NameJohn Bertrand McVey , ScD.
Birth29 Mar 1933, Bethlehem, PA
FatherJohn Ignatius McVey (1891-1939)
MotherRuth Thomas McKee (1891-1965)
Misc. Notes
Raised at 1944 Paul Ave in the Rosemont section of Bethlehem, PA until the age of 6 when father died. Moved to 605 Fourth St., Catasauqua, Pa where family lived with grandmother, Ruth Thomas McKee. Attended the public schools (Lincoln Elementary, Second St. School, and Catasauqua, H. S.) Graduated June, 1951.

Attended Lehigh University. Summer jobs at Universal Atlas Cement Co., Northampton (laborer, 1952; engineering trainee, 1954). Draftsman, 1953 at R. H. Moyer & Co., E. Catasauqua located in the old Davies & Thomas office building (grandfather’s former office 50 years earlier).

Employed by Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, 1955; United Aircraft Research Laboratories, 1956 - 1962; 1968 - 2003.

Attended M. I. T. 1962 - 1968. Awarded Sc. D. in Fluid Mechanics, 1968.

Married Wendy Ruth Merrick, Sept, 1965. Raised two boys while living in Glastonbury, CT 1969 - 2000. Coach and officer in Glastonbury Youth Hockey program (400 families) 1975 - 1982.

Retired 2003 - living in Jackson, NH. Researching the utilization of anthracite coal in early (1830 - 1850) steam locomotives.


Professional resume follows:
Experience
CTA,LLC - 2000 - 2003

Founding member of CTA, LLC, a consulting engineering company specializing in distributed energy systems.
Consultant to United Technologies Corporation on the design and performance of recuperated gas turbine engines employing organic Rankine cycle bottoming systems for high efficiency distributed power generation.
jbScienceS - 1995 to 2000

Organizing member of jbScienceS, a limited liability company engaged in engineering and computing research activities.
Consultant to UTRC in the area of gas turbine combustion specializing in dynamic processes, active combustion control, and low-emission combustion. Assists universities in formulating research activities and acquiring sponsorship for programs which can impact UTRC technology needs.
Contractor to FTS, Inc. and Pratt & Whitney Division; UTC on NASA Lewis Research Center Large Engine Technology Program.; UTC on DARPA Active Combustion Control for Marine and Land-Based Aeroderivative Gas Turbine Engines.
United Technologies Research Center - 1967 to 1995

Manager, Aerothermal Technology - 1990 to 1995
Supervised and participated in experimental and analytical programs directed at developing an understanding of the physical processes controlling the behavior of flows within gas turbine engine, ramjet, and rocket engine combustors. Program manager of ARO- and ONR-funded activities to explore the potential for employing streamwise vorticity as a means of enhancing combustion processes. Program manager of NASA-funded effort to employ combustor modeling as a means of improving hot section component life. Supervised experimental programs directed at evaluating the use of alternative fuels in conventional and advanced (rich-burn/lean-burn) industrial gas turbine engine combustors. 1979 to 1982. Program manager of a NASA-funded effort to evaluate low emission, premixed, prevaporized combustor performance and participated in efforts to analytically model premixing passage behavior. 1977 to 1982.
Conducted analytical studies of combustion chamber designs for hydrocarbon-fueled and metal-slurry-fueled, self-accelerating, fixed-geometry ramjet engines applicable to Naval airborne missiles. 1967 to 1968.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology - 1962 to 1967
Hertz Fellow, Department of Mechanical Engineering. Conducted experimental and analytical research on the mechanism of high-frequency instabilities observed in supersonic combustion flow fields wherein strong shock waves are present. 1963 to 1967

Research Assistant. Combustion and Propulsion Group, Department of Mechanical Engineering. Conducted Army-sponsored analytical research on the effects of electric and magnetic fields on the structure and propagation rates of laminar flames. 1962 to 1963.

United Aircraft Research Laboratories - 1956 to 1962
Conducted company-funded analytical programs on the selection of cabin air-conditioning and pressurization components for small turbojet transport aircraft. Conducted analytical studies of the potential of natural gas-fueled commercial and residential air-conditioning systems. 1956 to 1962.
Research Engineer on Air Force and Navy projects investigating the performance of airbreathing engines for high Mach number missiles and aircraft. Developed computerized performance analyses capable of estimating ramjet engine performance at flight conditions up to orbital speeds. 1956 to 1958.
Lehigh University - 1955 to 1956
Laboratory Assistant, Mechanical Engineering Department. Investigated heat transfer to rotating bodies.
Pratt & Whitney Aircraft - June to September 1955

Analytical Engineer. Designed turbojet afterburner screech suppressers.
Publications

Combustion Instability Characterization and Demonstration, Large Engine Technology (LET) Task 63A, NASA Glenn RC Contract NAS3-26618, Final Report, June 30, 1999 (co-author).
Active Combustion Control for Marine and Land-Based Aeroderivative Gas Turbine Engines, Final Report DARPA Contract MDA972-95-C-0009,UTRC Report No. 98-16 December 1998 (co-author).
Comparison of Liquid Fuel/Air Mixing and NOx Emissions for a Tangential Entry Nozzle. ASME Paper 94-GT-283, Gas Turbine and Aeroengine Congress and Exposition, The Hague, Netherlands, June 13-16, 1994 (co-author).
Emission and Performance of a Lean-Premixed Gas Fuel Injection System for Aeroderivative Gas Turbine Engines. ASME Paper 94-GT-234, Gas Turbine and Aeroengine Congress and Exposition, The Hague, Netherlands, June 13-16, 1994 (co-author).
Evaluation of Low NOx Combustor Concepts for Aeroderivative Gas Turbine Engines, International Gas Turbine and Aeroengine Congress, Cologne, Germany, June 1992 (co-author).
Flame Propagation Enhancement Through Streamwise Vorticity Stirring. AIAA Paper 86-0619, January 1989 (co-author).
Observation of the Effect of Streamwise Vorticity on the Spreading of Flames in High Speed Flow. Combustion Science and Technology, Vol. 60, pp. 447-451, 1988.
Application of Advanced Diagnostics to Airblast Injector Flows. Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power (ASME Transactions), Vol. 111, No. 1, pp. 53-62, 1989 (co-author).
Fuel-Injector Air Swirl Characterization, NASA Report CR-180864, January 1988 (co-author).
High Resolution Patternator for the Characterization of Fuel Sprays. Journal of Propulsion and Power, Vol. 3, pp. 202-209, 1987 (co-author).
Characterization of Fuel Sprays Using a High-Resolution Patternator. AIAA Paper 88-1726, presented at AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE 22nd Joint Propulsion Conference, Huntsville, AL, June 1986 (co-author).
Testing of a Full-Scale Staged Combustor Operating with a Synthetic Liquid Fuel ASME Paper 83-GT-27, 28th International Gas Turbine Conference, Phoenix, AZ, March 1983 (co-author).
Combustion of Coal Gas Fuels in a Staged Combustor. ASME Paper 83-GT-108, 28th International Gas Turbine Conference, Phoenix, AZ, March 1983 (co-author).
Evaluation of Shale Oil as a Utility Gas Turbine Fuel. EPRI AP-1975, August 1981 or ASME Paper 82-GT-26 (co-author).
A Model for the Analysis of Premixing-Prevaporizing Fuel-Air Mixing Passages. AIAA Preprint 81-0345, Aeropsace Sciences Meeting, January 12-15, 1981 (co-author).
Lean Stability Augmentation for Premixing, Prevaporizing Combustors. Journal of Energy, Vol. 4, 1980 (co-author).
Lean Stability Augmentation Study. Final Report, NASA CR-159536, May 1979 (co-author).
Pollutant Formation and Energy Release in Liquid-Fuel Turbulent Diffusion Flames. AIAA Paper 77-53, presented at AIAA 15th Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Los Angeles, CA, January 1977 (co-author).
Diagnostic Techniques for Measurements in Burning Sprays. WSCI Paper 76-28, presented at 1976 Fall Meeting of Western States Section/The Combustion Institute, October 1976 (co-author).
Evaluation of Automotive Fuel Injector Sprays. United Technologies Research Center Report R67-7100028-1, May 1976.
An Experimental Study of Fuel Spray Vaporization Rates. Eleventh JANNAF Combustion Meeting, Vol. II, CPIA Publication 261, December 1974 (co-author).
Integral Boost Ramjet Technology for Volume Limited Missiles. Volume 1, Ramburner Technology Studies and Ramburner Development. United Aircraft Research Laboratories Technical Report AFAPL-TR-68-146, May 1972 (co-author). Confidential.
Hydrocarbon Fuel Scramjet. Volume XI, Combustor Demonstration Program. United Aircraft Research Laboratories Technical Report AFAPL-TR-68-146, May 1972 (co-author). Confidential.
Hydrocarbon Fueled Scramjet. Volume X, Wall Divergence Investigation. United Aircraft Research Laboratories Technical Report AFAPL-TR-68-146, December 1971 (co-author).
Mechanism of Instabilities of Exothermic Hypersonic Blunt-Body Flows. Combustion Science and Technology, Vol. 3, pp. 63-76, 1971 (co-author).
PhD Thsis (MIT) Mechanism of Instabilities of Exothermic Hypersonic Blunt-Body Flows. 1968.
Patents

Mechanism for Accelerating Heat Release of Combusting Flows
US Patent No. 5,076,053, December 1991
Low NOx Combustion
US Patent No. 5,263,325, November 1993
Mechanism for Controlling the Rate of Mixing in Combusting Flows
US Patent No. 5,235,813, April 1993
Mechanism for Controlling the Rate of Mixing in Combusting Flows
US Patent No. 5,315,815, May 1994
Tangential Entry Fuel Nozzle
US Patent No. 5,461,865, October 1995
Professional Memberships

American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Member, Combustion and Fuels Committee
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Spouses
Birth25 Aug 1943, Hartford, CT
FatherJohn Easland Merrick (1917-2006)
MotherRuth Nadine Oakes (1917-2003)
Marriage11 Sep 1965, Old Saybrook, CT
ChildrenJames Thomas (1967-)
 Douglas Merrick (1969-)
Last Modified 20 Mar 2020Created 7 May 2020 using Reunion for Macintosh