John Yeong-Cherng Liau

OBJECTIVE

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EDUCATION

AWARD

• Achievement of Academic Excellence as the University Research Initiative Fellow from the U.S. Army (1993 - 1996)
  
• Achievement of Academic Excellence of Scholarship from the Chinese Alumni of the University of South California (1984)
  

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

The Pennsylvania State University
Post-Doctoral Scholar (02/97 - present)

Conduct independent research in the area of solid propellant ignition and combustion, and help guide graduate students in their research as well as contribute to technical publications and proposals.

• Extend the propellant combustion and ignition model established in Ph.D. thesis research to other nitramine propellants.
  
• Apply the numerical model in plasma/propellant interaction study.
  

The Pennsylvania State University
Ph.D. Thesis Research (8/92 - 01/97)
Title: A Comprehensive Analysis of RDX Propellant Combustion and Ignition with Two-Phase Subsurface Reactions
Advisor: Vigor Yang, Ph.D., Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Developed a numerical model for multi-phase reacting flows based on the conservation equations of mass, energy, and species concentration, with full account taken of variable thermophysical properties and detailed finite-rate chemical kinetics.

• Investigated various burning characteristics of RDX monopropellant combustion, laser-induced ignition, and RDX composite propellant combustion.
  
• Explored the entire combustion-wave structure including: solid-phase, near-surface two-phase, and gas-phase regions.
  
• Examined the existence of dark zone and possible major parameters causing the dark zone.
  
  

Improved a widely-used combustion code, ChemKin/Premix, to be able to treat transient and multi-phase combustion more efficiently.

• Added physically transient terms and implemented time-marching technique to solve time-dependent problems.
  
• Added subroutines to increase the capability of handling multi-phase combustion.
  
• Refined the adapted-grid technique by, not only adding grid points in which the gradients and curvatures of solution profiles are large, but also removing unwanted grid points.
  

National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
M.S. Thesis Research (9/87 - 6/89)
Title: Numerical Simulation of Three-Dimensional Viscous Flow Field by Parabolic Marching
Advisor: Tony W-H. Sheu, Ph.D., Professor of Naval Architecture Engineering

• Developed a CFD method to simulate three-dimensional flow simply using two-dimensional computer storage by space marching technique.
  
• Investigated detailed flow structures and natural convective heat transfer of duct flows with arbitrary cross-section area.
  

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WORK EXPERIENCE

Research Associate - Mechanical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University. (02/97 - present)

• Develop a theoretical model and a computer program to analyze the propellant combustion involved in the rocket propulsion and gun systems
  
• Investigate plasma/propellant interaction to improve ignitor design
  
  

Computer System Manager - Vigor Yang, The Pennsylvania State University. (8/94 - 01/97)

• Responsible for maintaining a computer system including 4 PC's, 6 UNIX-based workstations, and the networking
  
• Responsible for purchasing and upgrading computer peripherals and softwares
  
  

Teaching Assistant - National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. (7/91 - 7/92)

• Responsible for giving instructions and grading the home works of the following courses
  Engineering Mathematics, Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer, CFD
  

Computer System Manager - Marine Corps, Kaoshong, Taiwan, R.O.C. (5/90 - 5/91)

• Developed a personnel management system using a database software and computer language.
  
• Responsible for the installation and administration of a computer system.

Maintenance Officer - Marine Corps, Kaoshong, Taiwan, R.O.C. (7/89 - 5/90)

• Responsible for the maintenance of military equipment and training of twelve soldiers.
  

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PUBLICATION

Liau, Y-C. and Yang, V., "On the Existence of Dark-Zone Temperature Plateau in RDX MonoPropellant Flame," submitted to Combustion and Flame, 1997.

Liau, Y-C. and Yang, V., "Analysis of Laser-Induced Ignition of RDX MonoPropellant with Detailed Chemistry," submitted to Combustion and Flame, 1997.

Liau, Y-C. and Yang, V., "On the Existence of Dark-Zone Temperature Plateau in RDX MonoPropellant Combustion," Proceedings of 35th American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Jan. 1997.

Liau, Y-C. and Yang, V., "An Improved Model of Laser-Induced Ignition of RDX MonoPropellant," Proceedings of 33rd Joint-Army-Navy-NASA-Air Force (JANNAF) Combustion Subcommittee Meeting, Chemical Propulsion Information Agency (CPIA) Publication, 1996.

Liau, Y-C. and Yang, V., "A Time-Accurate Analysis of RDX MonoPropellant Combustion with Detailed Chemistry," Proceedings of 32nd JANNAF Combustion Subcommittee Meeting, CPIA Publication, 1995.

Liau, Y-C. and Yang, V., "Analysis of RDX MonoPropellant Combustion with Two-Phase Subsurface Reactions," Journal of Propulsion and Power, Vol. 11, No. 4, 1995, pp.729-739.

Sheu, Tony W-H. and Liau, John Y-C., "Numerical Prediction of Free Convection Effects in Laminar and Turbulent Flow,� Proceedings of Sixth International Conference held at Swansea, Vol. 6, Part 2, pp.1145-1155, 1989.

COMPUTER SKILLS

• Fluent in FORTRAN. Capable of C, C++, HTML, and Java.
  
• Familiar with UNIX, MS DOS, and MS Windows (3.1, 95, and NT).
  
• Knowledgeable in server/client, internet/intranet, and other communication systems.
  
  

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ACTIVITIES

• American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
  
• Catholic Club, National Taiwan University
  
• Executing Secretary, Catholic Club, National Taiwan University
  

PERSONAL

• Leisure Interests: Tennis, Racquet Ball, Swimming