Revathi Jambunathan

Affiliation and Research Interests

I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Center for Computational Sciences and Engineering at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. My research interest is in computational electrodynamics. I contribute to the development of the WarpX, which is an electromagnetic particle-in-cell code primarily used for simulations of advanced plasma wake-field accelerators using advanced algorithms. More information on the WarpX software can be found here

My primary objective is to develop efficient diagnostics and core algorithms in WarpX. I am also collaborating with other members of CCSE and the WarpX team to leverage the AMR capability of WarpX for modeling plasma processes in the astrophysical context. Additionally, I am extending the Maxwell solver in WarpX to model quantum chips using a classical approach. More information on the research projects in the area of computational electrodynamics can be found here

Publications

• R. Jambunathan, and D. Levin, "Kinetic, three-dimensional, PIC-DSMC simulations of ion thruster plumes and the backflow region, Part 1: A colocated ion-electron source", submitted to IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, (under review).
• R. Jambunathan, D. Levin, A. Borner, JC. Ferguson, and F. Panerai, "Prediction of gas transport properties through fibrous carbon preform microstructures using direct simulation Monte Carlo", International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2019. [doi]
• R. Jambunathan and D. Levin, "CHAOS: An octree-based PIC-DSMC code for modeling of electron kinetic properties in a plasma plume using MPI-CUDA parallelization", Journal of Computational Physics, 2018. [doi]
• R. Jambunathan and D. Levin, "Advanced parallelization strategies using hybrid MPI-CUDA octree DSMC method for modeling flow through porous media", Computers & Fluids, 2017. [doi]
• R. Jambunathan and D. Levin, "Grid-free octree approach for modeling heat transfer to complex geometries", Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer, 2016. [doi]

Conference Paper-Presentations

• Comparison of plasma plume characteristics obtained using PIC-DSMC approach with Boltzmann approximations, International Conference On Plasma Science, (ICOPS) , Denver, Colorado, June-2018.
• A new self-consistent boundary condition for modeling of plasma plume evolution using a fully-kinetic PIC approach, International Conference On Plasma Science, (ICOPS) , Denver, Colorado, June-2018.
• Multi-GPU PIC solver for modeling of ion thruster plasma plumes, AIAA Scitech Conference , Kissimmee, Florida, January-2018.
• Prediction of thermal protection system material permeability and hydraulic tortuosity factor using DSMC, AIAA SciTech Conference , Kissimmee, Florida, January-2018.
• Kinetic modeling of plasma plumes using multi-GPU forest-of-octree approach, 35th International Electric Propulsion Conference , Atlanta, Georgia, October 2017.
• Characterization of thermal protection system materials using CHAOS DSMC solver, 9th Ablation Worshop, Bozeman, Montana, August 2017.
• Forest of octree DSMC simulation of flow through porous media, 30th International Symposium on Rarefied Gas Dynamics, August 2016.
• A hybrid CPU-GPU Parallel octree-based Direct Simulation Monte Carlo Approach, Joint Thermophysics and Heat Transfer Conference, Dallas, Texas, June 2015.
• Gridless DSMC approach for analysis of fractal-like spherical aggregates, Joint Thermophysics and Heat Transfer Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, June 2014.

Conference Posters

• Ion thruster plasma plume simulations using CHAOC PIC-DSMC, SIAM CSE-2019 , Spokane, Washington, February 2019 (Best Poster Award).