Adrian Bejan

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Adrian Bejan
Photo Adrian Bejan at The Franklin Institute 2018.jpg
Franklin Institute 2018
Born1948 (age 75–76)
Galaţi, Romania
Education MIT (1971, 1972, 1975)
OccupationDistinguished Professor at Duke University
Known for
Awards

Adrian Bejan is a Romanian-American professor who has made contributions to modern thermodynamics and developed his constructal law. He is J. A. Jones Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke University [1] [2] and author of the books Design in Nature, [3] The Physics of Life [4] , Freedom and Evolution [5] and Time And Beauty. [6] He is an Honorary Member [7] of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal and the ASME Medal.

Contents

Early life and education

Bejan was born in Galaţi, a city on the Danube in Romania. His mother, Marioara Bejan (1914–1998), was a pharmacist. [1] [8] His father, Dr. Anghel Bejan (1910–1976), was a veterinarian. [8] Bejan showed an early talent in drawing, and his parents enrolled him in art school. He also excelled in basketball, which earned him a position on the Romanian national basketball team. [8] [9]

At age 19 Bejan won a scholarship to the United States and entered Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. [8] In 1972 he was awarded BS and MS degrees as a member of the Honors Course in Mechanical Engineering. [2] [8] He graduated in 1975 with a PhD from MIT a thesis titled "Improved thermal design of the cryogenic cooling system for a superconducting synchronous generator". His advisor was Joseph L. Smith Jr. [10] , a discipline of Prof. Joseph H. Keenan.

Career

From 1976 to 1978 Bejan was a Miller research fellow in at the University of California Berkeley working with Chang-Lin Tien. [8] In 1978 he moved to Colorado and joined the faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado in Boulder. In 1982 Bejan published his first book, Entropy Generation Through Heat and Fluid Flow. The book is aimed at practical applications of the second law of thermodynamics, and presented his ideas on irreversibility, availability and exergy analysis in a form for engineers. [8] In 1984 he published the first edition of Convection Heat Transfer'. In an era when researchers did heat transfer calculations using numerical methods on supercomputers, the book emphasized new research methods such as intersection of asymptotes, heatlines, and scale analysis to solve problems. [8]

Bejan was appointed full professor at Duke University in 1984. In 1988 he published the first edition of his textbook Advanced Engineering Thermodynamics. The book combined thermodynamics theory with engineering heat transfer and fluid mechanics, and introduced entropy generation minimization as a method of optimization. [8] In 1996 the ASME awarded him the Worcester Reed Warner Medal for "originality, challenges to orthodoxy, and impact on thermodynamics and heat transfer, which were made through his first three books". [11]

In 1989 Bejan was appointed the J. A. Jones Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering. In 1988 and 1989, his peers named two dimensionless groups Bejan number (Be), in two different fields: for the pressure difference group, in heat transfer by forced convection, and for the dimensionless ratio of fluid friction irreversibility divided by heat transfer irreversibility, in thermodynamics. [2] From 1992 to 1996 he published four more books, Convection in Porous Media, Heat Transfer, Thermal Design and Optimization and Entropy Generation Minimization. [8]

Constructal law

In 1995 [8] while reviewing entropy generation minimization for a symposium paper and writing another paper on the cooling of electronic components, Bejan formulated the constructal law. [12] [13] The constructal law is an organizing design principle by which natural phenomena as well as human designed systems will evolve in a way that facilitates the flow of energy and material passing through it. [14] [15] As an example, for electronic components too small for convective cooling, they must be designed for efficient conduction. The 1995 paper provides a method for efficiently designing conductive paths, from smaller paths leading to larger ones. The similarity of the solution to the branching structures seen in multiple inanimate and living things led to his statement of what he calls a new law of nature: "For a finite-size system to persist in time (to live), it must evolve in such a way that it provides easier access to the imposed (global) currents that flow through it." [12] [13] To emphasize the coming together of paths he called the theory constructal from the Latin verb "to construct", the opposite time direction of fractal from the Latin "to break". [12] [13]

Bejan incorporated his constructal law into the second edition of his textbook, Advanced Engineering Thermodynamics (1997). [8] He continued thermodynamics and its constructal law and implications. [8] In 2004, he published Porous and Complex Flow Structures in Modern Technologies. [8] The same year, he and Sylvie Lorente were awarded the Edward F. Obert Award by the ASME for their paper "Thermodynamic Formulation of the Constructal Law" [2] In 2008 he published Design with Constructal Theory. [16]

Awards for Constructal Law

In 2011 the American Society of Mechanical Engineers presented him with an honorary membership. He was cited for "an extraordinary record of creative work, including the unification of thermodynamics and heat transfer; the conceptual development of design as a science that unites all fields; legendary contributions to engineering education; and, since 1996, the discovery and continued development of the constructal law." [7]

Bejan has also written books for the general audience. In 2012 he published Design in Nature: How the Constructal Law Governs Evolution in Biology, Technology, and Social Organization and 2016 The Physics of Life: The Evolution of Everything. [1] Bejan’s books for the general audience continued with Freedom and Evolution, Hierarchy in Nature, Society and Science (2020), [5] and Time and Beauty, Why Time Flies and Beauty Never Dies (2022). [6] He credits these books for his award of the Ralph Coats Roe Medal from the ASME in 2017. [17] He was cited for "permanent contributions to the public appreciation of the pivotal role of engineering in an advanced society through outstanding accomplishments as an engineering scientist and educator, renowned communicator and prolific writer". [18]

In November 2017 the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia announced that Bejan would be awarded the 2018 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Mechanical Engineering. [19] He was cited for "his pioneering interdisciplinary contributions in thermodynamics and convection heat transfer that have improved the performance of engineering systems, and for constructal theory, which predicts natural design and its evolution in engineering, scientific, and social systems." [20]

On 27 June 2019, in Berlin, the Humboldt Foundation awarded Bejan the Humboldt Research Award for lifetime achievement. He was cited for "his pioneering contributions to modern thermodynamics and "Constructal Law" – a law of physics that predicts natural design and its evolution in biology, geophysics, climate change, technology, social organization, evolutionary design and development, wealth and sustainability". [21]

On 30 December 2019, in Ankara, the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA) awarded Bejan the TÜBA International Academy Prize in the category of Basic and Engineering Sciences "for his remarkable number of creative works such as combining thermodynamics and heat transfer in the field of thermodynamics, developing design as a science that brings together all fields, and putting forth "Constructal Theory". [22]

On 20 February 2020, in Durham, the French government awarded Bejan the title of Knight of the French Order of Academic Palms. [23]

On 18 July 2021, the International Association for Green Energy (IAGE) gave Bejan the IAGE Lifetime Achievement Award “For revolutionary contributions to thermal sciences through entropy generation minimization and the original development of a new law in physics, the constructal law, for predicting natural design and its evolution as climate, social ecosystems, and sustainability.” [24]

In September 2023, peers from many countries reviewed Bejan’s scholarly legacy on the occasion of his 75th birthday. [25]

In April 2024, Duke University honored Bejan for excellence in teaching and research. [26]

On 26 August 2024, Adrian Bejan was named the 2024 recipient of The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Medal [27] . The award, established in 1920, is the highest award that the Society can bestow and recognizes eminently distinguished engineering achievement. Bejan is honored for “unprecedented creativity, breadth, and permanent impact on engineering; for developments in the new science of energy, motion, form, and evolution; and for building bridges to design in biological, geophysical, and sociological systems. Bejan is credited with several groundbreaking developments. He unified thermodynamics with heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and the science of form (i.e., flow configuration, image, design), as a counterweight to the doctrine of reductionism; discovered, taught, and applied the Constructal Law of evolution in nature; and brought together biologists, physicists, engineers, sociologists, philosophers, economists, managers, and athletes with creative books for the public, including Design in Nature (2012), The Physics of Life (2016), Freedom and Evolution (2020), and Time and Beauty (2022). His influential work and prolific publication record have earned him 18 honorary doctorates from 11 countries. He holds a position among the top 0.01% of most-cited and impactful scientists, is the sixth most impactful scholar in mechanical engineering worldwide, and the 11th across all engineering disciplines, according to the citations impact database in PLOS Biology.”

Selected awards and honors

Bejan has received multiple awards and honorary degrees. [2] [28]

Selected publications

Articles
Books

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Entropy</span> Property of a thermodynamic system

Entropy is a scientific concept that is most commonly associated with a state of disorder, randomness, or uncertainty. The term and the concept are used in diverse fields, from classical thermodynamics, where it was first recognized, to the microscopic description of nature in statistical physics, and to the principles of information theory. It has found far-ranging applications in chemistry and physics, in biological systems and their relation to life, in cosmology, economics, sociology, weather science, climate change, and information systems including the transmission of information in telecommunication.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thermodynamics</span> Physics of heat, work, and temperature

Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed by the four laws of thermodynamics, which convey a quantitative description using measurable macroscopic physical quantities, but may be explained in terms of microscopic constituents by statistical mechanics. Thermodynamics applies to a wide variety of topics in science and engineering, especially physical chemistry, biochemistry, chemical engineering and mechanical engineering, but also in other complex fields such as meteorology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second law of thermodynamics</span> Physical law for entropy and heat

The second law of thermodynamics is a physical law based on universal empirical observation concerning heat and energy interconversions. A simple statement of the law is that heat always flows spontaneously from hotter to colder regions of matter. Another statement is: "Not all heat can be converted into work in a cyclic process."

In thermodynamics, dissipation is the result of an irreversible process that affects a thermodynamic system. In a dissipative process, energy transforms from an initial form to a final form, where the capacity of the final form to do thermodynamic work is less than that of the initial form. For example, transfer of energy as heat is dissipative because it is a transfer of energy other than by thermodynamic work or by transfer of matter, and spreads previously concentrated energy. Following the second law of thermodynamics, in conduction and radiation from one body to another, the entropy varies with temperature, but never decreases in an isolated system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heat death of the universe</span> Possible fate of the universe

The heat death of the universe is a hypothesis on the ultimate fate of the universe, which suggests the universe will evolve to a state of no thermodynamic free energy, and will therefore be unable to sustain processes that increase entropy. Heat death does not imply any particular absolute temperature; it only requires that temperature differences or other processes may no longer be exploited to perform work. In the language of physics, this is when the universe reaches thermodynamic equilibrium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thermodynamic system</span> Body of matter in a state of internal equilibrium

A thermodynamic system is a body of matter and/or radiation separate from its surroundings that can be studied using the laws of thermodynamics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irreversible process</span> Process that cannot be undone

In science, a process that is not reversible is called irreversible. This concept arises frequently in thermodynamics. All complex natural processes are irreversible, although a phase transition at the coexistence temperature is well approximated as reversible.

There are two different Bejan numbers (Be) used in the scientific domains of thermodynamics and fluid mechanics. Bejan numbers are named after Adrian Bejan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Work (thermodynamics)</span> Type of energy transfer

Thermodynamic work is one of the principal processes by which a thermodynamic system can interact with its surroundings and exchange energy. This exchange results in externally measurable macroscopic forces on the system's surroundings, which can cause mechanical work, to lift a weight, for example, or cause changes in electromagnetic, or gravitational variables. The surroundings also can perform work on a thermodynamic system, which is measured by an opposite sign convention.

Applied mechanics is the branch of science concerned with the motion of any substance that can be experienced or perceived by humans without the help of instruments. In short, when mechanics concepts surpass being theoretical and are applied and executed, general mechanics becomes applied mechanics. It is this stark difference that makes applied mechanics an essential understanding for practical everyday life. It has numerous applications in a wide variety of fields and disciplines, including but not limited to structural engineering, astronomy, oceanography, meteorology, hydraulics, mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, nanotechnology, structural design, earthquake engineering, fluid dynamics, planetary sciences, and other life sciences. Connecting research between numerous disciplines, applied mechanics plays an important role in both science and engineering.

Research concerning the relationship between the thermodynamic quantity entropy and both the origin and evolution of life began around the turn of the 20th century. In 1910 American historian Henry Adams printed and distributed to university libraries and history professors the small volume A Letter to American Teachers of History proposing a theory of history based on the second law of thermodynamics and on the principle of entropy.

Joseph Henry Keenan was an American thermodynamicist and mechanical engineer noted for his work in the calculation of steam tables, research in jet-rocket propulsion, and his work in furthering the development in the understanding of the laws of thermodynamics in the mid 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heat</span> Type of energy transfer

In thermodynamics, heat is the thermal energy transferred between systems due to a temperature difference. In colloquial use, heat sometimes refers to thermal energy itself. Thermal energy is the kinetic energy of vibrating and colliding atoms in a substance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temperature</span> Physical quantity of hot and cold

Temperature is a physical quantity that quantitatively expresses the attribute of hotness or coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. It reflects the average kinetic energy of the vibrating and colliding atoms making up a substance.

Energy dissipation and entropy production extremal principles are ideas developed within non-equilibrium thermodynamics that attempt to predict the likely steady states and dynamical structures that a physical system might show. The search for extremum principles for non-equilibrium thermodynamics follows their successful use in other branches of physics. According to Kondepudi (2008), and to Grandy (2008), there is no general rule that provides an extremum principle that governs the evolution of a far-from-equilibrium system to a steady state. According to Glansdorff and Prigogine, irreversible processes usually are not governed by global extremal principles because description of their evolution requires differential equations which are not self-adjoint, but local extremal principles can be used for local solutions. Lebon Jou and Casas-Vásquez (2008) state that "In non-equilibrium ... it is generally not possible to construct thermodynamic potentials depending on the whole set of variables". Šilhavý (1997) offers the opinion that "... the extremum principles of thermodynamics ... do not have any counterpart for [non-equilibrium] steady states ." It follows that any general extremal principle for a non-equilibrium problem will need to refer in some detail to the constraints that are specific for the structure of the system considered in the problem.

In engineering, physics, and chemistry, the study of transport phenomena concerns the exchange of mass, energy, charge, momentum and angular momentum between observed and studied systems. While it draws from fields as diverse as continuum mechanics and thermodynamics, it places a heavy emphasis on the commonalities between the topics covered. Mass, momentum, and heat transport all share a very similar mathematical framework, and the parallels between them are exploited in the study of transport phenomena to draw deep mathematical connections that often provide very useful tools in the analysis of one field that are directly derived from the others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John H. Lienhard</span> American mechanical engineer

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milivoje Kostic</span>

Milivoje Kostic, is a Serbian-American thermodynamicist and professor emeritus of mechanical engineering at Northern Illinois University, Professional Engineer (PE) in Illinois, and Section First Editor-in-Chief of Thermodynamics (2015-2024) of the journal Entropy. He is an expert in energy fundamentals and applications, including nanotechnology, with emphasis on efficiency, efficient energy use and energy conservation, and environment and sustainability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylvie Lorente</span> French mechanical engineer

Sylvie Lorente is a French mechanical engineer known for her research on the thermodynamics and fluid mechanics of porous media, and in particular for her work on the constructal theory of flows and their dynamic evolution. She is theWilliam M. Brown Endowed Chair Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Villanova University, Adjunct Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Duke University, and professor at the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Toulouse.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Livni, Ephrat (23 September 2017). "Everything, including the growing income disparity, can be explained by physics". Quartz. Quartz Media LLC. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Adrian Bejan - Duke Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science". Duke University. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  3. ↑ Bejan, Adrian (2013). Design in nature : how the constructal law governs evolution in biology, physics, technology, and social organization. J. Peder Zane. New York: Doubleday. ISBN   978-0-307-74434-0. OCLC   788289357.
  4. ↑ Bejan, Adrian (24 May 2016). The Physics of Life: The Evolution of Everything. St. Martin's Press. ISBN   978-1250078827. Archived from the original on 2 October 2017. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  5. 1 2 Bejan, Adrian (2020). Freedom and Evolution: Hierarchy in Nature, Society and Science. New York: Springer. ISBN   978-3-030-34008-7.
  6. 1 2 Bejan, Adrian (2022). Time and beauty : why time flies and beauty never dies. New Jersey. ISBN   978-981-12-4547-3. OCLC   1302102371.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. 1 2 "Adrian Bejan Presented with ASME Honorary Membership" (Press release). The American Society of Mechanical Engineers. 21 November 2011. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Lage, José L.; Anderson, Ren; Costa, Vitor; et al. (2008). "Professor Adrian Bejan on his 60th birthday". International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. 51 (25–26): 5759–5761. Bibcode:2008IJHMT..51.5759L. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2008.06.027 . ISSN   0017-9310.
  9. ↑ "Adrian Bejan a realizat performanta in stiinta cu ajutorul baschetului!". Federatia Romana de Baschet. Archived from the original on 27 September 2017. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  10. ↑ Bejan, Adrian (1974). Improved thermal design of the cryogenic cooling system for a superconducting synchronous generator (PDF) (PhD). Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  11. ↑ "Worcester Reed Warner Medal. American Society of Mechanical Engineers". Scholars@Duke. Duke University. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  12. 1 2 3 Bejan, Adrian (1996). "Street network theory of organization in nature". Journal of Advanced Transportation. 30 (2): 85–107. doi:10.1002/atr.5670300207.
  13. 1 2 3 Bejan, Adrian (1997). "Constructal-theory network of conducting paths for cooling a heat generating volume". International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. 40 (4): 799–816. Bibcode:1997IJHMT..4099813B. doi:10.1016/0017-9310(96)00175-5. ISSN   0017-9310.
  14. ↑ Bejan, Adrian (2000). Shape and structure, from engineering to nature (1. publ ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN   978-0-521-79388-9.
  15. ↑ Bejan, A. (2016) Life and evolution as physics. Communicative & Integrative Biology, 9(3), e1172159
  16. ↑ Bejan, Adrian; Sylvie Lorente (2008). Design with Constructal Theory. Wiley. p. xv. ISBN   978-0-471-99816-7.
  17. ↑ "Bejan Wins 2017 Ralph Coats Roe Medal" (Press release). Duke University. 20 September 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  18. ↑ "Ralph Coats Roe Medal. American Society of Mechanical Engineers". Scholars@Duke. Duke University. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  19. ↑ "Bejan Named 2018 Franklin Institute Award Laureate" (Press release). Duke University. 7 November 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  20. ↑ "Adrian Bejan - The Franklin Institute". The Franklin Institute. 2 November 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  21. ↑ ""Bejan Receives Humboldt Research Award for Lifetime Achievement" (Press release). Duke University. 1 March 2019". 3 July 2019.
  22. ↑ "2019 TÜBA Awards Announced". Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA). 24 December 2019.
  23. ↑ "Presentation of the Academic Palms to Adrian Bejan of Duke University". Presentation of the Academic Palms to Adrian Bejan of Duke University. 20 February 2020.
  24. ↑ "IAGE Lifetime Achievement Award". International Association for Green Energy. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
  25. ↑ Lage, José L.; Worek, William M.; Amon, Cristina H.; Awad, Mohamed M.; Basak, Tanmay; Bayazitoglu, Yildiz; Bello-Ochende, Tunde; Biserni, Cesare; Bonjour, Jocelyn; Borchiellini, Romano; Çetkin, Erdal; Charles, Jordan; Chen, Yanyu; Chow, W.K.; Chun, Jack (December 2023). "Professor Adrian Bejan on his 75th birthday". International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer. 149: 107162. Bibcode:2023ICHMT.14907162L. doi:10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2023.107162.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  26. ↑ Duke, University (26 April 2024). "Capers and Marion McDonald Award for Excellence in Teaching and Research".
  27. 1 2 "Duke University Professor Adrian Bejan Receives ASME Medal". 26 August 2024.
  28. ↑ "Newsmakers". American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Archived from the original on 12 December 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  29. ↑ "IAGE Lifetime Achievement Award". International Association for Green Energy. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  30. ↑ "Kimberly-Clark Distinguished Lectureship Award 2023". InterPore. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  31. ↑ "25. Science & Cosmology (large press), Silver winners". Nautilus Book Awards. 2023. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  32. ↑ "Highly Ranked Scholars 2022".
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