Graham de Vahl Davis

CHT-04 International Symposium on Computational Heat Transfer sponsored by The International Centre for Heat and Mass Transfer and the CFD Research Laboratory of The University of New South Wales

This issue of the IJCFD is devoted to papers that were first presented at the 3rd International Symposium on Advances in Computational Heat Transfer (the papers of which appeared in a CD provided to attendees but not otherwise published: CHT-04: Advances in Computational Heat Transfer III, G. de Vahl Davis and E. Leonardi, Editors, Begell House, New York, 2004) CHT-04 took place on the Hurtigruten Coastal Steamer MS Midnatsol during its voyage down the Norwegian coast between Kirkenes and Bergen, Norway. The weather was, of course, cold – Kirkenes is at 70 N latitude – but was generally fine and the venue provided opportunities for both professional interaction and tourism among the 114 delegates from 31 countries. The theme of ‘computational heat transfer’ at the conference was directed as much at industrial problems – in many cases at very complex industrial flows and processes, often involving phase change – as pure or applied research problems, and we have tried to retain a mix in this selection of some of the best of the 104 papers presented at the meeting. We selected a number of papers and these were then reviewed in line with the usual IJCFD practice. We hope that this resulting compendium provides a valuable overview for our readers of the application of computational methods for convective heat transfer to a range of research and industrial problems.

The solution of equations

There are only a few types of equations which can be solved by simple, direct methods in a finite (and predictable) number of operations. These include the linear equation

Partial differential equations I — elliptic equations

ax+b=0

Integral methods for the solution of boundary value problems

(2.1) and the quadratic equation

Advances in Computational Heat Transfer

a{x^2} + bx +c = 0

Modelling of binary alloy solidification in the MEPHISTO experiment

(2.2) for which the solutions are, of course, well known.