(408c) The History of Multiphase Computational Fluid Dynamics

It all started with Charles ?Chuck? W. Solbrig in the remote wilds of Idaho. He was the first PhD student of Dimitri Gidaspow when he was an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Gas Technology at Illinois Institute of Technology. After Chuck finished his Doctorate in 1966, he joined the department as an Adjunct Professor. Dimitri was my Master's Thesis advisor and Chuck was my co-advisor. Sarvajit S. Sareen and I were Dimitri's next two PhD students. Chuck left the Gas Technology Department in 1968 and joined Westinghouse Atomic in Pittsburgh before I earned my Doctorate in 1970. While there he developed this idea of modeling the hypothetical ?Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA)? using a new set of equations he called the ?Seriated (series of) continuum? approach. He moved to Idaho to work for Aerojet Nuclear Company (ANC) which was a part of what was then the Nuclear Reactor Testing Station. He and his boss Larry Ybarrondo in George Brockett's Division sold the program to the Atomic Energy Commission in about 1971.