Biography
Mayank Chetan is a Wind Energy Researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
His current research focuses on aero-elastic stability of wind turbine structures, structural damping of land-based turbines, loads analysis of offshore wind turbines under hurricane conditions and the system-level design of downwind floating offshore wind turbines. Additionally, he has contributed to projects involving the structural dynamics of extreme-scale wind turbine blades and the development of essential tools for analyzing these structures.
Mayank earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Dallas, where he conducted his research under the guidance of Dr. D Todd Griffith. Prior to his graduate studies, Mayank gained experience at Honda Motorcycle and Scooters India Pvt Ltd, specializing in Warranty Analysis. He also played a significant role in research and development efforts related to electronic prototyping kits aimed at promoting STEM education. In his leisure time, he enjoys hiking in the Rocky Mountains and running unnecessary scientific computations on his homemade cluster.
- Aero-elasticity
- Structural Dynamics
- Structural Damping
- System-level Design
- Downwind FOWT
PhD in Mechanical Engineering, 2021
University of Texas at Dallas
BE in Mechanical Engineering, 2014
RV College of Engineering, Bangalore
Experience
- Wind Turbine Stability
- Aeroelasticity
- Structural Damping
- Downwind Floating Offshore Wind Turbines (D-FOWT)
- Aeroelastic Stability
- Hurricane Resilient Turbine
- Aeroelastic Modeling
Blade Structure Design:
- Development of large wind turbine blades for SUMR (Segmented Ultralight Morphing Rotor) project funded by ARPA-e.
- Structural design of a 20% scale (of 13.2MW) demonstration wind turbine at NREL.
- Development of a multi-fidelity digital twin based on wide array of data from initial design, manufacturing and ground testing.
- Investigation of aero-elastic instabilities like flutter in large wind turbine blade design.
Active Aerodynamic Control:
- Development and optimization of 3.4MW, 10MW and 15MW turbine models including baseline controllers and detailed blade structures for reduction in LCOE using active aerodynamic controls (funded by ARPA-e under the OPEN 2018 program).
Tool Development:
- Development of design tool called AutoNuMAD for large wind turbine blade structure research using MATLAB.
- Development of a MALTAB-Simulink based environment to run OpenFAST loads analysis in parallel.
Communication
- Experienced in presenting to funding agencies and working in large multi-disciplinary, dispersed teams.
Publications:
- 15 journal publications.
- 8 conference papers.
Warranty Analysis:
- Streamlined analysis and countermeasure implementation procedures to minimize warranty claims leading to a 33% reduction in engine related warranty claims.
Continuous Variable Transmission:
- Large project leader for a cross functional team to enhance the Continuous Variable Transmission (CVT) for Honda Activa, India’s largest selling two-wheeler vehicle. Proposed countermeasures lead to 60% reduction in pre-delivery warranty claims in the first month.
Global Honda Quality Standards(GHQS):
- Defined and authored the Standard Operating Procedures for a newly established department of Market Quality and Engineering based on GHQS, a derivative of ISO 9001:2008.
Dream Kit:
- Product design for an electronic prototyping platform aimed elementary school children. Also collaborated with Industrial design partners for manufacturability study for mass production.
Administration:
- Assisted in the making of company policies to conform to Government of India regulations on Startups.
