While pursuing his master’s degree in aerospace mechanics and avionics at ISAE-SUPAERO in Toulouse, France, Prateek Jaiswal encountered aeroacoustics, a field in which researchers study noise generation via either turbulent fluid motion or aerodynamic forces interacting with surfaces.
Prateek Jaiswal
“I became very interested in aeroacoustics because I saw immense opportunities in this field,” says Jaiswal, who is joining the UW-Madison Department of Mechanical Engineering as an assistant professor in fall 2024. “For example, new types of aircraft such as drones, air taxis and vertical flying aircraft are being developed and they will operate much closer to where people live. So finding ways to reduce their noise is crucial for the sustainable development of these transportation systems as well as energy systems like wind turbines that create a lot of noise.”
Beyond being an annoyance to people nearby, the noise pollution from these technologies could also have implications for human health. Jaiswal points to a 2015 study in the journal BMC Public Health that found noise exposure is associated with high blood pressure. For instance, researchers found that reducing environmental noise by 5 decibels would reduce hypertension cases by an estimated 1.2 million (1.4%) and chronic heart disease cases by 279,000 (1.8%). The associated cost savings and productivity gains are estimated to exceed $3.9 billion annually.
An expert in experimental fluid mechanics, Jaiswal focuses on understanding how the structure of turbulent shear flows dictates drag, noise and their propagation. This knowledge could enable new machines that are quieter and have lower resistance when traveling through unsteady flow.
“In transportation, a large fraction of energy is spent overcoming this resistance to the flow, so by finding ways to reduce drag I aim to help reduce the carbon footprint,” he says. “For instance, in 2020 the global shipping industry consumed around 6% of the global oil production. However, up to 90% of this energy is spent to overcome drag, which implies nearly 5% of the global oil consumption is spent to overcome global ship resistance.”
Turbulent flows induce vibration in structures—think of an airplane shaking as it flies through turbulence, which can impact flight safety. Jaiswal also seeks to improve the reliability of structures by better understanding this flow-induced vibration.
Jaiswal earned his PhD in mechanical engineering from the Université de Sherbrooke in Quebec, Canada, in 2020. Prior to joining UW-Madison, he was a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom.
“I was attracted to UW-Madison because it’s a large, top-tier research university with many distinguished faculty, and the Department of Mechanical Engineering is very well established and has an outstanding reputation,” he says.
Jaiswal is especially excited to train the next generation of aeronautical engineers in the mechanical engineering department’s Engineering Mechanics program, which offers an aerospace option. “There is really a growing demand for aeronautical engineers in industry, and with my background in this field, I look forward to making a strong contribution to the EMA program and increasing hands-on learning opportunities for students,” he says.