Satish Kandlikar

Satish G. Kandlikar (born June 1950) is an Indian-American mechanical engineer and academic who is the James E. Gleason Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). He has worked in flow boiling, pool boiling, microchannel heat transfer, and microfluidics. Three dimensionless numbers used in boiling heat transfer-the Kandlikar first number (K₁), second number (K₂), and third number (K₃)-are named in his honor.^[1] He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the recipient of the 2012 ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award.^[2]

Kandlikar was born in India in June 1950.^[1] He received his Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Marathwada University.^[3] He earned both his Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay), completing his doctorate in 1975 under the supervision of S. P. Sukhatme.^[1]

After completing his Ph.D., Kandlikar joined the faculty at IIT Bombay before moving to the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York, in 1980.^[1] He holds the James E. Gleason Professorship of Mechanical Engineering at RIT.^[3] In 1990, he founded the Thermal Analysis and Microfluidics Laboratory (TALEME) at RIT, which examines phenomena related to microscale fluid dynamics and mechanics.^[1]

Kandlikar's research initially focused on the empirical study of flow boiling, resulting in widely used correlations for predicting heat transfer coefficients in horizontal and vertical tubes across different geometries.^[3] His 1990 paper "A General Correlation for Saturated Two-Phase Flow Boiling Heat Transfer Inside Horizontal and Vertical Tubes," published in the ASME Journal of Heat Transfer, is his most cited work.^[1][4] He later shifted to investigating flow boiling from a fundamental perspective, using high-speed photography to demonstrate that small bubbles are released at high frequency under flow conditions.^[3]

Three dimensionless numbers used in boiling heat transfer research are named after Kandlikar. The Kandlikar first number (K₁) represents the ratio of evaporation momentum force to inertial force, K₂ represents the ratio of evaporation momentum force to surface tension force, and K₃ represents the ratio of evaporation momentum force to viscous force.^[1] These numbers can be related to other dimensionless quantities; for example, K₂/K₁ yields the Weber number, K₃/K₁ yields the Reynolds number, and K₂/K₃ yields the Capillary number.^[1] The Kandlikar third number (K₃) has been used to derive flow boiling maps in microchannels and microgravity environments.^[1]

Kandlikar has made contributions to the understanding of heat transfer and fluid dynamics in microchannels and minichannels, including work on stabilizing flow boiling in microchannels, developing ultra-high performance boiling heat transfer surfaces, and advancing chip cooling technologies using single-phase liquid flow.^[3] He co-authored the book Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow in Minichannels and Microchannels, published by Elsevier, which was the first book dedicated to this subject area.^[5] He also worked on fuel cell technology investigating micro and nanochannel technology to enhance the performance of proton-exchange membrane fuel cells.^[6]

Kandlikar has led research into using infrared (thermal) imaging technology for the detection of breast cancer, particularly in women with dense breast tissue where conventional mammography may be less effective.^[7] The research applies inverse heat transfer modeling and computational simulation to analyze breast surface temperatures captured by infrared cameras, enabling detection of tumors that may be hidden behind dense tissue.^[8]

Kandlikar co-founded BiRed Imaging, Inc. to commercialize this technology.^[9]

Kandlikar serves as an Executive Editor (Heat in History Editor) of Heat Transfer Engineering, a journal published by Taylor & Francis.^[1][10] He also serves as an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Heat and Technology and is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Microfluidics and Nanofluidics.^[1] He has served as a corresponding member of the Japanese Society for Multiphase Flow in the United States.^[1]

In 2003, Kandlikar founded the ASME International Conference on Microchannels and Minichannels, hosting the first two conferences at RIT.^[6] He also founded the ASME Heat Transfer chapter in Rochester, New York.^[3]

In 1991, Kandlikar founded the E-cubed Fair, a science and engineering fair for middle school students held annually at RIT in celebration of Engineers Week.^[2] The event has been hosted with the support of engineers and scientists from RIT, Nazareth College, and other institutions.^[2]

• Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (1998)^[11]
• ASME Dedicated Service Award^[6]
• 2012 – ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award^[1]
• 2020 – RIT Distinguished Faculty Award^[1]
• 2020 – Isaac L. Jordan Sr. Faculty Pluralism Award, RIT^[12]
• Trustees Scholarship Award, RIT^[3]

• Kandlikar, S. G. (1990). "A General Correlation for Saturated Two-Phase Flow Boiling Heat Transfer Inside Horizontal and Vertical Tubes". Journal of Heat Transfer. 112 (1). ASME: 219–228. doi:10.1115/1.2910348.
• Kandlikar, Satish; Garimella, Srinivas; Li, Dongqing; Colin, Stephane; King, Michael R. (2014). Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow in Minichannels and Microchannels (2nd ed.). Elsevier. ISBN 978-0-08-098346-2.
• Kandlikar, S. G. (2012). "History, Advances, and Challenges in Liquid Flow and Flow Boiling Heat Transfer in Microchannels: A Critical Review". Journal of Heat Transfer. 134 (3). ASME. doi:10.1115/1.4005126.
• Kandlikar, S. G.; et al. (2017). "Infrared imaging technology for breast cancer detection: Current status, protocols and new directions". International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. 108: 2303–2320. doi:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2017.01.086.