# Arthur B. Metzner
**Arthur B. Metzner** (Arthur Berthold Metzner; 13 April 1927 – 4 May 2006) was a Canadian-born chemical engineer at the [University of Delaware](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-delaware), known for the generalized [Reynolds number](https://www.edgepedia.org/reynolds-number) for non-Newtonian pipe flow and for the Metzner–Otto correlation for mixing such fluids.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 13 April 1927, Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan, Canada[1](https://physicstoday.aip.org/obituaries/arthur-b-metzner) |
| Died | 4 May 2006, Washington, D.C., aged 79[2](https://www1.udel.edu/PR/UDaily/2006/may/metzner.html) |
| Training | B.Sc. chemical engineering, University of Alberta, 1948; Sc.D., MIT, 1951, advised by Warren Kendall Lewis[2](https://www1.udel.edu/PR/UDaily/2006/may/metzner.html) • [3](https://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=281536) |
| Career | Colgate-Palmolive 1951–1953; University of Delaware faculty from 1953; department chair 1970–1977/78[4](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11912/chapter/42) |
| Signature work | "Flow of non-Newtonian fluids" (AIChE Journal, 1955) and "Agitation of non-Newtonian fluids" (AIChE Journal, 1957) |[5](https://aiche.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aic.690010409) • [6](https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.690030103)
| Honors | National Academy of Engineering, 1979; Bingham Medal; AIChE Colburn Award, 1958[4](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11912/chapter/42) • [1](https://physicstoday.aip.org/obituaries/arthur-b-metzner) |
| Editorial role | Editor of the Journal of Rheology for ten years[1](https://physicstoday.aip.org/obituaries/arthur-b-metzner) |
## Education and career
Metzner grew up in Barrhead, Alberta, and graduated from the [University of Alberta](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-alberta) in 1948 with a B.Sc. in chemical engineering. He took his Sc.D. at MIT in 1951 under W. K. ("Doc") Lewis, with a dissertation on the preparation of adsorptive carbons, and spent two years at [Colgate-Palmolive](https://www.edgepedia.org/colgate-palmolive) before joining the University of Delaware faculty in 1953, alongside Allan P. Colburn and [Robert L. Pigford](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-l-pigford).[1](https://physicstoday.aip.org/obituaries/arthur-b-metzner) • [2](https://www1.udel.edu/PR/UDaily/2006/may/metzner.html) • [3](https://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=281536) • [4](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11912/chapter/42)
He became a full professor in 1961 and held the H. Fletcher Brown professorship; the National Academy of Engineering memoir dates it to 1962 and the University of Delaware obituary to 1963.[4](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11912/chapter/42) • [2](https://www1.udel.edu/PR/UDaily/2006/may/metzner.html) He chaired Delaware's Department of Chemical Engineering from 1970 to 1977 by the university's account, or to 1978 by the academy memoir's.[4](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11912/chapter/42) • [2](https://www1.udel.edu/PR/UDaily/2006/may/metzner.html) [Physics Today](https://www.edgepedia.org/physics-today) places his emeritus status in 1993, while the academy memoir says he retired in 1996; both agree he remained active in the department until his death.[1](https://physicstoday.aip.org/obituaries/arthur-b-metzner) • [4](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11912/chapter/42)
## Representative work
**The 1955 correlation.** Metzner and Reed's paper "Flow of non-Newtonian fluids, correlation of the laminar, transition, and turbulent-flow regions" (AIChE Journal, 1955) placed all available pipe-flow data for non-Newtonian fluids on the conventional friction factor–Reynolds number plot used for Newtonian fluids, through a generalized Reynolds number. The correlation is theoretically rigorous in the laminar region and was tested with data on 16 non-Newtonian materials spanning Reynolds numbers from 6.3 × 10⁻⁵ to 1.3 × 10⁵, a 2.1 × 10⁹ range, in pipes from 1/8 to 12 inches in diameter. Because it does not depend on the type of fluid, it applies to Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids alike.[5](https://aiche.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aic.690010409)
**The 1957 agitation work.** "Agitation of non-Newtonian fluids" (AIChE Journal, 1957) developed a general relationship between impeller speed and the shear rate of a non-[Newtonian fluid](https://www.edgepedia.org/newtonian-fluid), then correlated power-consumption data on a generalized power-number–Reynolds-number plot. The experiments used flat-bladed turbines up to about 8 inches in diameter in tanks of roughly 6 to 22 inches, with power inputs of up to about 176 hp per 1,000 gallons across a Reynolds-number range spanning well over a hundredfold in the laminar and transition regions, according to a study by Metzner and Otto. The central practical finding was that power requirements for rapid mixing of non-Newtonian fluids are much greater than for comparable Newtonian materials.[6](https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.690030103)
In addition to those two publications, the Otto–Metzner correlation for mixing power bears his name, as does a series of papers dealing with drag reduction achieved through small amounts of viscoelastic fluids, along with research on the extensional viscosity of fiber suspensions.[2](https://www1.udel.edu/PR/UDaily/2006/may/metzner.html) His chapter covering non-Newtonian fluids, which appeared in the first volume of *Advances in Chemical Engineering* (Academic Press, 1956), stood for a generation as the only introduction to the field available to practitioners and students, and the White–Metzner constitutive equation for stress continues to appear in computer codes used for polymer-processing applications.[1](https://physicstoday.aip.org/obituaries/arthur-b-metzner)
## Honors and recognition
Metzner was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1979, cited "For research in the fluid mechanics of viscoelastic and polymeric materials."[4](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11912/chapter/42) He received the Bingham Medal of the Society of Rheology and its Distinguished Service Award, which the Society records for 1996 and the university obituary for 1997.[4](https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11912/chapter/42) • [7](https://www.societyofrheology.org/awards/arthur-b-metzner-1996-distinguished-service-awardee) • [2](https://www1.udel.edu/PR/UDaily/2006/may/metzner.html) He received AIChE's Junior (now Allan P. Colburn) Award in 1958 and was the first recipient of the ASEE Chemical Engineering Lectureship in 1963.[1](https://physicstoday.aip.org/obituaries/arthur-b-metzner) According to UDaily, he edited the Journal of Rheology for ten years, and his 100+ research publications earned awards from AIChE, the Society of Rheology, the [American Society for Engineering Education](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-society-for-engineering-education), and the American Chemical Society.[1](https://physicstoday.aip.org/obituaries/arthur-b-metzner) • [2](https://www1.udel.edu/PR/UDaily/2006/may/metzner.html)
## Legacy
At Delaware he directed 40+ bachelor's theses, about 40 master's theses, and 30+ doctoral dissertations, and as chair hired and nurtured young faculty who became leaders in the field, according to a National Academy of Engineering memorial. Physics Today called him a pioneer in the development of rheology as a significant field of applied science.[1](https://physicstoday.aip.org/obituaries/arthur-b-metzner)
Later research has both used and tested his correlations. A 2004 review showed that the Metzner–Reed method, developed for truly laminar flow of homogeneous suspensions, was being misapplied to inhomogeneous wood pulp fiber suspensions, and that a linear correlation on logarithmic coordinates will emerge from the procedure for almost any rheological data, even above Reynolds numbers of 5 × 10⁵.[8](https://doi.org/10.1080/00986440490261836) A statistical assessment of fourteen friction-factor correlations for [power-law fluids](https://www.edgepedia.org/power-law-fluid) in turbulent pipe flow found the Dodge–Metzner correlation had the lowest overall mean relative deviation, 1.5%, and recommended it.[9](https://journal.hep.com.cn/jocsu/EN/10.1007/s11771-007-0219-5) A 2025 paper notes that the generalized Reynolds number approach has limited accuracy for fluids with a low flow behavior index (n < 1) and proposes an explicit alternative with a maximum relative error of 7.15%.[10](https://doi.org/10.24271/psr.2025.516478.2081) A 2025 review of Herschel–Bulkley pipe-flow modeling cites the 1955 paper as foundational prior work, and a retrospective on fifty years of non-Newtonian fluid dynamics in the AIChE Journal was dedicated to Metzner as one of the giants of the field.[11](https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0252248) • [12](https://aiche.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aic.10357)
## References
1. Arthur B. Metzner, Physics Today obituary. https://physicstoday.aip.org/obituaries/arthur-b-metzner
2. In Memoriam Arthur B. Metzner (University of Delaware UDaily). https://www1.udel.edu/PR/UDaily/2006/may/metzner.html
3. Arthur Metzner, The Mathematics Genealogy Project. https://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=281536
4. Memorial Tributes: Volume 11, Arthur B. Metzner (National Academy of Engineering). https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/11912/chapter/42
5. Flow of non-Newtonian fluids, correlation of the laminar, transition, and turbulent-flow regions (AIChE Journal, 1955). https://aiche.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aic.690010409
6. Agitation of non-Newtonian fluids (AIChE Journal, 1957). https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.690030103
7. Arthur B. Metzner, 1996 Distinguished Service Awardee (Society of Rheology). https://www.societyofrheology.org/awards/arthur-b-metzner-1996-distinguished-service-awardee
8. Misapplication of the Metzner-Reed non-Newtonian correlation method (Chemical Engineering Communications, 2004). https://doi.org/10.1080/00986440490261836
9. New assessment of friction factor correlations for power law fluids in turbulent pipe flow (Journal of Central South University). https://journal.hep.com.cn/jocsu/EN/10.1007/s11771-007-0219-5
10. A New Formula for Friction Factor-Reynolds Number of Non-Newtonian Fluids (2025). https://doi.org/10.24271/psr.2025.516478.2081
11. Advances in modeling the flow of Herschel–Bulkley fluids in pipes: A review (Physics of Fluids, 2025). https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0252248
12. Fifty years of non-Newtonian fluid dynamics (AIChE Journal). https://aiche.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aic.10357
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Technology and the built world › Engineers and computer scientists › Engineers and materials scientists › Researchers in chemical engineering, batteries, solar, and energy materials › Polymers, colloids, and interfaces*
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