Thursday 18 December 2014

Heat Transfer 2014 Post Conference Report

Overview

The 13th International Conference on Simulation and Experiments in Heat and Mass Transfer (Heat Transfer 2014) took place in A Coruña, Spain organised by Lund University of Technology, Sweden and Wessex Institute, UK, with the collaboration of the University of A Coruña.

The Conference Chairmen were Prof Bengt Sunden, from Lund University and Prof Carlos A Brebbia, Director of the Wessex Institute.

The Conference started in Portsmouth, UK in 1988, followed by Milan (1992); Southampton (1994); Udine (1996); Krakow (1998); Madrid (2000); Halkidiki (2002); Lisbon (2004); New Forest, UK, home of the Wessex Institute (2006); Maribor (2008); Tallinn (2010) and Split (2012).

The objective of the series is to provide a forum for presentation and discussion of advanced topics, new approaches and applications of innovative computational methods and experimental measurements in heat and mass transfer.

Heat transfer topics and related phenomena are commonly of a complex nature and different mechanisms like heat conduction, convection, turbulence, thermal radiation and phase change as well as chemical reactions may occur simultaneously. Typical applications are found in heat exchanges, gas turbine cooling, turbulent combustion and fires, fuel cells, batteries, micro- and mini- channels, electronic cooling, melting and solidification, chemical processing and aerospace engineering.

Heat transfer may be regarded as an established and mature scientific discipline, but it plays a major role in new emerging ideas such as sustainable development and reduction of greenhouse gases as well as for micro- and nano-scale structures, nano fluids and bio-engineering. Non-linear phenomena may occur due to temperature dependent thermophysical properties.

To analyse the thermal process and enable design and optimisation, advances in computational methods continue to be important as engineering design and development require reliable and accurate computational tools to replace or complement expensive and time consuming experimental trial and error work. Tremendous advancements have been achieved during recent years due to improved numerical solution algorithms for non-linear differential equations, turbulence modelling and the development of computers and computing programmes to achieve efficient and rapid simulations. Nevertheless, further progress in computational methods will require developments in theoretical and predictive procedures in applied research. Accurate experimental investigations with advanced instrumentation are needed to validate the numerical calculations.

Many excellent research topics were discussed at the Heat Transfer 2014 conference, during which new applications were presented related to the use of advanced computational methods and experimental measurements in heat and mass transfer.

The Conference books containing papers presented at the meeting is Volume 83 of the series WIT Transactions on Engineering Sciences, which is widely distributed around the world in digital as well as hard copy formats. The papers are also permanently archived in the Institute eLibrary (http://library.witpress.com/), where they are easily accessible to the international community.

 Opening of the Conference

The Conference was opened by Prof Carlos A Brebbia who explained the work of the Wessex Institute, in particular its objective to act as a mechanism for knowledge transfer. WIT – Carlos said – carries out this by a series of activities, including industrial research, publication and training.

In the field of industrial applications the Institute is renowned throughout the world because of its pioneering research on boundary elements. The method is used for the analysis of problems affecting electric conduction and offshore structures and other situations used in petroleum engineering. This allows for the design of effective cathodic protection systems against corrosion. The efficient analysis of these systems, Carlos explained, has been possible because of the development of BEM tools.

Fracture mechanics and in particular crack propagation is another problem in which the Institute has carried out original research using BEM. The development of meshes that can follow the growth of cracks allowed for the prediction of the residual life of components with initial cracks. This has important applications in aerospace engineering.

The international WIT conference programme is well known. It consists of 25 or so meetings per year in different locations around the world. The conferences aim to provide the right environment for the exchange of scientific knowledge, promoting discussion and allowing for networking. The conference papers are published in book form and widely distributed throughout the world.

Training activities, including PhD and Post-doctoral research, takes place in the Wessex Institute campus located in the New Forest, a National Park in the South of England. The excellent facilities and the peaceful environment render the campus an ideal place for research.

Carlos concluded his remarks by thanking the delegates for their support of WIT conferences and hoping that they will consider visiting the Institute campus, when convenient. In that way they will be able to better appreciate the work of the Wessex Institute.

 Keynote Address and Invited Presentations

The keynote address of the conference was delivered by Prof Sunden, who spoke about “Computational opportunities of energy related transport processes”. His talk was followed with great interest and gave rise to numerous questions.

This was followed by an invited presentation by Prof Hussain Al-Kayiem from Petronas University of Technology in Malaysia. The title was “Ribbed double pipe heat exchanger experimental analysis”.

Other invited papers were as follows:
  • “The thermal performance of thermosyphons employing nanofluids” by Matthias Buschmann, The ILK and Technical University, Dresden, Germany.
  • “The thermal conductance of collection tubes in geothermal energy systems” by Ramon Frederick, University of Chile, Chile.
  • “Quantitative measuring methods applied for the mixing phenomena of film cooling” by Kenichiro Takeishi, Osaka University, Japan.

 

 Conference Topics

The papers were arranged in the following topics:
  • Heat transfer enhancements
  • Heat recovery
  • Heat exchanges
  • Heat transfer in energy producing devices
  • Heat and mass transfer
  • Conventional radiation
  • Multiphase flow heat transfer
  • Modelling and experiments
  • Experimental and measuring technologies

 

 Special Talk

A special talk was given by Prof Hussain Al-Kayiem of the University of Technology Petronas in Malaysia on the general topic of fluid dynamic developments through aviation history.

He referred to the interesting history of Abbas Ibn Firnas, the first man who attempted to fly in the ninth century. He built a glider that has recently been replicated in the USA. Firnas was from Cordoba, Spain, then a cultural centre as important as Damascus. He was an astronomer, musician, mathematician and poet in his 70th year of age when he flew.

In the XI Century, Elmer in present day Iraq, also tried to fly and much later Ahmed Celebi in the early 1800s glided from one side to the other of the Bosphorus, inspired by the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci.

Also in the 19th century a series of German aviators contributed to the development of gliding.

It was the Wright brothers who set up the fundamentals of modern aviation, applying scientific principles and developing ways to deal with control and stability.

Hussain described the tests of these early pioneers who set up the foundations of modern aviation with numerous illustrations and photographs.

 Social Occasions

The Conference offered the delegates numerous opportunities for informal discussions outside the sessions, including coffee breaks, complimentary lunches and the conference banquet.

The banquet took place in a restaurant renowned for the quality of its Galician cuisine. The starter was octopus, before the main course, consisting of veal marinated in red wine, followed by a dish of different types of sweets and ice cream.

At the beginning of the dinner Carlos proposed a toast to all conference participants and, in particular, to his Co-chairs, to whom the success of the meeting was in great part due. He also explained the unique culture and traditions of Galicia, derived from its Celtic roots.

At the end of the meal Carlos introduced a Galician musical ensemble. They played a series of classical pieces from the region to the delight and surprise of most of the audience. The Galician bagpipes are more melodious than others and their music is always present in every celebration or family events.

The International Scientific Advisory Committee (ISAC) met over dinner to discuss the progress of the meeting and how to improve it in 2016 when it is to be reconvened. There were a few new topics suggested as well as new members for the committee. The problems of visa requirements in certain locations were a deterrent to hold the meeting there. Some suggested locations were deemed better than others and they will be investigated by the Conference Division at WIT.

 Conference Proceedings

The proceedings Heat Transfer 2014 – Heat Transfer XIII: Simulation and Experiments in Heat and Mass Transfer, 548pp (Print ISBN: 978-1-84564-794-0; eISBN: 978-1-84564-795-7) are available from WIT Press. Orders can be placed on the WIT Press web site at www.witpress.com or by email: marketing@witpress.com, telephone: +44 (0) 238 029 3223 or fax: +44 (0) 238 029 2853.

Papers from the conference will also be hosted online at the WIT eLibrary as Volume 83 of WIT Transactions on Engineering Sciences (ISSN: 1746-4471, Digital ISSN 1743-3533). For more details visit the WIT eLibrary at http://library.witpress.com
 

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