- The study will last three years and it will develop computational tools to optimize the equipment and processes in which energy is transferred by fluids using numerical simulation.
Heat transfer is the exchange of thermal energy between different systems and it is widely applied in industry. For this reason, in this study Dr Ernesto Castillo, professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, seeks to replace the fluids commonly used to transport that energy with other non-conventional non-Newtonian fluids.
The study will be carried out in the context of a Fondecyt Initiation Project 2016 (11160160). Dr Castillo will try to find non-Newtonian alternatives that are not commercially available today and that are not known by the industry. According to the researcher, as these fluids have better thermal properties they will reduce transportation costs and improve thermal efficiency.
In this case, the study will be carried out by means of a computational numerical simulation. In this way, the researcher will be able to provide the industry with solutions and ideas, so that the industrial sector can reduce the number of working models generally built for new designs.
“We are all concerned about energy efficiency. For this reason, developing new technologies oriented to new solutions to this global problem is the most important incentive for this project,” Dr Castillo concluded.
