Lienhard's initial research at MIT focused on cooling by liquid jet impingement. This work included fundamental
convection problems, droplet splattering, free-surface turbulence interactions, and pattern-formation in the
hydraulic jump.[4][5][6]
The thin
boundary layer at a jet's
stagnation point also provided an attractive avenue to high-
heat-flux engineering. In 1993, Lienhard's group reported the highest
steady-state fluxes to that date removed from a macroscopic area, achieved using a high-speed water jet (≈40 kW/cm2).[7] They later extended this approach to arrays of jets, allowing larger areas to be cooled at high flux. In 1998, they used an array of water jets at 46 m/s to remove 1.7 kW/cm2 by convection alone over areas of several cm2.[8]
In the 2000s, Lienhard refocused his research on the problem of clean water supply and scarcity, particularly around desalination technologies. He approached this area through his background in thermal engineering and transport phenomena, making energy efficiency a central aim.[9][10]
His group's desalination research has spanned a broad range of topics including humidification-dehumidification,[11]
forward and
reverse osmosis,[12]membrane distillation,[13]produced water,[14]electrodialysis,
nanofiltration,
solar desalination,[15]
and thermophysical properties.[16][17]
The seawater thermophysical property database developed by his group has been widely used by other researchers.
Lienhard has written hundreds of peer-reviewed research publications and has been issued more than 35 US patents. The patents have facilitated several start-up companies formed by his former students.
Lienhard has been responsible for launching a number of major research programs at MIT. He was the founding director of the Center for Clean Water and Clean
Energy (2008–2017), a multi-million dollar research collaboration with
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) involving dozens of faculty members at KFUPM and MIT.[18]
He was the founding director of the Ibn Khaldun Fellowship program for Saudi Arabian Women,[19]
which has brought dozens of PhD-level women to MIT for research collaborations. He is also the founding director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS) at MIT.[20]
J-WAFS funds diverse research on water and food, across all of MIT's schools, to address the needs of a rapidly growing population on a changing planet.
Lienhard is a committed educator, recognized with awards for teaching and mentoring.[21] He has written textbooks on measurement and instrumentation, on heat transfer, and on thermal modeling. He has long collaborated with his father on A Heat Transfer Textbook. In 2001, they made the decision to distribute the work primarily as an
ebook, one of the first textbooks to adopt this format.[22] The ebook, which is free of charge, has since been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times across the world.
Selected awards and honors
Lienhard has received a number of honors and awards, including the following:
In addition, Lienhard's research group has received many best paper, poster, and presentation awards for their work in desalination and heat transfer.[31]
Textbooks
Thomas G. Beckwith, Roy D. Marangoni, and John H. Lienhard Mechanical Measurements, 5th edition, Addison-Wesley, Reading MA, 1993.[32]
John H. Lienhard, IV and John H. Lienhard, V A heat transfer textbook, 3rd edition, Phlogiston Press, Cambridge, MA, 2001.[33]
Thomas G. Beckwith, Roy D. Marangoni, and John H. Lienhard Mechanical Measurements, 6th edition, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River NJ, 2007.[34]
John H. Lienhard, IV and John H. Lienhard, V A heat transfer textbook, 4th edition, Dover Publications, Mineola NY, 2011.[35]
Leon R. Glicksman and John H. Lienhard, V Modeling and approximation in heat transfer, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2016.[36]
John H. Lienhard, IV and John H. Lienhard, V A heat transfer textbook, 5th edition, Dover Publications, Mineola NY, 2019.[37]
References
^Kronzek, Rochelle (21 September 2011).
"Author Interview: John Lienhard". www.doverpublications.com. Dover Publications. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
^Bhunia, Sourav K.; Lienhard, John H., V (1 December 1994). "Surface Disturbance Evolution and the Splattering of Turbulent Liquid Jets". Journal of Fluids Engineering. 116 (4): 721–727.
doi:
10.1115/1.2911841.{{
cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^Liu, Xin; Lienhard, John H., V (May 1993). "Extremely High Heat Fluxes Beneath Impinging Liquid Jets". Journal of Heat Transfer. 115 (2): 472–476.
Bibcode:
1993ATJHT.115..472L.
doi:
10.1115/1.2910703.{{
cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^Plappally, Anand K.; Lienhard, John H., V (September 2012). "Energy Requirements for Water Production, Treatment, End Use, Reclamation, and Discharge". Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 16 (7): 4818–4848.
doi:
10.1016/j.rser.2012.05.022.{{
cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^Narayan, Prakash Govindan; Sharqawy, Mostafa H.; Summers, Edward K.; Lienhard, John H., V; Zubair, Syed M.; Antar, Mohamed A. (May 2010). "The potential of solar-driven humidification-dehumidification desalination for small-scale decentralized water production". Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 14 (4): 1187–1201.
doi:
10.1016/j.rser.2009.11.014.
hdl:1721.1/52624.
S2CID15976074.{{
cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^McGovern, Ronan K.; Lienhard, John H., V (1 November 2014). "On the potential of forward osmosis to energetically outperform reverse osmosis desalination". Journal of Membrane Science. 469: 245–250.
doi:
10.1016/j.memsci.2014.05.061.
hdl:1721.1/102494.{{
cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^Warsinger, David E. M.; Swaminathan, Jaichander; Guillem, Elena; Arafat, Hassan A.; Lienhard, John H., V (15 January 2015). "Scaling and Fouling In Membrane Distillation for Desalination Applications: A Review". Desalination. 356: 294–313.
doi:
10.1016/j.desal.2014.06.031.
hdl:1721.1/102497.{{
cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^Thiel, Gregory P.; Tow, Emily W.; Banchik, Leonardo D.; Chung, Hyung Won; Lienhard, John H., V (15 June 2015). "Energy consumption in desalinating produced water from shale oil and gas extraction". Desalination. 366: 94–112.
doi:
10.1016/j.desal.2014.12.038.
hdl:1721.1/101978.{{
cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^Lienhard, John H., V; Bilton, Amy; Antar, Mohamed A.; Zaragoza, Guillermo; Blanco, Julian (2012). "Chapter 9: Solar Desalination". Annual Review of Heat Transfer. Vol. 15. New York: Begell House. pp. 277–347.
doi:
10.1615/AnnualRevHeatTransfer.2012004659.
ISBN9781567003116.
S2CID243505510.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^
Beckwith, Thomas G.; Marangoni, Roy D.; Lienhard, John H., V (1993). Mechanical Measurements (5th ed.). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
ISBN9780201569476.
OCLC26362192.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^
Lienhard, John H. IV; Lienhard, John H., V (2001). A Heat Transfer Textbook (3rd ed.). Cambridge, MA: Phlogiston Press.
ISBN0971383502.
OCLC48010715.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^
Beckwith, Thomas G.; Marangoni, Roy D.; Lienhard, John H., V (2007).
Mechanical Measurements (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
ISBN9780201847659.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^
Lienhard, John H. IV; Lienhard, John H., V (2011). A Heat Transfer Textbook (4th ed.). Mineola, NY: Dover Publications.
ISBN9780486479316.
OCLC819288265.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)