AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. K.A DAMODARAN , HOD of Dept of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Madras, 1984-1988

-By Manu N M

From a telephonic interview with Dr. K A Damodaran, who was one among the pioneers of Ramjets and Scramjets in India and the HoD of Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Madras from 1984 to 1988.

                After basic schooling from Trichur and Chennai, Dr. K A Damodaran did BSc in Physics in 1952 at Victoria College, Palakkad followed by an engineering degree in Electrical and Electronics from BITS Pilani in 1955. He was one amongst Dr. Satish Dhawan’s first batch students at Indian Institute of Science and later did his Masters degree under Dr. Dhawan himself. After his degree at IISc, he worked on Aircraft Engine Integration at HAL, which involved the designing of HF-24 Maruth and various other engine integration projects. After the prototype design, he did another Masters in Air breathing Propulsion at Cranfield Institute of Technology during 1961-62 which he finished within 1 year due to the special consideration received because of his work at IISc. He then worked in Madras Institute of Technology (MIT) as a Design Engineer and designed many experimental facilities like induction tunnel, and a few high speed and low speed wind tunnels etc. During his period over there, he even taught many courses at MIT in propulsion and design.

                He joined IIT Madras in 1968 November when the Aerospace Engineering Department was about to be established. He can be considered as one of the pioneers in the Ramjet engine technology in India and he was one of the leaders in the Ramjet project when it was sponsored by DRDO in 1971. During his first few years at IITM, he designed a few high speed and low speed wind tunnels. During 1970 – 71, he started his work on scramjet engines and his thesis was submitted in 1974. After becoming a professor at IITM in November 1974, he lead various projects like reverse flow combustion chamber project, hypersonic cruise missile project, solid fuel ramjet project, variable geometry engine (which operates in three different modes) project and many others. As an offshoot to the variable geometry engine project, his idea of introduction of petal nozzle (which is used to induce vortex mixing) into an injector helped to reduce the mixing length to a considerable extent (from 20 D to 3.5 D), which resulted in reducing the length of the entire combustion chamber. This was a remarkable breakthrough in the design of scramjet combustor and this concept was proven as a DRDO project and later was tested in scaled up combustor at NAL, Bangalore.

                Dr. Damodaran was the Head of Aerospace Engineering department from 1984 – 88 and he has published over 50 research papers in his career. Later he was a scientific consultant in VSSC during 1993 – 2000 during which he did extensive work on the variable geometry engine and made a mathematical model for this. 

When and how did you get the inspiration for taking aerospace engineering as your career?

                I never had planned all these. When I finished my study at Pilani, there were only two seats available in Indian Institute of Science for an Mtech graduate in electrical engineering, one was Electrical Power and the second one was Aeronautics. After my Btech in Electrical and Electronics, I had found out that electrical engineering was not the field where I wanted to work. So I chose Aeronautics. But later I learned propulsion because of requirement in my work. It’s difficult for an aircraft engine integration man if he doesn’t have a sound knowledge in engine performance. Also I went to Cranfield for doing my Ramjet work. My professor in Cranfield, Dr. Lefbre who was considered as the best man in combustion chamber design in those times, asked me whether I can continue this work for him. That’s how I entered into the field of combustion. So what I am telling you is that, nothing about my career was planned by me. I believe that some unknown hand made me do all these.

What do you think is the greatest achievement of your career? 

                I used to tell my students that I like to be known as an “Acharya” rather than a Professor. Because professor is one who professes knowledge, but an acharya is one who practices what he teaches. So ultimately, now I’m here in the position of a “Vedacharya”. I had to design many destructive weapons throughout my career. So I tell my students that I’m doing this as a opaciation for all those sins.

                When the interviewer commented, “It can also be viewed as your contributions to national safety” his reply was “If I have used my mind for something which is used for destroying mankind, shouldn’t I also have to use my mind for doing something good for the society? ”

                The idea of greatest achievement depends on the time period of one’s life. Also, it’s not me who has to tell about this. If you ask me now, what I am doing right now in my life, which is researching on Vedas, is the greatest achievement of my life. For the aeronautical society, I would say that my work in reverse flow combustion will be my greatest achievement.

Few words to the students.

                If you ask Prof. Sujith, he will say, “What you proved is that you don’t have to be called a particular engineer. You can study in any engineering branch and work in any other branch.“ After you reach a particular level, you must be able to view knowledge in a unitary way. What I want to tell you is that, don’t lose the opportunity by worrying too much about the subject. If it turns out that you don’t like the content, shift to something else. My life proves that it’s possible at any instant of time. If you have the will, you can always succeed.

                My grandson used to tell me to write an autobiography. So what I told him was, I will tell my story, but somebody else has to write it. It is not worth writing for me and also, for one who is at 87, it’s a painful thing to write and it only increases the ego. I have got many other better things to write about.

                Dr. Damodaran now spends his time with his family in Palakkad. For the last five years, he is in the process of authoring a four-fold commentary on Rig-Veda for which he had started collecting data since 1987. The book is finished and is on its way to the readers. Along with this, he is mentoring many students, professors, engineers to help them succeed in their life.

May God bless him with a long and healthy life.