Abstract
Combustion is the scientific discipline that anchors many aspects of modern civilization such as energy sustainability, the environment, and fire and explosion hazards. Recent developments have highlighted not only its foundational rigor in terms of chemical kinetics and flame dynamics, but also its transdisciplinary robustness in phenomena that can be astrophysical, biological, nuclear, or societal in nature. In this lecture, the speaker will discuss on such advances in several major topics of interest in fundamental combustion, namely the impact dynamics of droplets and jets, the front stability and collision of propagating flames, the chemistry and dynamics of low-temperature flames, and the dimensional reduction of large reaction mechanisms. For each of these topics examples will be given of its transdisciplinary nature, suggesting benefits of cross-fertilization with other scientific disciplines and phenomena such as ink-jet printing, inertial confinement fusion, materials synthesis, the supernova, ultrafast drug injection, and social networking.
About the speaker
Prof Chung K. Law received his PhD in Engineering Physics from University of California at San Diego in 1973. He then joined the General Motors Research Laboratories as an associate senior research engineer and furthered his career in Northwestern University as an associate professor and University of California at Davis as a professor. In 1988, he moved to Princeton University and is currently the Robert H. Goddard Professor.
Prof Law’s research focuses on the fundamentals of combustion, with applications in propulsion, energy and environmental issues. Scientific disciplines which are of direct interest are chemical kinetics, fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer, and high-temperature gas dynamics. His research methodologies encompass high-level mathematical analysis, experimentation including state-of-the-art laser diagnostics, and computational simulation of complex flows and chemistry.
Prof Law received numerous awards including the Propellants and Combustion Award by American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in 1994 and the Heat Transfer Memorial Award – Science by American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in 1997. He was also elected a fellow of ASME (1989), AIAA (1992), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2010) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2012), and a member of the US National Academy of Engineering (2002).
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