Department of Mechanical Engineering

Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT (BHU) Varanasi (Sep 2026 - present)

Institute Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Bombay (Mar 2026 - Aug 2026)

Mechanical Engineer, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Bongaigaon Refinery, Assam (July 2017 - Jun 2019)

1. ME 203: Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Machinery Lab (Sep-Nov 2026)

Journal Articles

• Kumar, S., Munafò, A., Vollmer, B., Franco, M., Stephani, K.A., Bodony, D.J. and Panesi, M., 2027. From coils to surface recession: Multiphysics simulation of ablation in ICP wind tunnels. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 273, p.129637. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2026.129637

• Kumar, S., Jo, S. M., Munafò, A., and Panesi, M., 2026. Impact of non-equilibrium radiation in a high-enthalpy inductively coupled plasma wind tunnel. Aerospace Science and Technology, 179, p. 113508. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ast.2026.113508

• Kumar, S., Munafò, A., Bodony, D.J. and Panesi, M., 2025. Numerical analysis of three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic effects in an inductively coupled plasma wind tunnel. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 58(34), p.345208. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/adfa2f

• Kumar, S., Munafò, A., Jo, S.M. and Panesi, M., 2025. Investigation of non-equilibrium phenomena in nitrogen RF inductively coupled plasma discharges: a state-to-state approach. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 58(2), p.025204. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/ad80a4

Conference Proceedings

• Kumar, S., Munafò, A., Jo, S.M., Meyers, J.M. and Panesi, M., 2026. Numerical Investigation of High-Power Inductively Coupled Plasma Discharges. In AIAA SCITECH 2026 Forum (p. 2465). https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2026-2465

• Meyers, J.M., Kumar, S., Munafò, A. and Panesi, M., 2026. Simultaneous O Atom nsTALIF and NO nsLIF Imaging Strategy to Expedite Characterization and Numerical Validation of High Enthalpy Plasma Flows. In AIAA SCITECH 2026 Forum (p. 2462). https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2026-2462

• Kumar, S., Munafò, A., Jo, S.M. and Panesi, M., 2024, February. Electronic-state-resolved non-equilibrium analysis of ICP discharges. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 2996, No. 1, p. 140007). AIP Publishing LLC. [Peer-reviewed] https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0187611

• Munafò, A., Kumar, S. and Panesi, M., 2024, February. Self-consistent modeling of inductively coupled plasma discharges. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 2996, No. 1, p. 140008). AIP Publishing LLC. [Peer-reviewed] https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0187543

• Sirmalla, P.R., Munafò, A., Kumar, S., Jo, S.M., Bodony, D.J. and Panesi, M., 2024. Three-dimensional and time-accurate numerical model to simulate plasma jet in ICP facilities. In AIAA Aviation Forum and Ascend 2024 (p. 4046). https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2024-4046

• Munafò, A., Kumar, S., Jo, S.M. and Panesi, M., 2024. Hegel: a high-fidelity flexible software for hypersonics and plasma simulations. In AIAA Scitech 2024 Forum (p. 0449). https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2024-0449

• Sirmalla, P.R., Munafò, A., Kumar, S., Bodony, D.J. and Panesi, M., 2024. Modeling the plasma jet in the Plasmatron X ICP facility. In AIAA Scitech 2024 Forum (p. 1685). https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2024-1685

• Kumar, S., Munafò, A., Stephani, K.A., Bodony, D.J. and Panesi, M., 2024. Modeling three-dimensional magneto-hydrodynamic phenomena in inductively coupled plasma discharges. In AIAA Scitech 2024 Forum (p. 1648). https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2024-1648

• Oruganti, S., Kumar, S., Le Maout, V., Capponi, L., Munafo, A., Bodony, D.J., Panesi, M., Panerai, F., Mansour, N. and Fraile Izquierdo, S., 2023. Modeling instrumented test articles for Plasmatron X aerothermal environment. In AIAA Aviation 2023 Forum (p. 3327). https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2023-3327

• Kumar, S., Jo, S.M., Munafò, A., Bodony, D.J. and Panesi, M., 2023. Numerical study of radiative heat effects in inductively coupled plasma discharges. In AIAA Aviation 2023 Forum (p. 3322). https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2023-3322

• Jo, S.M., Kumar, S., Le Maout, V., Munafò, A. and Panesi, M., 2023. Multi-fidelity modeling framework for radiative transfer in hypersonic atmospheric entry. In AIAA Scitech 2023 Forum (p. 1730). https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2023-1730

• Kumar, S., Munafò, A., Jo, S.M. and Panesi, M., 2023. State-to-state analysis of a nitrogen RF inductively coupled plasma. In AIAA Scitech 2023 Forum (p. 0570). https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2023-0570

• Kumar, S., Munafò, A., Jo, S.M., Mansour, N.N. and Panesi, M., 2022. High-fidelity simulation of RF inductively coupled plasma discharges. In AIAA Aviation 2022 Forum (p. 3362). https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2022-3362

• Kumar, S., Munafò, A., Le Maout, V., Mansour, N. and Panesi, M., 2022. Self-consistent magneto-hydrodynamic modeling of ICP discharges. In AIAA Scitech 2022 Forum (p. 1619). https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2022-1619

• Munafò, A., Chiodi, R., Kumar, S., Le Maout, V., Stephani, K.A., Panerai, F., Bodony, D.J. and Panesi, M., 2022. A Multi-Physics Modeling Framework for Inductively Coupled Plasma Wind Tunnels. In AIAA Scitech 2022 Forum (p. 1011). https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2022-1011

Conference Presentations

• Kumar, S., Munafo, A., Jo, S.M. and Panesi, M., 2023. Modeling of non-equilibrium effects in inductively coupled plasma discharges. In APS Annual Gaseous Electronics Meeting Abstracts (pp. GR2-003). [Oral presentation] https://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/GEC23/Session/GR2.3

• Kumar, S., Munafo, A., Vollmer, B., Stephani, K.A., Panerai, F., Bodony, D.J., Panesi, M., 2024. A Tightly Coupled Numerical Framework for Hypersonic Material Testing in ICP Environments. In 10th International Workshop on Radiation of High Temperature Gases for Space Missions, University of Oxford. [Oral presentation] https://indico.esa.int/event/466/contributions/9743

• SoftwareX