Carl Wassgren

Carl Wassgren

Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Professor of Industrial and Physical Pharmacy (by Courtesy)

School of Mechanical Engineering
Purdue University
585 Purdue Mall
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2088
wassgren@purdue.edu

Office: ME 3003J

Phone: +1 765 49-45656
Other: +1 765-496-9728
FAX: 765-494-0539

Degrees

  • B.S. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, '90
  • M.S. California Institute of Technology, '92
  • Ph.D. California Institute of Technology, '97

Research Interests

  • Discrete element method (DEM) modeling for particulate systems
  • -- model development, e.g., fibrous particles, particle breakage, particle shapes
  • -- application to manufacturing, e.g., storage and flow, blending, segregation, drying, coating, wet granulation
  • Finite element method (FEM) modeling of powder compaction
  • -- e.g., roll compaction, tableting, picking and sticking
  • Multi-scale modeling (FEM combined with DEM) of powder dynamics
  • -- model development and application to hopper flow, blending, and segregation

Fundamental Research Area(s)

Application Area(s)

Awards and Recognitions

  • AIAA Scholastic Achievement Award for the highest GPA in Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (May 1990)
  • Charles Lee Powell Graduate Fellowships at the California Institute of Technology (1991-92, Su 1993, 1994-95)
  • Seed for Success Awards (2004, 2005, 2006) for PIs on grants totaling more than $1M
  • Byars' Prize (Clemson University, 1997) - Awarded to the outstanding assistant or associate professor at Clemson University teaching an engineering mechanics course.
  • 1999 NSF CAREER Award recipient
  • Placed in the top ten of the 2002 Solberg Award for the best teacher in Mechanical Engineering.
  • 2004 Purdue University Teaching for Tomorrow Award recipient
  • 2005 Spira Award for Outstanding Contributions to the School of Mechanical Engineering and its Students
  • Member of the 2010 College of Engineering Team Excellence Award
  • 2009 International Fine Particles Research Institute 1st Place Poster award (graduate student: Ben Freireich, Ph.D. received in 2010)
  • 2010 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists Regulatory Science Section Outstanding Contributed Paper Award, "Key issues in understanding and predicting excipient properties and functionality," Co-authors: T. Wang, K. Alston, S. Hoag, T. Li, P. Basu, L. Mockus, and C. Wassgren

Selected Publications

Li, J., Wassgren, C., and Litster, J.D., 2013, "Multi-scale modeling of a spray coating process in a paddle mixer/coater: The effect of particle size distribution on particle segregation and coating uniformity," Chemical Engineering Science, Vol. 95, pp. 203 - 210.

Kumar, R. and Wassgren, C., 2013, "Angular circulation speed of tablets in a vibratory tablet coating pan," AAPS PharmSciTech, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 339 - 351.

Muliadi, A., Wassgren, C., and Litster, J., 2012, "Validation of 3-D finite element analysis for predicting the density distribution of roll compacted pharmaceutical powder," Powder Technology, Vol. 237, pp. 386 - 399.

Guo, Y., Wassgren, C., Ketterhagen, W., Hancock, B., Benjamin, J., and Curtis, J., 2012, "A numerical study of granular shear flows of rod-like particles using the discrete element method," Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 713, pp. 1 - 26.

Guo, Y., Wassgren, C., Ketterhagen, B., Hancock, B., and Curtis, J., 2012, "Some computational considerations associated with discrete element modeling of cylindrical particles," Powder Technology, Vol. 228, pp. 193 - 198.

Kayrak-Talay, D., Dale, S., Wassgren, C., and Litster, J., 2012, "Quality by design for wet granulation in pharmaceutical processing: Assessing models for a priori design and scaling," Powder Technology, Vol. 240, pp. 7 - 18.

Sarkar, A. and Wassgren, C.R., 2012, "Comparison of flow microdynamics for a continuous granular mixer with predictions from periodic slice DEM simulations," Powder Technology, Vol. 221, pp. 325-336.

Li, J., Freireich, B.J., Wassgren, C.R., and Litster, J., 2012, "Experimental validation of a 2-D population balance model for spray coating processes," Chemical Engineering Science, doi: 10.1016/j.ces.2012.02.036.

Muliadi, A., Wassgren, C., and Litster, J., 2012, "Modeling the powder roll compaction process: Comparison of 2-D finite element method and the rolling theory for granular solids (Johanson's model)," Powder Technology, Vol. 221, pp. 90 - 100.

Kodam, M., Curtis, J., Hancock, B., and Wassgren, C., 2012, "Discrete element method modeling of bi-convex pharmaceutical tablets: Contact detection algorithms and validation," Chemical Engineering Science, Vol. 69, No. 1, pp. 587 - 601.