B.A., Physics, University of Cambridge, 1954
M.A., Physics, University of Cambridge, 1959
D.Sc., University of Edinburgh, 1968
Honors and Awards
- Fellow, Royal Society of London, 2000
- Distinguished Teaching Award, School of Engineering and Applied Science, 1996
- Thomas Baron Award, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 1993
- Alpha Chi Sigma Award, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 1980
Research Interests
My main current interest is in developing equations of change that describe the motion of a granular material and the fluid that occupies its interstices, and using these equations in the solution of problems of practical importance, such as fluidized beds; standpipe flow and particle circulation systems; shear flows, chutes, and landslides; and transport of gas and particles in pipes. We have been successful in elucidating the structures that dominate the behavior of fluidized suspensions and in applying these insights to practical flows. At present attention is focused on developing numerical methods for direct solution of the equations in devices of practical importance.
I have also contributed to the fields of optimization, chemical reaction engineering, thermodynamics, and separation processes. For example, in collaboration with F.J.M. Horn, a simple mathematical criterion was derived that is useful in the search for reaction mechanisms that have multiple equilibria, or can support sustained oscillations, questions of some importance in biology. Our paper on this topic initiated the field now known as chemical reaction network theory.
- R. Jackson, The Dynamics of Fluidized Particles (Cambridge University Press, 2000), 368 pp.
- K. Anderson, S. Sundaresan , and R. Jackson, "Instabilities and the Formation of Bubbles in Fluidized Beds", J. Fluid Mech., 303, 327 (1995).
- J.L. Sinclair and R. Jackson, "Gas-Particle Flow in a Vertical Pipe with Particle-Particle Interactions", AIChE J., 35, 1473 (1989).
- P.C. Johnson and R. Jackson, "Frictional Collisional Constitutive Relations for Granular Materials, with Application to Plane Shearing", J. Fluid Mech., 176, 67 (1987).
- F.J.M. Horn and R. Jackson, "General Mass Action Kinetics", Archive Rational Mech., 47, 81 (1972).