Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 295
W. DUNCAN RANNIE
1 91 4-1 988
BY WILLIAM R. SEARS
DUNCAN RANNIE was born in Canada the son of the be-
loved physician of a small Ontario town. He was educated
in the fine British-Canadian tradition and graduated from
the University of Toronto in 1937 with an M.S. in applied
mathematics. He was attracted to the California Institute
of Technology by the fame of Theodore van Karman and
the institute s other bright stars and continued graduate
studies in mathematics there in 1938. When he observed
that the kind of mathematical applications that interested
him most was found in the applied science departments at
Cal Tech he became a candidate in aeronautics.
He was a brilliant student. Von Karman became involved
with the Tacoma Narrows Bridge disaster and the aerody-
namics of suspension bridges in general; he made Rannie
his trusted assistant in theoretical and experimental (wind
tunnel) studies in this area and Rannie produced definitive
studies en c} reports on bridge dynamics and flutter.
He was also a key player when von K§rman and several
of us his students became interested in power generation
by wind power the project that led to the Smith-Putnam
Wind Turbine which was constructed on Grandpa s Knob
in Vermont. Unfortunately Rannie s analytical findings
regarding the stability of the giant windmill were not incor-
295
OCR for page 296
296
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
porated in the prototype that was built and tested on the
mountain.
The relationship between van Karman and Rannie was
warm. In 1942, following van Karman's suggestion, Rannie
joined the staff of Northrop Aircraft, where a major project
was under way to produce an aircraft gas turbine—the
"Turbodyne" project sponsored by the U.S. Navy. There,
during the war years, Rannie developed theories and design
procedures for axial compressors. This was pioneering work,
based on sound theoretical principles, that became the basis
for much of the progress of gas turbine technology that
followed.
In 1945 Rannie returned to Cal Tech, specifically to the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where he continued his
studies of flow in axial compressors and turbines. He was
encouraged to write up his definitive work on suspension
bridges to complete the Ph.D. program that had been inter-
rupted by wartime work, but he preferred to write on heat
transfer in turbulent flow; this dissertation was accepted
and published; his Cal Tech doctorate is dated 1951. He
became chief of Ramjet and Combustion Research at JPL
in lL945. In 1951 he moved from JPL to the main campus
as an associate professor and a major member of the Daniel
and Florence Guggenheim Jet Propulsion Center. He con-
tinued both theoretical research and publishing in gas turbine
technology, and served his adopted nation on the Air Force
Scientific Board, the first and second Air Force Long-Range
Planning Groups, the U.S. Air Force's Aircraft Propulsion
Laboratory Advisory Panel, and industrial advisory committees.
His students became leaders of the aircraft engine industry
throughout the western world.
Duncan Rannie was elected fellow of both the American
Rocket Society and the American Institute of Aeronautics
and Astronautics, and in 1979 was elected to the National
Academy of Engineering. He became Goddard Professor
of Jet Propulsion at Cal Tech, and in 1956, director of the
Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Center.
OCR for page 297
W. DUNCAN RANNIE
297
He was a devoted family man and, throughout his life, a
lover of nature. His personality was one of great mod-
esty he considered his own research and publications to
be quite unexceptional. He was deeply devoted to his stu-
dents and to the profession of teaching. His dour sense of
humor was worthy of his Scottish-Canadian forbears and
the delight of his host of friends and admirers.
OCR for page 298
Representative terms from entire chapter:
jet propulsion
