FRANKLIN K. MOORE (1922-2016)

BY DAVID CAUGHEY, SIDNEY LEIBOVICH, AND
STEPHEN POPE

FRANKLIN KINGSTON MOORE, the Joseph C. Ford Professor of Mechanical Engineering Emeritus at Cornell University, died Nov. 21, 2016, in Ithaca, New York. He was 94.

Born Aug. 24, 1922, in Milton, Massachusetts, Frank grew up in Glen Rock, New Jersey. His lifelong interest in aeronautics began with the construction of model airplanes and frequent bicycle trips to Newark Airport to see aircraft, including Wiley Post’s Winnie Mae, the Lockheed plane in which Post set several around-the-world flight records.

After graduating from Ridgewood High School, he enrolled at Cornell University, beginning a relationship with the institution that would last a lifetime. Frank earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Cornell in 1944, then served for two years in the U.S. Army, stationed primarily on Adak Island in the Aleutian chain.

In 1946, Frank married his high school sweetheart, Anne (Nancy) Smyth, whom he had met at an Elks Club dance when they were both in ninth grade. The couple moved to Ithaca, where they both attended Cornell on the GI Bill. In 1949, Frank completed his doctorate in aerospace [aeronautical] engineering under the supervision of William R. Sears (NAE 1968) and began his professional career as an aerodynamics research engineer at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics’ Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory in Cleveland – now the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field. There, he worked on issues such as screech in rocket engines and rotating stall in turbomachinery compressors, a subject to which he would make significant contributions later in his career. He also served as editor of The Theory of Laminar Flows, Volume IV in the highly regarded Princeton Series on High-Speed Aerodynamics and Jet Propulsion.

In 1955, Frank and his family moved to East Aurora, New York, where he served as head, and ultimately director, of the Aerosciences Division of the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory in Buffalo. During that period, research at the lab and elsewhere focused on hypersonic flight and the high-temperature aerodynamics associated with atmospheric re-entry of warheads and, later, the Gemini and Apollo capsules. In later years, Frank noted that he and others were particularly motivated after Oct. 4, 1957, by the regular appearance of Sputnik I, visible to the naked eye as it passed over Buffalo in orbit.

In 1960, he co-authored a paper with W.E. Gibson titled “Propagation of Weak Disturbances in a Gas Subject to Relaxation Effects,” in which they derived a nonlinear equation that now bears their names—the Moore-Gibson-Thompson equation, or MGT equation—which continues to be widely cited.¹

In 1965, Frank and Nancy returned to Ithaca when he was appointed the first Joseph C. Ford Professor of Engineering at Cornell. He taught in the university’s School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering for 28 years, retiring in 1993. His research focused on the fundamentals and applications of laminar flow boundary layers, making invaluable contributions to NASA’s rocket programs, general aeronautic wing design, and failure analysis in turbine engineering.

In 1984, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. As a member, he served on several national committees related to aerodynamics, including the Committee on Microgravity Research, the Committee on Space Science Technology Planning, the Panel on Propulsion, and two terms on the National Research Council’s Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board.

The following year, NASA awarded him the Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal for his “numerous scientific contributions to the understanding of the fluid mechanics of aeronautics and space propulsion systems.”

When Frank moved to Cornell to lead the Thermal Engineering Department within the mechanical engineering program, his research focus shifted from aerodynamics to the broader fields of mechanical and thermal engineering. This transition included work in energy technologies and environmental engineering. He contributed to research on the thermal pollution effects of power plant cooling systems on lakes, addressing factors such as wind-driven transport, lake recirculation, stratification, and seasonal variations in thermal states. He also oversaw research on dry cooling towers, a subject of renewed interest today due to water scarcity in many regions.

Some of his most influential work came later in his career and reflected the intellectual depth he brought to every research endeavor. During a sabbatical in 1981-82 as the Addison P. Rothrock Visiting Scientist at the NASA Lewis Research Center, he returned to the study of aerodynamic instabilities in turbomachinery compressors, specifically rotating stall and surge. While on sabbatical, Frank took a fresh look at rotating stall in multistage compressors. His elegant approach captured the essential dynamics of this complex flow field in a simplified form, using a lumped-parameter model to represent what is fundamentally a three-dimensional phenomenon. Seeing potential beyond this breakthrough, he proposed extending the model to the coupled problem of compressor transients involving both surge and rotating stall. His key insight was that these dynamics could be meaningfully described without requiring detailed knowledge of stall and recovery processes within the individual blade passages of each compressor stage.

During a summer at NASA’s Lewis Research Center, Frank collaborated with Ed Greitzer (NAE 1995) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Both were exploring similar questions about turbomachinery stability. Together, they developed a system of equations that could be solved using dynamical systems theory to predict whether a disturbance in the inflow to a compressor would lead to rotating stall or to surge. The distinction is critical – surge, while dramatic, often offers a more favorable path to engine recovery than a rotating stall.

Greitzer recalls two things especially clearly about their joint work. First was the clarity and depth of insight Frank brought to the development of the theory; there was no question that he should be listed as first author in what is now known as the Moore-Greitzer theory of compressor stability.² Second was the realization that, although Frank was 10 years older, there was simply no keeping up with him on evening runs along the trails behind the Lewis Center. Their collaboration laid the foundation for continued advancements in the study of compressor stall, response to inlet distortion, bifurcation analysis of compression system stability, and the development of active control strategies for rotating stall and surge.

Frank had wide-ranging interests and a deep passion for many subjects – engineering science and practice, art, literature, history, music, and athletics. He was a magnetic conversationalist and storyteller. Politically engaged throughout his life, he was a loyal Democrat from the days of Adlai Stevenson and campaigned door to door for Barack Obama in 2008. He was also an accomplished painter, sculptor, and stained-glass artist, as well as an avid reader. His knowledge of Native American cultures, particularly in the Northeast, was extensive.

In the early 1960s, Frank rekindled his passion for competitive running, which began during his time on the Cornell cross-country team. He finished the Boston Marathon three times, in 1971, 1972, and 1977. In 2002, he noted with dry humor that, at age 80, he was finally nationally ranked as the second-fastest runner in the country in the 80-84 age group. He also competed as a cyclist and, in 1979, won the United States Cycling Federation National Championship Time Trial in the Grand Master age group.

Frank’s wife, Nancy, died in 2020. He is survived by their children: David Moore (Barbara Peck), Cathy Moore-Jansen (Peer), Leslie Connors (Jonathan Zisk), Susan Moore (Peter Woodman), Jeffrey Moore (Kathleen), and Jennifer Cibelli (Steven); six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. His brother, Stanley, also passed away in 2020.

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¹Moore FK, Gibson WE. 1960. Propagation of weak disturbances in a gas subject to relaxation effects. Journal of the Aerospace Sciences 27(2):117-27. 
²Moore FK, Greitzer EM. 1986. A theory of post-stall transients in axial compression systems: Part I—Development of equations. Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power 108 (1):68-76.