Mohamed Gad-el-Hak, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering | VCU College of Engineering
Engineering East Hall, Room E2256, Richmond, VA, UNITED STATES
Fluid mechanics expert, with a penchant for nanotechnology and microelectromechanical systems
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Biography
Mohamed Gad-el-Hak was born in Tanta, Egypt, but grew up in Cairo. He received his B.Sc. (summa cum laude) in mechanical engineering from Ain Shams University in 1966 and his Ph.D. in fluid mechanics from the Johns Hopkins University in 1973, under Stanley Corrsin. Gad-el-Hak lived in the United States of America since 1968, and became a U.S. citizen in 1981.
Gad-el-Hak was senior research scientist and program manager at Flow Research Company in Seattle, Washington, and then professor of aerospace and mechanical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, finally coming to Virginia Commonwealth University in 2002 as chair of mechanical engineering, later mechanical and nuclear engineering. He has also worked at the University of Southern California, University of Virginia, Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, Université de Poitiers, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Technische Universität München, and Technische Universität Berlin.
Industry Expertise (5)
Research
Education/Learning
Nanotechnology
Mechanical/Industrial Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Areas of Expertise (6)
Fluids in motion
Turbulence and flow control
Viscous pumps and microturbines
Micro- and nanotechnology
Large-scale disasters
Microelectromechanical Systems
Education (2)
The Johns Hopkins University: Ph.D., Fluid Mechanics 1973
Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt: B.Sc., Mechanical Engineering 1966
Selected Articles (3)
Nine Decades of Fluid Mechanics
Journal of Fluids Engineering2016 As the ASME Division of Fluids Engineering celebrates its 90th Anniversary, I make a broad-brush sweep of progress in the field of fluid mechanics during this period. Selected theoretical, numerical, and experimental advances are described. The inventions of laser and computer have profound effects on humanity, but their influence on fluid mechanics is particularly elucidated in this review.
Enhanced Turbulence in the Taylor-Couette Flow System
Procedia Engineering2016 The Taylor-Couette system keeps making subject to countless studies. It is used in catalytic reactors, electrochemistry, photochemistry, biochemistry and polymerization, as well as in mass transfer operations (extraction, tangential filtration, crystallization and dialysis). This work deals with a numerical study dedicated to a Taylor-Couette flow considering the influence of a pulsatile dynamic superimposed to the rotative inner cylinder. Simulations are implemented on the FLUENT commercial package where a three-dimensional and incompressible flow is considered. It is shown that the suggested controlling technique fundamentally alters the physical flow behavior resulting in substantial turbulence enhancement to which transition is instilled at a Taylor number of Ta = 17 instead of Ta = 41.33 corresponding to the non-controlled case.
Suppressing Taylor vortices in a Taylor--Couette flow system with free surface
69th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics2016 Taylor--Couette flows have been extensively investigated due to their many industrial applications, such as catalytic reactors, electrochemistry, photochemistry, biochemistry, and polymerization. Mass transfer applications include extraction, tangential filtration, crystallization, and dialysis. A 3D study is carried out to simulate a Taylor--Couette flow with a rotating and pulsating inner cylinder. We utilize FLUENT to simulate the incompressible flow with a free surface. The study reveals that flow structuring is initiated with the development of an Ekman vortex at low Taylor number, Ta =0.01. For all encountered flow regimes, the Taylor vortices are systematically inhibited by the pulsatile motion of the inner cylinder. A spectral analysis shows that this pulsatile motion causes a rapid decay of the free surface oscillations, from a periodic wavy movement to a chaotic one, then to a fully turbulent motion. This degenerative free surface behavior is interpreted as the underlying mechanism responsible for the inhibition of the Taylor vortices.
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