Dr. Phillip Ligrani

Professor, MAE

Contact

5000 Technology Drive NW
Olin B. King Technology Hall
Room S236
Huntsville, AL 35899
Campus Map

256.824.5173
phillip.ligrani@uah.edu

Biography

Dr. Phil Ligrani is currently Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the College of Engineering at The University of Alabama in Huntsville, and from 2014 to 2025, was the Eminent Scholar in Propulsion. 

Prior to August 2014, Dr. Phil Ligrani was the Oliver L. Parks Endowed Chair, and Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at Parks College of Saint Louis University. Prior to that appointment, he was the Donald Schultz Professor of Turbomachinery in the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford. There, from 2006 to 2009, he was also Director of Oxford University's Rolls-Royce UTC (University Technology Centre) in Heat Transfer and Aerodynamics. From 1994 to 2006, he was a Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Bioengineering, Director of the Convective Heat Transfer Laboratory, and Associate Department Chair in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Utah. Research interests include turbomachinery, convective heat transfer, fluid mechanics, transonic, supersonic, and hypersonic flows, as well as micro-fluidics, and measurement technologies. 

He has received numerous academic awards and recognitions from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, as well as from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. These include the ASME Henry R. Worthington Medal in 2024, the AIAA Hermann Oberth Award in 2020, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville Distinguished Research Award for Excellence in 2019. He is also currently a member of the European Union Academy of Sciences (EUAS).

Curriculum Vitae

Personal Website

Education

  • Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, 1980
  • M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, 1975
  • B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, 1974

Honors & Awards

  • 2024 ASME Henry R. Worthington Medal. Award bestowed by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) for “the development of innovative and unique pumping concepts and devices with micro-, millimeter-, and macro-scale flow passage arrangements in consideration of the displacement of fluids subject to diverse physical phenomena.”
  • 2020 College of Engineering Outstanding Faculty Member Award. University Award, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama, USA.
  • 2020 Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Mentor Award. University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama, USA.
  • May 2020. Hermann Oberth Award in recognition of outstanding individual scientific achievement in the field of astronautics and advancement of the aeronautical sciences. AIAA – American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, Virginia, USA.
  • ASME IGTI Outstanding Service Award 2019.
  • 2019 University Distinguished Research Award for Excellence. University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama, USA.
  • Outstanding Senior Faculty Member Award for 2019. College of Engineering, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama, USA.
  • Outstanding Mechanical Engineer of the Year Award 2016, ASME – American Society of Mechanical Engineers, NAS - North Alabama Section, USA.
  • Carl E. and Jessie W. Menneken Faculty Award for Excellence in Scientific Research.
  • NASA Space Act Tech Brief Award for "Development of Subminiature Multi-Sensor Hot-Wire Probes."

Affiliations

  • ASME, Member, Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineering.
  • ASME, American Society of Mechanical Engineering, K-14 Gas Turbine Heat Transfer Committee. December 1986-Present.
  • IGTI, Member, International Gas Turbine Institute Heat Transfer Committee.
  • ASEE, Member, American Society for Engineering Education.
  • AIAA, Member, Associate Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
  • ICHMT, Member of the Scientific Council, International Center for Heat and Mass Transfer.
  • EUAS, Invited Member, European Union Academy of Sciences.

Expertise

  • Traditional Heat Transfer and Fluid Mechanics Investigations involving electronics cooling, heat transfer augmentation, drag reduction, turbulent boundary layers, flows in channels with dimpled surfaces, flows in curved channels, elastic turbulence, slot impingement cooling, and macro-scale pumps and pump flows.
  • Aerodynamics investigations with high-speed, compressible flows at transonic and supersonic Mach numbers, including SWBLI – Shock Wave Boundary Layer Interactions.
  • Transonic and supersonic experimental testing.
  • Experimental diagnostics in high speed flows, and air breathing propulsion.
  • Air Breathing Engines - Gas Turbine Heat Transfer, Cooling, and Aerodynamics Losses, including internal cooling, film cooling, impingement cooling, cooling of extremities, aerodynamic performance including aerodynamic losses, and transonic turbine flows and heat transfer.
  • The effects of uses of bio-fuels, synthetic fuels, and renewable energy sources in relation to gas turbines and gas turbine heat transfer and cooling technologies.
  • Turbomachinery research involving heat transfer and aerodynamics investigations with high-speed, compressible flows at transonic and supersonic Mach numbers, including linear cascade studies.
  • Micro-Fluidics and Millimeter-Scale-Fluidics, including micro-pump flows, and the effects of slip phenomena on gas and liquid flows in micro-scale passage flows with and without surface roughness, including the effects of hydrophobic surfaces and elastic turbulence.
  • Experimental Techniques, including development of millimeter-scale multiple-hole pressure probes, subminiature hot-wire anemometry, and infrared thermography.

Recent Publications

  • Rarefaction Slip Phenomena Within a Viscous Disk Pump With Molecular Mean Free Path Sized Surface Roughness Elements (P. M. Ligrani, A. Pippert, and B. Weigand), Microfluidics and Nanofluidics, accepted for publication, to appear 2025.

  • Heat Transfer and Aerodynamic Losses of Additively Manufactured Turbine Alloy Blades With Different Surface Enhancement Post-Processing (P. M. Ligrani, C. Bueschges, M. Tatge, B. Weigand, C. S. Subramanian, H. L. Collopy, Z. Taylor, J. Sheth,, and P. Gradl), International Journal of Thermal Sciences, accepted for publication, to appear 2025.

  • Normal Shock Wave Coherence Relative to Other Flow Events With High and Low Levels of Inlet Mach Wave Unsteadiness (W. Manneschmidt, P. M. Ligrani, M. Sorrell, A. M. Ciccarelli, and B. Weigand), Shock Waves, Vol. 34, pages 497–513, November 2024.

  • Tip Gap Effects on Film Cooling Performance of a Transonic Turbine Blade With a Distinctive Coolant Supply Arrangement (P. M. Ligrani, H. Collopy, G. Fulmer, H. Xu, and M. Fox), International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Volume 228, Paper No. 125667, pp. 1-10, August 2024.

  • Interrelationships of Entropy Production and Turbulence Kinetic Energy Associated With Simple Angle and Compound Angle Full Coverage Film Cooling (P. M. Ligrani, H. Kwon, and H, Park), International Journal of Thermal Sciences, Volume 197, Paper No. 108824, pp. 1-19, March 2024.

  • Relative Influences of Inertia and Polymeric Viscoelastic Effects on Nusselt Numbers within Rotating Couette Flows (P. M. Ligrani, V. Hietsch, and M. Su), Invited Journal Paper, Fluids, Special Issue: Non-Newtonian Flow: Interfacial and Bulk Phenomena (Editors: D. Andrew S. Rees, Amir H. Hirsa, and P. T. Underhill), Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 258-273, September 2023.

  • Experimental Study of Turbulent Flow Heat Transfer and Pressure Loss Over Surfaces With Dense Micro-Depth Dimples Under Viscous Sublayer (P. Zhang, Y. Rao, and P. M. Ligrani), International Journal of Thermal Sciences, Vol.177, Paper No. 107581, pp. 1-13, July 2022.

  • Flow and Heat Transfer in Swirl Tubes - A Review (F. Seibold, P. M. Ligrani, and B. Weigand), Invited Journal Paper, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol. 187, Paper No. 122455, pp. 1- 26, May 2022. 

  • Dean Flow Dynamics in Low-Aspect Ratio Spiral Microchannels (N. Nivedita, P. M. Ligrani, and I. Papautsky), Nature - Scientific Reports, Vol. 7, Article Number 44072, pages 1-10, March 2017.

  • The Structure of Transitionally Rough and Fully Rough Turbulent Boundary Layers (P. M. Ligrani and R. J. Moffat), Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 162, pp. 69-98, January 1986.