Abstract:

This lecture reviews both hybrid numerical-analytical integral transforms and hybrid lumped-differential formulations for handling diffusion and convection-diffusion problems. Particular emphasis is given to recent developments that extend the applicability and the computational performance of these hybrid methodologies, towards more accurate, robust and less time-consuming simulations in comparison to purely numerical approaches, as applied to the ample fields of fluid flow and heat and mass transfer. The aim is to provide alternative solution paths that can be particularly relevant in computationally intensive tasks, such as in inverse problem analysis, optimization studies, and simulations under uncertainty, when the direct problem solution is usually required to be obtained for a large number of parametric variations. In this presentation, a few recently tackled problems in energy applications have been selected for illustration of the methodologies capabilities, including the thermal analysis of wet storage for spent nuclear fuel elements, the theoretical-experimental analysis of biodiesel synthesis in micro-reactors, and the simulation of membrane-less redox flow batteries.

BSc on Mechanical/Nuclear Engineering, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil, 1981, and Ph.D. in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University (NCSU), USA, 1985. Author of around 500 technical papers, 9 books, and supervisor of more than 80 PhD and MSc thesis. Member of the National Order of Scientific Merit, Brazil, 2009. Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC), 2009, National Engineering Academy (ANE), Brazil, 2011, and the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), Trieste, Italy, 2012. Chairman, Executive Committee, Int. Center for Heat & Mass Transfer, ICHMT. President of the National Commission of Nuclear Energy, CNEN/Brazil, 2015-2017. Senior Consultant, Directorate General for Nuclear Development and Technology, Brazilian Navy. Presently, Visiting Professorship (Leverhulme Trust Fund) at the Mechanical Eng. Dept., University College London, UK.