Dr. David Naylor’s pioneering research over the past 30 years has led to significant innovations within the Canadian energy sector.

A faculty member in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering at Ryerson University since 1993, Dr. Naylor has become internationally recognized for his novel work on the thermal performance of windows for energy efficient buildings. His research group has made tremendous strides in understanding the effects of shading devices on the thermal performance of windows. As a result, several industrial software packages have incorporated his findings, which have been validated experimentally using laser interferometry and flow visualization studies. His research on window energy efficiency represents a major advancement over current thinking and has attracted significant research funding.

Dr. Naylor was also the lead thermal designer for the development of a proprietary anti-icing system for gas turbines. The system uses a custom-designed, axial-flow heat exchanger to recover waste heat from the exhaust of the gas turbine, which is then injected into the turbine inlet to prevent ice formation during adverse weather conditions. Now installed in more than 100 power plants across North America, the system provides better icing protection and lower operating costs than existing anti-icing methods.

A past president of the Canadian Congress of Applied Mechanics, Dr. Naylor has written over 150 papers in refereed journals and conferences and more than 20 industry technical reports, and is the co-author of a graduate-level textbook on convective heat transfer. He is also the associate editor of the International Journal of Transport Phenomena.

In addition to his research accomplishments, Dr. Naylor has been an outstanding mentor, having supervised more than 160 undergraduate and graduate students for thesis and design projects. He has also been involved with Ryerson’s summer Research Opportunity Program in Engineering, which aims to promote and enhance the participation of women in engineering.