Prof. Saptarshi Basu, Pratt and Whitney Chair Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, IISc Bangalore delivered a virtual technical talk titled “Spectacular Voyage of Droplets: COVID-19 and Beyond” under Colloquium Lecture Series of Academic Year 2022-23 organized by School of Mechanical Engineering on 12th November 2022. In his talk, Prof. Basu explained how the spread of Covid can be through respiratory droplets and fomites. He provided a detailed exposition of how respiratory droplet dynamics can be mated with pandemic models to provide first principle insights into infection spread rate. He demonstrated, using surrogate fluids, that such models can be experimentally verified rigorously.
Prof. Basu is primarily working on multiphase systems, especially droplets at multiple lengths and timescales across multiple application domains. He has provided an account of the interesting dynamics exhibited by droplets at multiple lengths and time scales in Covid-19. Professor B. C. Routara, Dean, SME appreciated Prof. Basu for his valuable talk and delivered the vote of thanks. Dr. Spandan Guha coordinated the talk and interactive session.