A. A. Griffith
| Alan Arnold Griffith | |
|---|---|
| Born | 13 June 1893 |
| Died | 13 October 1963 (aged 70) |
| Institutions | Royal Aircraft Establishment |
| Alma mater | University of Liverpool |
| Known for | Metal fatigue |
| Notable awards | Fellow of the Royal Society |
Alan Arnold Griffith CBE FRS (13 June 1893 – 13 October 1963) was the son of Victorian science fiction author George Griffith and an English engineer. Among many other contributions he is best known for his work on stress and fracture in metals that is now known as metal fatigue, as well as being one of the first to develop a strong theoretical basis for the jet engine. Griffith's advanced axial-flow turbojet engine designs, were integral in the creation of Britain's first operational axial-flow turbojet engine, the Metropolitan-Vickers F.2 which first ran successfully in 1941. Griffith however had little direct involvement in actually producing the engine, after he moved in 1939 from leading the engine department at the Royal Aircraft Establishment to start work at Rolls Royce
A. A. Griffith took a first in mechanical engineering, followed by a master's degree and a Doctorate from the University of Liverpool. In 1915 he was accepted by the Royal Aircraft Factory as a trainee, before joining the Physics and Instrument Department the following year in what was soon be renamed as the Royal Aircraft Establishment (or RAE).
Some of Griffith's earlier works remain in widespread use today. In 1917 he and G. I. Taylor suggested the use of soap films as a way of studying stress problems. Using this method a soap bubble is stretched out between several strings representing the edges of the object under study, and the coloration of the film shows the patterns of stress. This method, and similar ones, were used well into the 1990s when computer power became generally available that could do the same experiment numerically.
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