV), combined heat and power (CHP), building energy, renewable-powered automobiles for clean transportation, thermal and thermochemical/hydrogen storage for energy and fuel-cell applications, novel thermodynamic and clean energy cycles

Water Desalination: Solar energy and low-grade heat for in-land and seawater water desalination with zero liquid discharge, energy recovery and recuperation

Particulate Media: Particulate suspensions in energy and water, transport physics in slurries, powder beds, packed and fluidized beds, suspension flow dynamics, particulates for heat transfer enhancement

Recent Research Grants (total funding amount >$2.1M)

  • Encapsulated Inorganic Materials for Building Thermal Energy Storage Applications, DOE Office of Science SBIR/STTR
  • Enhanced Solar Desalination Using Innovative Approaches for Concentrate Treatment and Energy Recovery, USBR
  • College of Engineering Seed Funding, NMSU
  • Enhanced Boiling Heat Transfer on Binary Surfaces, NSF
  • Particulate Flows in Curved Microchannels, NMSU OER
  • High Energy Density Metal Hydride Hydrogen System for Space and Planetary Applications, NASA/NMSGC
  • Low Cost, Low Energy Concentrate Water Desalination using Heat Recuperative Solar Still with Concentrating Solar Still Technology, USBR-NMWRRI

Recent Publications

  1. Kavin Sundarnath J. Ayyanathan, Erick Moreno Resendiz, and Sarada Kuravi, “Particle arrangement using external magnetic field and its effect on pressure drop in a tightly packed ferromagnetic porous bed”, Powder Technology, Vol: 375, pp: 275-283, 2020.
  2. Kavin Sundarnath J. Ayyanathan and Sarada Kuravi, “Effect of magnetic field on a loosely packed, tightly packed and an over-tightly packed metal powder bed”, Particulate Science and Technology pp: 1-10, 2020.
  3. Lin Chen, Huiyao Wang, Sarada Kuravi, Krishna Kota, Young Ho Park, Pei Xu, “Low-cost and reusable carbon black based solar evaporator for effective water desalination”, Desalination, Vol: 483, 114412, 2020 (IF = 7.098).
  4. Ana Johnson, Lei Mu, Young H. Park, Delia J. Valles, Huiyao Wang, Pei Xu, Krishna Kota, Sarada Kuravi, “A Thermal Model for Predicting the Performance of a Solar Still with Fresnel Lens”, Water,  Vol:11, pp: 1860 (20 pages) (IF = 2.250).
  5. Nicolas DeLovato, Kavin Sundarnath, Lazar Cvijovic, Krishna Kota, Sarada Kuravi, “A Review of Heat Recovery Technologies for Power Generation using Solar and Geothermal Energy Sources”, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol:114, pp: 109329 (19 pages), 2019 (IF = 10.556).
  6. Lei Mu, Rocio Castillo Gomez, Lin Chen, Young-Ho Park, Huiyao Wang, Krishna Kota, Pei Xu, Sarada Kuravi, “Enhancing the performance of a single-basin single-slope solar still by using Fresnel lens: Experimental study”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol: 9, No.1, pp:65-72, 2019 (IF = 6.395).
  7. Carlos Murugia, Delia Valles, Young-Ho Park, Sarada Kuravi, “Effect of High Aged Albedo Cool Roofs on Commercial Buildings Energy Savings in USA Climates”, International Journal of Renewable Energy Research, Vol: 9, No.1, pp:65-72, 2019 (IF = 3.120).
  8. Roberto Venegas, Sarada Kuravi, Krishna Kota, Mary McCay, “A Comparative Design Analysis of Geothermal and Solar Thermal Power Plants”, International Journal of Renewable Energy Research, Vol.8, No.1, March, 2018 (IF = 3.120).
  9. Shahin Shafiee, Mary McCay, Sarada Kuravi, “The Effect of Magnetic Field on Thermal-Reaction Kinetics of a Paramagnetic Metal Hydride Storage Bed”, Applied Sciences, Vol: 7, pp: 1006, 2017 (IF = 2.474). doi:10.3390/app7101006.
  10. Roberto Venegas, Sarada Kuravi, Krishna Kota, Mary McCay, “Comparative Design Analysis of Geothermal and Solar Thermal Power Plants: A Case Study,” International Journal of Renewable Energy Research (in editing).
  11. Shahin Shafiee, Mary McCay, Sarada Kuravi, “Effect of Magnetic Fields on Thermal Conductivity in a Ferromagnetic Packed Bed”, Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, Vol: 86, pp: 160-167, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2017.04.014
  12. Haibao Hu, Sarada Kuravi, Feng Ren, Pei-feng Hsu, “Liquid Metal Flow in Manifold Microchannel Heat Sinks”, Proceedings of the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Montreal, Canada, November 14-20, 2014.
  13. Peijie Li, Sarada Kuravi, “Convective Performance of Encapsulated Phase Change Material Slurries of Water, PAO and Engine Oil in Microchannels”, Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Orlando, FL, July 14-16, 2014.
  14. Peijie Li, Sarada Kuravi, “Study of Thermal Performance of Liquid Flow through a Minichannel”, Proceedings of International Conference on Research and Innovations in Mechanical Engineering (ICRIME 2013), Ludhiana, India, October 24-26, 2013.
  15. Sarada Kuravi, Jamie Trahan, Yogi Goswami, Elias Stefanakos, Muhammad Rahman, “Thermal Energy Storage Technologies and System Design for Concentrating Solar Power Plants”, Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, Vol: 39, No. 4, pp: 285-319, 2013.
  16. Sarada Kuravi, Jamie Trahan, Yogi Goswami, Chand Jotshi, Elias Stefanakos, Nitin Goel, “Investigation of a High Temperature Packed Bed Sensible Heat Thermal Energy Storage System with Large Sized Elements”, Proceedings of the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Houston, TX, November 9-15, 2012.
  17. Jamie Trahan, Sarada Kuravi, Yogi Goswami, Muhammad Rahman, Elias Stefanakos, “Thermal Characterization of High Temperature Inorganic Phase Change Materials for Thermal Energy Storage Applications”, Paper No. ESFuelCell2012-91475, in Proceedings of the ASME 2012 6th International Conference of Energy Sustainability, San Diego, CA, July 23-26, 2012.
  18. Swetha Pendyala, Prashanth Sridharan, Sarada Kuravi, Chand Jotshi, Manoj Ram, Muhammad Rahman, Elias Stefanakos, Yogi Goswami, “Macroencapsulation of Sodium Nitrate for Thermal Energy Storage in Solar Thermal Power”, Paper No. ESFuelCell2012-91447, in Proceedings of the ASME 2012 6th International Conference of Energy Sustainability, San Diego, CA, July 23-26, 2012.
  19. Rachana Vidhi, Sarada Kuravi, Saeb Besarati, Elias Stefanakos, Yogi Goswami, “Performance of Working Fluids for Power Generation in a Supercritical Organic Rankine Cycle”, Paper No. ESFuelCell2012-91473, in Proceedings of the ASME 2012 6th International Conference of Energy Sustainability, San Diego, CA, July 23-26, 2012.