Robert J. Moffat

Home phone:(650) 234-8161

Degrees

B.S. Wayne State University - Engineering Mechanics (1962)

M.S. Stanford University - Mechanical Engineering (1966)

Eng. Stanford University - Mechanical Engineering (1967)

Ph.D. Stanford University - Mechanical Engineering (1967)

 

 

Research Interests

Research Interests: Convective heat and mass transfer; biological heat and mass transfer; experimental methods.

He is the author of over 200 publications and three book chapters in these areas, and has been advisor or co-advisor to over 30 PhD's. His work is divided between five areas: gas turbine heat transfer, electronics cooling, neo-natal thermal problems, instrumentation, and uncertainty analysis. He is a Fellow of ASME, and a Senior Member of ISA and has received numerous awards from both societies (Heat Transfer Memorial Award, Mellville Medal, Holley Medal, and two Best Paper Awards from ASME, Eckman Award, Mills Dean Award, and Abernethy Award from ISA).

Recent Publications

"Illuminant Invariant Calibration of Thermochromic Liquid Crystals," (with D. Farina, J. Hacker, and J.K. Eaton), ASME National Heat Transfer Conference, August 8-11, 1993.

"Heat Transfer with Very High Free Stream Turbulence, Part I: Experimental Data," (with P.K. Maciejewski), Accepted by ASME Journal of Heat Transfer, 1992.

"Heat Transfer with Very High Free Stream Turbulence, Part I: Analysis of Results," (with P.K. Maciejewski), accepted by ASME Journal of Heat Transfer, 1992.

"The Adiabatic Heat Transfer Coefficient on the Faces of a Cube in an Electronic Cooling Situation," (with J. Rhee and C. Danek), ASME International Electronics Packaging Conference, 1993.

"Discrete Hole Film Cooling on a Convex Wall: Heat Transfer and Hydrodynamics with Free-Stream Turbulence," (with R.P. Campbell), ASME Winter Annual Meeting, 1994.

Projects

NIH SIDS Research Program "Development of a system for measuring local, time-resolved sweating rate on infants" (with Dr. R. Ariagno)

AFOSR "Calibrations of heat flux sensors for convection applications" (pending)

"High turbulence effects on turbulent boundary layer heat transfer in Diesel and spark ignition cylinders" (pending)

Summary of Research Projects, Dec. 1994

Research is in progress in 4 areas of heat transfer: gas turbine heat transfer, electronics cooling, premature infant thermal management, and sensors for temperature and heat flux measurement.

The first two areas are closely related, phenomenologically, since both are characterized by high relative turbulence intensity in the free-stream flow. When the turbulence intensity exceeds 6 or 7%, the heat transfer is significantly higher than would be predicted from conventional correlations and it can be increased as much as a factor of 5 with turbulence of 60%. An understanding of the interaction of free-stream turbulence with the boundary layer is thus critically important to predicting heat transfer behavior in highly turbulent situations. Current work is focussed on the possibility that the heat transfer coefficient is linearly dependent on the free-stream fluctuation velocity, independent of Reynolds number, when the turbulence intensity is above about 12%, i.e., that Stanton number based on maximum rms u- component intensity within the boundary layer is constant at about 0.018 for air. This appears to be true within 15% for a wide range of situations but more work is required to establish the domain of its utility. The same correlation has been found to apply in boundary layers and in channel flows with high turbulence.

The infant thermal management issue is a low-profile effort conducted almost as a hobby. It is not a funded program, but a cooperation with members of the Stanford Medical school. Past work has resulted in the development of a transport incubator for premature infants and a sensor for measuring trans- epidermal water loss (evaporative water loss through the skin, not involving visible liquid water).

A new program is starting in 1994, aimed at developing techniques for calibration of heat flux sensors for high heat flux convective applications. At present, there is no accepted calibration technique for convective gages at high heat flux. The effort is being organized through Stanford, in cooperation with NIST, NSF, AFOSR and several commercial firms. The output of this program is expected to be a national calibration facility to be lodged at the Gaithersburg, Maryland, facility of NIST.

For further information e-mail rmoffat@stanford.edu

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