Peter W. TenPas
- Associate Professor
- Ph.D.
Contact Info
Biography —
Dr. TenPas joined the Mechanical Engineering Department in 1987. Early in his career he worked as a research engineer in the fluid mechanics research group at the Trane Company Corporate Research Laboratory. While at KU, he has served as the Director of the KU Industrial Assessment Center and the KU Energy Analysis and Diagnostic Center. Under these U.S. Department of Energy supported programs, Dr. TenPas led student teams to assess the potential of energy conservation and waste reduction opportunities at over 80 industrial facilities in the region.
Dr. TenPas’ research interests are in the areas of Computational Mechanics and Computational Fluid Dynamics. He has published in the areas of viscous flow with heat transfer, compressible flow, aero-acoustics, and modeling of visco-elastic fluids. Dr. TenPas teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in thermodynamics and fluid mechanics. He has received several awards for excellent teaching and has been a recipient of the Sharp Teaching Fellowship from the KU School of Engineering. He is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Society of Engineering Education, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Research —
Computational Fluid Dynamics, Computer Aided Thermal Design
Research Interests
My professional interests are the analysis of viscous flow and convective heat transfer. I have specific industrial experience in the aerodynamic analysis of turbomachinery components, primarily by computational methods. This background has motivated my research work in computational fluid dynamics (CFD). My research goals are to contribute to the further development of methods for simulating three-dimensional flows and to utilize these methods as a tool to analyze the complicated flow fields associated with engine components, process equipment or vehicles. Recently, I have been working to apply CFD techniques to the problem of simulating aerodynamic noise propagation from aircraft.