About
Peter Wayner joined Rensselaer in 1965 and became a Full Professor in 1998. In 2009 he was
awarded the titled Distinguished Research Professor. In July 2009 he became Emeritus
Professor.
In 1976 he was on sabbatical leave at Stanford University and contact researcher at NASA
Ames Research Center. In 1987 he was on sabbatical leave to National Cheng Kung University,
Tainan, Taiwan and to Oxford University, Oxford, England. He has also served as Chairman,
Heat Transfer & Energy Conversion Division, American Institute of Chemical Engineers; 1985;
Technical Program Chairman, National Heat Transfer Conference – Houston, 1988; Chairman,
Donald Q. Kern Award Committee and Chairman, Max Jakob Award Committee, 1988;
Consulting Editor, Chemical Engineering Progress, 1986-1988; and Member, US Scientific
Committee for 9th and 10th and Delegate to the Assembly for the 11th International Heat
Transfer Conferences.
B.S. (Chemical Engineering) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1956
M.S. (Chemical Engineering) Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1960
M.S. Chemical Engineer (Practice School) Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1961
Ph.D. (Chemical Engineering) Northwestern University, 1963
Research
In general, research on flow and force of attraction in science and technology. At one extreme there is gravity, at the other extreme there is the intermolecular forces of adhesion and cohesion. Applies to particle and monolayer adsorption.
More details from a 2011 paper abstract: Using the disjoining pressure concept in a seminal paper, Derjaguin, Nerpin, and Churaev demonstrated that isothermal liquid flow in a very thin film on the walls of a capillary tube enhances the rate of flow and evaporation of liquid by several times. The objective of this review is to present the evolution of the use of this seminal research in the development of the Constrained Vapor Bubble (CVB) heat transfer system. In the non-isothermal “wickless heat pipe”, liquid and vapor flow results from gradients in the intermolecular force field, which depend on the disjoining pressure expanded to describe non- isothermal heat, mass, and momentum transport processes. The intermolecular force field described by the convenient disjoining pressure model is the boundary condition for “suction” and stability at the leading edge of the evaporating curved flow field, where the fluid reaches monolayer thickness. As demonstrated by the non-isothermal results, applications that depend on the evaporating meniscus are legion. Confirming experiments in microgravity on the International Space Station where the gravitational force is minimized expanded the liquid film.
Publications
The following is a selection of recent publications in Scopus. Peter Wayner has 136 indexed publications in the subjects of Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Physics and Astronomy.