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Nhan Phan-Thien

Nhan Phan-Thien is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Nhan Phan-Thien rather than just read about it. In short: Nhan Phan-Thien, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (born October 31, 1952, in AnGiang, Vietnam), is an emeritus professor of mechanical engineering at the National University of Singapore, Singapore. He was an associate editor of Physics of Fluids (2016–25) and served as a Deputy Editor (2023–25) for the same journal.

Key takeaways

  • Nhan Phan-Thien belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect Nhan Phan-Thien to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of Nhan Phan-Thien from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Nhan Phan-Thien, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (born October 31, 1952, in AnGiang, Vietnam), is an emeritus professor of mechanical engineering at the National University of Singapore, Singapore. He was an associate editor of Physics of Fluids (2016–25) and served as a Deputy Editor (2023–25) for the same journal. He is currently a Founding Deputy Editor for the journals Transport Phenomena and Open Transport (2023–), and serves as an editorial board member of the Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics. He held a Personal Chair at University of Sydney [1991-02] and head of the Mechanical Engineering Department National University of Singapore [2016–19]. His contribution to the rheology field includes the PTT (Phan-Thien – Tanner) model for viscoelastic fluid (1694 citations) and its variant (759 citations). He is the author and co-author of several books in rheology

Education Phan-Thien graduated from the University of Sydney, Sydney Australia, with a BEng (Mech. Eng. 1st Honours, University Medalist, 1975). He later completed a PhD degree at the University of Sydney, the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1979.

Career He has been a faculty member in mechanical engineering at University of Newcastle (Australia) (1978–80) and at the University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia (1980–02). At the University of Sydney, he held a personal chair (1991–02). He was a professor of mechanical engineering at the National University of Singapore, Singapore (2000–04, 2011–present). He was the founding chair in Bio-Engineering Division, which later becomes known as Biomedical Engineering Department at the National University of Singapore. He has held visiting professorships in Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, US, Caltech, California, US, and Stanford University, California, US, a Qiushi Chair Professor at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, an adjunct professor at the University of Southern Queensland, Queensland, Australia, and an honorary professor at the University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.

Research Phan-Thien and his group have published extensively on the rheology of polymeric liquids, computational and constitutive modelling.

Honours and awards Qiushi Chair Professor, Zhejiang University (2018–21); Fellow of the ASEAN Academy of Engineering and Technology (elected 2016); Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (elected 1999); Centenary Medal, awarded by the Governor General of Australia for services to Australian society and science in mechanical engineering (2001); Gordon Bell Prize, Price-Performance category, IEEE Computer Society (1997); Australian Society of Rheology Medal, awarded by the Australian Society of Rheology for distinguished contributions to Rheology (1997); Edgeworth David Medal, awarded by the Royal Society of New South Wales, for distinguished research in science amongst younger workers in Applied Mechanics (1982); Senior Fulbright Scholar (1982–83), California Institute of Technology, California, USA.

Books Understanding Viscoelasticity: Basics of Rheology (Advanced Texts in Physics), ISBN 978-3540433958, Springer; 1st Edition 2002, 2nd Edition 2008, Understanding Viscoelasticity: An Introduction to Rheology (Graduate Texts in Physics), ISBN 978-3319619996, 3rd Edition with Nam Mai-Duy 2017, Springer, Understanding Viscoelasticity: An Introduction to Rheology (Graduate Texts in Physics), ISBN 978-3642329579, 2nd Edition 2013, Springer, Microstructures in Elastic Media: Principles and Computational Methods, ISBN 978-0195090864, 1st Edition with Sangtae Kim 1994, Oxford University Press, Numerical Study on Some Rheological Problems of Fibre Suspensions: Numerical Simulations of Fibre Suspensions, ISBN 978-3836476867, with Xijun Fan and Roger I. Tanner 2008, VDM Verlag Dr. Müller.

References

External links Research Group Homepage Google Scholar Page

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Nhan Phan-Thien

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Nhan Phan-Thien claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Nhan Phan-Thien before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Nhan Phan-Thien ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Nhan Phan-Thien

In research
Nhan Phan-Thien appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses Nhan Phan-Thien in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
Nhan Phan-Thien is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1952 births, Academic journal editors, American materials scientists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Nhan Phan-Thien outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.
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How to study Nhan Phan-Thien in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Nhan Phan-Thien means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Nhan Phan-Thien out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Nhan Phan-Thien in simple terms?

Nhan Phan-Thien, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (born October 31, 1952, in AnGiang, Vietnam), is an emeritus professor of mechanical engineering at the National University of Singapore, Singapore. He was an associate editor of Physics of Fluids (2016–25) and served as a Deputy Editor (…

Why does Nhan Phan-Thien matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Nhan Phan-Thien?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Nhan Phan-Thien.

Tags

  • 1952 births
  • Academic journal editors
  • American materials scientists
  • American mechanical engineers
  • Australian materials scientists
  • Australian mechanical engineers
  • Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science
  • Fluid dynamicists
  • Living people
  • Rheologists
  • University of Sydney alumni

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