Biography:

Dr Wadhwani is a postdoc fellow at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University working on the dynamic behaviour of wildfires. His current research focused on understanding the dynamics behind extreme wildfire behaviour at the wildland-urban interface. He received his PhD from Victoria University, Melbourne and received his dual degree (bachelor's and master's) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee in Chemical and Hydrocarbon Engineering respectively.

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Background of Education:

• PhD, Victoria University, Melbourne (2014.11- 2019.11)

• B. Tech & M. Tech, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (2009.06- 2014.07)

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Research Interest:

Wildfire simulation, extreme wildfire behaviour, computational fluid dynamics, machine learning 

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Prizes and Awards:

• Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC Research Fellowship, Victoria University (2018)

• NFPA Foundation Medal, NFPA, USA (2018)

• Sheldon-Tieszen Student Award, IAFSS (2017)

• Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC PhD Scholarship, Victoria University (2014-19)

• Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC Top-up Scholarship, Victoria University (2015-19)

• Ministry of Human Resource and Development PG Fellowship, IIT Roorkee (2013-14)

• Merit-cum-means Scholarship, Deans Academics, IIT Roorkee (2012-13) 

 

Publication:

Journal Paper:

1. R. Wadhwani, [and 5 others], A Review of firebrand studies on generation and transport, Fire Safety Journal, Vol. 134, 2022, A. 103674. 

2. R. Wadhwani, [and 3 others], Firebrand transport from a novel firebrand generator: Numerical simulation of laboratory experiments, International Journal of Wildland Fire, Vol. 31(6), 2022, p. 634. 

3. E. Rackauskaite, [and 16 others including R. Wadhwani], Fire Experiment inside a Very Large and Open-Plan Compartment: x-ONE, Fire Technology, Vol. 58, 2021, p. 905.

4. G. Kumar, [and four others including R. Wadhwani], Air quality parameters in the Indo-Gangetic plain during COVID-19 induced lockdown, Pollution Research, Vol. 40(3), 2021, p. 1059.

5. L. I. Pooley, [and 4 others including R. Wadhwani], Measurements of specific heat capacity of common building materials at elevated temperatures - A comparison of DSC and HDA, Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry, Vol. 141, 2020, p. 1279. 

6. Abu-Bakar, [and 3 others including R. Wadhwani], Characterisation of pyrolysis and combustion parameters of charring materials most frequently found in buildings, Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry, Vol. 139, 2020, p. 2985.

7. E. Ronchi, [and 4 others including R. Wadhwani], An open multi-physics framework for modelling wildland-urban interface fire evacuations, Safety Science, Vol. 118, 2019, p. 868.

8. N. Khan, [and 3 others including R. Wadhwani], Physics-based simulation of heat load on structures for improving construction standards for bushfire prone areas, Frontiers in Mechanical Engineering, Vol. 5, 2019, A. 35.

9. R. Wadhwani, [and 3 others], Kinetics of pyrolysis of litter materials from pine and eucalyptus forests, Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry, Vol. 130 (3), 2017, p. 2035.

10. R. Wadhwani, [and 4 others], Verification of Lagrangian particle model for short-range firebrand transport, Fire Safety Journal, Vol. 91, 2017, p.776.

11. R. Wadhwani, B. Mohanty, Computational Fluid Dynamics Study of a Complete Coal Direct Chemical Looping Sub-Pilot Unit, Iranian Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Vol. 35 (3), 2016, p. 139.

12. R. Wadhwani, B. Mohanty, Effect of ash on coal direct chemical looping combustion, International Journal of Global Energy Issues, Vol. 39 (5), 2016, p. 271.

13. R. Wadhwani, B. Mohanty, Effects of operating pressure on the key parameters of coal direct chemical looping combustion, International Journal of Coal Science & Technology, Vol. 3 (1), 2016, p. 20.

14. R. Wadhwani, S. Khanam, B. Mohanty, Optimization of the amount of chemical dosage to improve the performance of dissolved air flotation unit, Separation Science and Technology, Vol. 50 (7), 2015, p. 1038.

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Conference:

1.  R. Wadhwani, [and 8 others], Evaluation of Isorropia for aerosol acidity at three regional sites in COALESCE network, 11th International Aerosol Conference 2022, Athens, Greece, Sept. 4-9th, 2022.

2. R. Wadhwani, [and 3 others], Application of neural networks to rate of spread estimation in shrublands, 24th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation 2021, Sydney, Australia, Dec. 5-10th, 2021.

3. R. Wadhwani, [and 3 others], Improvement of particle drag model of Fire Dynamics Simulator for non-burning firebrand transport, 24th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation 2021, Sydney, Australia, Dec. 5-10th, 2021.

4. R. Wadhwani, D. Sutherland, K. Moinuddin, Simulated transport of short-range embers in an idealised bushfire, 6th International Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference, Sydney, Australia Apr. 29th-May 3rd, 2019.

5. D. Sutherland, [and 4 others including R. Wadhwani], Simulations of the effect of canopy density profile on sub-canopy wind speed profiles, AFAC 2018, Perth, Australia Sept. 5-8th, 2018.

6. R. Wadhwani, D. Sutherland, K. Moinuddin, Ignitability of eucalyptus litters, AFAC 2018, Perth, Australia, Sept. 5-8th, 2018.

7. E. Rackauskaite, [and 17 others including R. Wadhwani], x-One fire experiment in a very large and open plan compartment, 12th International Performance-based Codes and Fire Safety design methods conference, Hawaii, USA, Apr. 25-27th, 2018.

8. R. Wadhwani, D. Sutherland, K. Moinuddin, Suitable pyrolysis model for physics-based bushfire simulation, 11th Asia-Pacific Conference on Combustion, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, Dec. 10-14th, 2017.

9. E. Ronchi, [and 4 others including R. Wadhwani], Framework for an integrated simulation system for wildland-urban interface fire evacuation, International Conference on Research & Advanced Technology in Fire Safety, Santander, Spain, Oct. 20-21st, 2017.

10. R. Wadhwani, D. Sutherland, K. Moinuddin, Appraisal of linear and Arrhenius models for combustion of hay, AFAC 2017, Sydney, Australia, Sept. 4-7th, 2017.

11. P. Joseph, [and 3 others including R. Wadhwani], Characterization strategies to study the thermal degradation and combustion behaviours of polymeric materials: a critical analysis, 36th Australasian Polymer Symposium, Lorne, Australia, Nov. 20-23rd, 2016.

12. R. Wadhwani, D. Sutherland, K. Moinuddin, Scattering and Transport of firebrands: effects of firebrand shapes, AFAC 2016, Brisbane, Australia, Aug. 30th - Sept. 1st, 2016.

13. R. Wadhwani, [and 4 others], Refinement and validation of firebrand transport sub-model for a physics-based bushfire prediction model: Design of a firebrand generator, AFAC 2015, Adelaide, Australia, Sept.1-3rd, 2015.

14. R. Wadhwani, B. Mohanty, A Review on clean & efficient technology to generate electricity from coal, International Conference on Chemical, Agricultural and Medical Sciences, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Dec. 29-30th, 2013.

15. R. Wadhwani, V. Singh, P. P. Singh, Hazards on offshore platform: a review, Chemcon 2012, NIT Jalandhar, Jalandhar, India, Dec. 27-30th, 2012.

16. R. Wadhwani, [and 4 others], Modeling of Dissolved Air Flotation unit to optimize the amount of chemical dosage using ANN, Chemference 2012, IIT Bombay-ICT Mumbai, Mumbai, India, Dec. 10-11th, 2012.