Llewellyn Michael Kraus Boelter (August 7, 1898 – July 27, 1966) was an American
engineer, Professor of
Mechanical Engineering at the
University of California, Los Angeles, and founding Dean of its
UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science.
[George J. Maslach, Stafford L. Warren & Joseph W. McCutchan.]
Llewellyn Michael Kraus Boelter, Engineering: Berkeley and Los Angeles
in: ''1968, University of California: In Memoriam,'' University of California (System) Academic Senate. May 1968. p. 18-21
In the late 1920s Boelter came into prominence for by his work in the field
heat transfer, for which he had investigated heat transfer in the automobile
radiator
Radiators are heat exchangers used to transfer thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling and heating. The majority of radiators are constructed to function in cars, buildings, and electronics.
A radiator is always a ...
of the tubular type. F. W. Dittus and Boelter proposed "a convective heat transfer correlation for turbulent flows," which became known as the
Dittus-Boelter equation
In thermal fluid dynamics, the Nusselt number (, after Wilhelm Nusselt) is the ratio of convective to conductive heat transfer at a boundary in a fluid. Convection includes both advection (fluid motion) and diffusion (conduction). The conducti ...
. In 1957 he was awarded the
ASME Medal.
Biography
Youth and education
Boelter was born
Winona, Minnesota in 1898, son of John Julius Boelter and Clara Carolina (Kraus) Boelter.
[Robert Cecil Cook. ''Who's who in American Education.'' Volume 14. 1950. p. 122] His ancestors had "endured the ravages of Indian attacks and had served in the battles of the Civil War," which triggered an early and lasting interest in American history.
After regular education in the states of Minnesota and Washington, Boelter obtained his BSc in 1917 at the College of Mechanics of the University of California, Berkeley, now
UC Berkeley College of Engineering, and his MSc in Electrical Engineering in 1918. In 1917 he had been awarded a John W. Mackay, Jr., Fellowship in Electrical Engineering to make this happen.
Career and acknowledgement
In 1919 Boelter started his academic career at the University of California, Berkeley as instructor in electrical engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. In 1923 he became assistant professor of experimental engineering, in 1927 to associate professor of mechanical engineering, and in 1934 he was appointed full professor. In 1943 Boelter served as associate dean of engineering at Berkeley, and in 1944 became founding dean of its college of engineering, the
UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science.
He retired in 1965.
Boelter was awarded the Lamme Award by the
American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), the
ASME Medal by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in 1957, and the
Max Jakob Memorial Award The Max Jakob Memorial Award recognizes an 'eminent scholarly achievement and distinguished leadership' in the field of heat transfer. Awarded annually to a scholar by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the American Institute ...
by the
American Institute of Chemical Engineers
The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) is a professional organization for chemical engineers. AIChE was actually established in 1908 to distinguish chemical engineers as a profession independent of chemists and mechanical engineer ...
(AICC) and the ASME. Purdue University awarded him the honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering.
Selected publications
* Boelter, Llewellyn Michael Kraus, G. Young, and H. W. Iversen.
An investigation of aircraft heaters. University of California'' Department of Engineering, 1946.
* Boelter, L. M. K., G. Young, and H. W. Iversen.
An Investigation of Aircraft Heaters XXVII: Distribution of Heat-transfer Rate in the Entrance Section of a Circular Tube'' NACA Technical Note No. 1451, 1948.
* Boelter, Llewellyn Michael Kraus. ''Heat transfer notes.'' Univ of California Press, 1948.
* Seifert, Howard S., and Llewellyn Michael Kraus Boelter, eds. ''Space Technology.'' Vol. 1. Wiley, 1959.
;Articles, a selection
* F.W. Dittus, L.M.K. Boelter. "Heat transfer in automobile radiator Radiator of the tubular type," ''University of California at Berkeley Publ. Eng.'', 2 (1930), pp. 443–461
* Martinelli, R. C., Boelter, L. M. K., Weinberg, E. B., & Yakahi, S. (1943). "Heat transfer to a fluid flowing periodically at low frequencies in a vertical tube." ''Trans. Asme,'' 65(7), 789-798.
* Boelter, L. M. K., HSj Gordon, and J. R. Griffin. "Free evaporation into air of water from a free horizontal quiet surface." ''Industrial & Engineering Chemistry'' 38.6 (1946): 596-600.
References
External links
Llewellyn Boelter collection, ca. 1971 Purdue University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections
UCLA Engineering Deans engineering.ucla.edu (with picture)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boelter, Llewellyn Michael Kraus
1898 births
1966 deaths
American mechanical engineers
UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni
UC Berkeley College of Engineering faculty
UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science faculty
People from Winona, Minnesota
ASME Medal recipients
20th-century American engineers