Dr. Richard A. Perkins

BSChE Colorado School of Mines, 1978
PhD Colorado School of Mines, 1983

Dr. Perkins developed a transient hot-wire instrument for the study of the thermal conductivity of coal liquefaction products at the Colorado School of Mines. He subsequently spent two years at Rice University developing a high-pressure differential scanning calorimeter to study natural-gas hydrates. He came to NIST in 1985 and worked on bioseparation processes and the development of a fiber optic fluorescence array to measure free convection in porous media. In 1988, he transferred to the Physical and Chemical Properties Division where his work has focused on measurement and correlation of the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of air, cryogenic fluids, alternative refrigerants, natural gas, and ammonia-water mixtures using transient hot-wire instruments.

Dr. Perkins developed a transient hot-wire instrument for electrically conducting fluids using anodized tantalum hot wires, two vibrating-wire viscometers for fluids, and a light scattering apparatus to measure thermal diffusivity of fluids. Dr. Perkins is an active member of the Subcommittee on Transport Properties of IUPAC Commission I.2 on Thermodynamics. He received the Department of Commerce Bronze Medal in 1994 for his development of transient hot-wire measurements of thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of fluids.

List of Publications

Contact:
perkins@boulder.nist.gov NIST Physical and Chemical Properties Division Experimental Properties of Fluids Group Mail Stop 838.07 325 Broadway Boulder, CO 80305-3328 USA	+1-303-497-5499 +1-303-497-5224

Physical & Chemical Properties Division	Chemical Science & Technology Laboratory	NIST Boulder Labs	NIST Homepage