ChBE Seminar “The History of Multiphase Science and Computational Fluid Dynamics”

Armour College of Engineering's Chemical and Biological Engineering Department will host a seminar featuring Dr. Robert W. Lyczkowski, formerly with Argonne National Laboratory. He will present his lecture, "The History of Multiphase Science and Computational Fluid Dynamics".

Abstract:

It all started with Charles “Charlie” W. Solbrig in the remote wilds of Idaho. He was the first PhD student of Dimitri Gidaspow's when he was an Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Gas Technology. After Charlie finished his Doctorate in 1966, he joined IGT as an Adjunct Professor. Dimitri was my Master's Thesis advisor and Charlie was my co-advisor under Dimitri's advisor ship. Sarvajit S. Sareen and I were Dimitri's next two PhD students. Charlie left IGT in 1968 and joined Westinghouse Electric Corporation in Pittsburgh before I earned my Doctorate in 1970. While there he developed this idea of modeling the hypothetical “Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA)” using a new set of equations he called the interpenetrating continuum” approach. He moved to Idaho to work for Aerojet Nuclear Company (ANC) which was a part of what was then the National Reactor Testing Station (NRTS). He and his boss George Brocket sold the program to the Atomic Energy Commission in about 1971.

Short Biography:

Robert W. Lyczkowski received his BChE in from Cleveland State University, Fenn School of Engineering and MS in Gas Engineering and PhD in Gas Technology from Illinois Institute of Technology. He worked for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Energy Incorporated, Goodyear Atomic Corp., Hooker Chemical Corp., and as a faculty member at Illinois Institute of Technology. He has been involved for over forty years in chemical and nuclear engineering applications of his multiphase theory and computational fluid dynamics expertise especially in the areas of heat transfer and energy conversion to develop models that are now used by industry world-wide to design various two-phase flow equipment. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and a recipient of the prestigious Ernst W. Thiele Award. Most of Dr. Lyczkowski’s career was spent as a Chemical Engineer in the Energy Systems Division at Argonne National Laboratory. He was involved with computer modeling of fluidized beds and dense slurries. His expertise is in the areas of multiphase flow and heat transfer, erosion, light water and liquid metal nuclear reactors, in-situ processing of fuels, and concentrated suspensions. He applied multiphase dense slurry modeling to the development of a unique non-Newtonian power-law model for multiphase hemodynamics. This established a completely new paradigm for analyzing the migration of blood-borne particulates. This model was used to develop a mechanistic monolayer population balance cell-adhesion model to aid in determining the threshold conditions of atherosclerosis initiation and progression. He was involved with modeling a novel multiphase concept involving chemical water splitting using high temperature steam bubbling into a bath of molten calcium bromide as the first step in the calcium-bromine (Ca-Br) cycle. He is the author of over 150 technical publications (over 50 refereed journal articles and book contributions and over 100 conference papers), over 50 reports, and holds 2 U.S. patents. He contributed significantly to the development of the RETRAN and COMMIX computer programs. He has recently completed a book titled “The History of Multiphase Science and Computational Fluid Dynamics a Personal Memoir”.

EARN ENGINEERING THEMES CREDIT IN ENERGY

Take a selfie at the event, then email the photo to engineering@iit.edu, along your A# and 3-4 sentences about what you learned at the seminar.