Akhil

Sharma

Mechanical Engineering Portfolio

GRADUATE STUDENT . MODELING . SIMULATION . PROBLEM SOLVING

"I fall, I crawl, and I walk in pride."

"Welcome! If you've made it this far, I appreciate your curiosity. I hope what you find here gives you a real sense of who I am and what I'm passionate about."

I am a graduate mechanical engineering student at Wichita, Kansas, driven by curiosity and a hands-on approach to problem solving. I am curentlly working as a graduate research assistant in Clean and Innovation Lab from past two years. My work spans personal projects and academic research - each one a chance to learn something new.

I spend most of my time in the lab working on problems related to electrochemistry and conducting experiments for my research work. And, after that I give some of my remaining time working on 3D modelling, FEA simulation, learning softwares and sharpening my skills. I believe engineering is best learned by doing-breaking things, understanding why, and building better.

As a graduate student, I've deepened my understanding of advanced mechanics, computational methods, and materials behavior — applying theory directly to real-world design challenges. I'm constantly pushing myself to bridge the gap between classroom concepts and practical engineering solutions.

Whether it's optimizing a structural component, simulating fluid flow through a system, or prototyping a mechanism from scratch, I approach every project with the same mindset — precision, persistence, and purpose.

When a problem knocks me down, I don't stay down. Every challenge is a step toward mastery.

Thesis of master program upcoming(June 2026):

ED cell assembly

Diffussion test study

My graduate mechanical engineering research is mostly focused on using electrodialysis (ED) at a lab scale to reduce NaCl concentration from contaminated wastewater caused by road salt runoff—and exploring how the separated salt streams can be upcycled into useful products like sodium formate, contributing to cleaner groundwater and a more sustainable deicing cycle. As we know, the chlorine from the wastewater is hazardous to the environment. This chlorine goes to the drainage underground and destroys the crops and corrodes anything it touches over time.
ED cells were designed and assembled from scratch, i.e., identifying proper flow rate, membrane selection, electrode area, electrode material, meshes, thickness, and many more to investigate the separation of Na⁺ and Cl⁻ ions from simulated wastewater samples. Studied how membrane configuration, applied voltage, and flow conditions affect salt removal efficiency at the bench scale.
Performed theoretical and experimental ED studies for chloride removal from lab-based NaCl samples, achieving 90 - 95% coulombic efficiency and 100x concentration enhancement at mA/cm².
Studied the flow rate from 1 rpm to 36 rpm for different diluent thicknesses (0.25, 0.5, 1, and 1.5 mm each) and compared the experimental and theoretical pair voltage for n = -0.33.

Thesis of master program upcoming(June 2026):

List of projects.