Abstract

"How Should We Explain the Macroscopic Mechanical Energy Balance (The "Engineering Bernoulli Equation")?"

Full Byron Bird Lectureship.pdf

Some textbooks say that the MMEB is an alternative form of (or a special case of) the total energy balance. Others emphasize that the second law of thermodynamics must be used to understand it. Still others insist that deriving it requires no thermodynamics at all. Because of the importance of the MMEB in engineering calculations, it is important that the derivation of this equation be presented in a straightforward way and that the physical basis for the equation should be crystal clear. The talk will include some history, some science, and some thoughts on teaching and book-writing.

Abstract

"Kinematic Theory and Transport Properties of Polymeric Liquids"

Polymeric fluids are known to behave quite differently from fluids made up of small molecules. It's fun to examine the qualitative differences in the behavior of these two classes of fluids, and quite a challenge to try to understand the polymeric?fluid behavior in terms of the motions of the constituent molecules. There are also important differences in thermal conductivity and diffusion. The transport phenomena can be explained by means of rather simple mechanical models for the polymer molecules.