Matalon honored for decades of contributions to his field

 

Moshe Matalon, MechSE’s Caterpillar Distinguished Professor, received the 2016 AIAA Fluid Dynamics Award at a ceremony that took place June 14 during the AIAA Aviation and Aeronautics Forum and Exposition (AIAA AVIATION) held in Washington, D.C.

 

He was honored for his “contributions to the development of combustion theory, for revolutionizing understanding of chemically reacting flows, and for work on the hydrodynamic theory of premixed flames.” The award is presented annually for outstanding contributions to the understanding of the behavior of liquids and gases in motion as related to needs in aeronautics and astronautics. 

 

On June 13, Matalon delivered the Fluid Dynamics Lecture titled, “The Hydrodynamic Theory of Premixed Flames: Laminar to Turbulent Propagation,” in which he discussed the advancement made in recent years in understanding flame dynamics in laminar and turbulent environments as it pertains to propulsion and aeronautical applications. 

 

Before coming to Illinois, Matalon was a professor of engineering sciences and applied mathematics at Northwestern University for 25 years. He began his career as an assistant professor in the Aeronautical Laboratories of the Polytechnic Institute of New York in Farmingdale, NY. He earned his PhD in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Cornell University after receiving his master’s and undergraduate degrees from Tel Aviv University.

 

His research focuses on combustion and chemically reacting flows. He is internationally renowned for his numerous contributions to the development of combustion theory in the last three decades, including the structure and dynamics of premixed and diffusion flames, combustion instabilities, flame stabilization and dynamics of edge flames, wrinkled and turbulent flames, burning of condensed fuels, and spray combustion. Matalon is particularly known for his seminal contributions to the hydrodynamic theory of multi-dimensional and time-dependent premixed flames and the derivation of a well-known expression for the flame speed and its relation to flame stretch. This work enabled fundamental understanding of flame dynamics, onset of instabilities and flame extinction in various configurations, and is currently used by his research group to study the propagation of the ubiquitous turbulent flames.