In the second paper Piller and Nobile present a finite volume algorithm for the direct numerical simulation of turbulent convection. The Authors work at the University of Trieste and their current research interests are the development of fast Poisson solvers, the formulation of unstructured-grid algorithms, and the parallelization of solvers for shared-memory computing platforms.

An alternative to producing a completely new code is to modify an existing commercial code. In the third paper Ciofalo and Cricchio follow this approach to investigate the influence of a magnetic field on liquid metal free convection in an internally heated enclosure. The Authors work at the University of Palermo and their study is part of a research project concerning the thermal-hydraulic behaviour of breeder blankets for nuclear fusion reactors. The senior author Ciofalo has been active in CFD since 1980, contributing to such different topics

as turbulence modeling, nanoscale fluid dynamics, and transport processes in physiological flows.

The last three papers deal with the enhancement of convection. In the fourth paper Andreozzi, Manca and Naso use a streamfunction-vorticity formulation and a control volume method for a parametric analysis of natural convection in a vertical channel with a central plate, heated or adiabatic. The Authors work at the University of Naples and are interested in numerical and experimental research on the applications of natural convection to such fields as thermal control of electronic systems and solar installations. The last two papers are concerned with the enhancement of forced convection. Both papers come from the University of Udine, where most of the current research on CFD applications of the finite element method is focused on compact heat exchangers. Croce and D’Agaro consider a plate type heat exchanger and investigate the effect of self-sustained flow oscillations above the critical Reynolds number. Comini, Savino and Nonino consider convective heat and mass transfer in laminar flows of humid air through a wavy finned heat exchanger. In both papers full advantage is taken of the spatial periodicities existing in the flow passages by means of a specialized FEM code developed in Udine.

Previously published in: International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Volume 12, Number 6, 2002  less