The Effects of Hydrodynamic, Interfacial and Intermolecular Forces on Phase Change Processes

Processes involving phase change are critically important in a wide variety of fields such as energy conversion, chemical and petroleum processing, microelectronics cooling, MEMs devices, coating and self-assembly. The phase change occurring in these systems is governed by hydrodynamic, interfacial and intermolecular forces that drive the exchange of mass, momentum and energy between the phases and dictate the rate and extent of change that can occur. This GRC and associated GRS are focused on fundamental descriptions of phase change processes and how these forces interact to prescribe how equipment can be designed and processes can be run. Topics within the conference include processes occurring at the three-phase contact line, the thermodynamics of adsorption and phase change, the design of surfaces at the micro and nanoscale to control the extent of phase change possible, advances in the simulation and numerical modeling of phase change processes, and new and novel experimental methods for measuring the extent of phase change and the forces driving those changes.