James Eugene Broadwell

James Eugene "Gene" Broadwell (January 15, 1921, Atlanta, Georgia – June 22, 2018, Palo Alto, California) was an American aeronautical engineer, known for the Broadwell model (1964, Physics of Fluids). The model consists of a set of differential equations, describing the structure of a shock wave in a simple discrete velocity gas.

Biography

Broadwell graduated in 1942 from Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) with a B.S. in mechanical engineering. He served from 1942 to 1946 in the United States Army Air Force. During his military service, he was stationed at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, except when he was sent for additional training to California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he received in 1944 an M.S. in aeronautical engineering. During his service at Wright Field, he worked on the design and development of aircraft engines. In October 1943 in Dayton, he married Edith "Edie" Merriman (1923–2018). Their marriage took place a few days before he was posted to Caltech. In 1948, the couple with their first daughter moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he enrolled as a graduate student at the University of Michigan. There in 1952 he received a Ph.D. in aeronautical engineering. From 1948 to 1959 he was at the University of Michigan, where he was eventually promoted to associate professor. During Gene and Edie Broadwell's years in Ann Arbor, she gave birth to two more daughters, had her own television show, acted in university plays, and was a troop leader for the Brownies and the Girl Scouts of the USA. The family left Michigan and moved to Palos Verdes in Los Angeles County, California. There Gene Broadwell worked for TRW for many years. He also worked with colleagues at Caltech and sometimes did research at Caltech and Stanford University.

In 1987 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for "contributions to the understanding and management of turbulent mixing with application to chemical laser design." In 2014 he was elected to the Georgia Tech Engineering Hall of Fame.

Gene and Edie Broadwell were married for 75 years. She died about a month before he died. Upon his death he was survived by three daughters, a grandson, and two great-granddaughters.

Selected publications

• Broadwell, J. E. (January 1950). "Supersonic Airfoils Simplified". pp. 61–62. https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/77574/AIAA-1520-593.pdf?sequence=1. 
• Broadwell, James E. (1950). "Note on Rotational Gas Flow". pp. 123–124. Digital object identifier:10.2514/8.1540. ISSN 1936-9956. 
• Broadwell, James E. (1958). "A simple model of the non-equilibrium dissociation of a gas in Couette and boundary-layer flows". p. 113. Bibcode 1958JFM.....4..113B. Digital object identifier:10.1017/S0022112058000355. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-fluid-mechanics/article/abs/simple-model-of-the-nonequilibrium-dissociation-of-a-gas-in-couette-and-boundarylayer-flows/86722270901D498A832D4CA36A646993. 
• Broadwell, James E. (1963). "Analysis of the Fluid Mechanics of Secondary Injection for Thrust Vector Control". pp. 1067–1075. Bibcode 1963AIAAJ...1.1067B. Digital object identifier:10.2514/3.1726. 
• Broadwell, James E. (1964). "Shock Structure in a Simple Discrete Velocity Gas". p. 1243. Bibcode 1964PhFl....7.1243B. Digital object identifier:10.1063/1.1711368.  (over 430 citations)
• Broadwell, James E. (1964). "Study of rarefied shear flow by the discrete velocity method". pp. 401–414. Bibcode 1964JFM....19..401B. Digital object identifier:10.1017/S0022112064000817. 
• Broadwell, J. E.; Tsu, C. N. (1967). "Transient pressures caused by rocket start and shutdown in ducted launchers". pp. 1323–1328. Bibcode 1967JSpRo...4.1323B. Digital object identifier:10.2514/3.29079. 
• Vogenitz, F. W.; Bird, G. A.; Broadwell, J. E.; Rungaldier, H. (1968). "Theoretical and experimental study of rarefied supersonic flows about several simple shapes". pp. 2388–2394. Bibcode 1968AIAAJ...6.2388B. Digital object identifier:10.2514/3.4999. 
• Vogenitz, F. W.; Broadwell, J. E.; Bird, G. A. (1970). "Leading edge flow by the Monte Carlo direct simulation technique". pp. 504–510. Bibcode 1970AIAAJ...8..504B. Digital object identifier:10.2514/3.5697. 
• Dimotakis, Paul E.; Broadwell, James E. (1973). "Local temperature measurements in supercritical counterflow in liquid helium II". p. 1787. Bibcode 1973PhFl...16.1787D. Digital object identifier:10.1063/1.1694214. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:DIMpof73. 
• Broadwell, J. E. (1974). "Effect of Mixing Rate on HF Chemical Laser Performance". pp. 962–967. Bibcode 1974ApOpt..13..962B. Digital object identifier:10.1364/AO.13.000962. PMID 20126107. 
• Broadwell, J. E.; Breidenthal, R. E. (1982). "A simple model of mixing and chemical reaction in a turbulent shear layer". p. 397. Bibcode 1982JFM...125..397B. Digital object identifier:10.1017/S0022112082003401. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20120716-132515749. 
• Broadwell, J. E.; Breidenthal, R. E. (1984). "Structure and mixing of a transverse jet in incompressible flow". pp. 405–412. Bibcode 1984JFM...148..405B. Digital object identifier:10.1017/S0022112084002408. https://authors.library.caltech.edu/32177/. 
• Broadwell, James E.; Dahm, Werner J.A.; Mungal, M. Godfrey (1985). "Blowout of turbulent diffusion flames". pp. 303–310. Digital object identifier:10.1016/S0082-0784(85)80515-4. 
• Koochesfahani, M. M.; Dimotakis, P. E.; Broadwell, J. E. (1985). "A 'flip' experiment in a chemically reacting turbulent mixing layer". pp. 1191–1194. Bibcode 1985AIAAJ..23.1191K. Digital object identifier:10.2514/3.9063. 
• Broadwell, James E.; Dimotakis, Paul E. (1986). "Implications of recent experimental results for modeling reactions in turbulent flows". pp. 885–889. Bibcode 1986AIAAJ..24..885B. Digital object identifier:10.2514/3.9363. 
• Broadwell, James E.; Mungal, M. Godfrey (1989). "Molecular mixing and chemical reactions in turbulent shear layers". pp. 579–587. Bibcode 1989syic.proc..579B. Digital object identifier:10.1016/S0082-0784(89)80065-7. 
• Goldstein, D.; Sturtevant, B.; Broadwell, J. E. (1989). "Investigations of the motion of discrete-velocity gases". p. 100. Bibcode 1989PrAA..117..100G.