Topology Optimization and Bio-inspired Design for Heat and Mass Transfer

Submission Deadline: 10 February 2027 View: 132 Submit to Special Issue

Guest Editor(s)

Dr. Jiao Wang

Email: wangjiao@just.edu.cn

Affiliation: School of Energy & Power, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, China

Homepage:

Research Interests: topology optimization, thermal heat storage, thermal-management

Prof. Dr. Lu Qiu

Email: luqiu@buaa.edu.cn

Affiliation: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China

Homepage:

Research Interests: turbine cooling, AI-aided design, intelligent sensing

Prof. Dr. Xianglei Liu

Email: xliu@nuaa.edu.cn

Affiliation: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China

Homepage:

Research Interests: thermal energy storage, solar fuel

Summary

Heat and mass transfer is a core fundamental issue in many engineering fields such as energy and power, aerospace, electronics cooling, chemical engineering, and refrigeration. In recent years, topology optimization has emerged as an advanced structural design method capable of automatically generating non-intuitive, high-efficiency heat and mass transfer channels and flow paths within a given design domain, boundary conditions, and constraints, breaking through the limitations of conventional shape optimization. Meanwhile, nature has evolved over billions of years a variety of multi-scale structures (e.g., leaf venation, bone trabeculae, vascular networks, honeycombs) with excellent transport performance. Bio-inspired design extracts the topological, fractal, and hierarchical features of these natural structures, providing entirely new ideas for artificial heat and mass exchangers. The deep integration of topology optimization and bio-inspired methods is expected to achieve highly compact, low-energy-consumption, and high-performance heat and mass transfer equipment.

This Special Issue aims to collect the latest research achievements in topology optimization and/or bio-inspired methods applied to heat and mass transfer, highlighting innovative design concepts, numerical algorithms, experimental validation, and engineering design. The scope includes, but is not limited to: topology optimization for single-phase convection, heat conduction, thermal radiation, and phase-change heat transfer (boiling, condensation, melting, solidification); mechanisms of bio-inspired surfaces/channels/fins for enhancing heat and mass transfer performance; reproduction of bio-inspired structures via topology optimization and their redesign; and integrated optimization of heat and mass transfer designs for additive manufacturing. The Special Issue welcomes original research articles, and comprehensive reviews,  with particular encouragement for submissions combining theoretical analysis, numerical simulation, and experimental testing.

Suggested Themes:
- Topology optimization for single-phase/phase-change heat transfer structures
- Mechanisms of bio-inspired structure for heat transfer enhancement
- Reproduction of biological transport networks via topology optimization and reconstruction of heat/mass transfer
- Multi-physics topology optimization methods and their implementation in heat and mass transfer
- Integrated design of topology optimization and bio-inspired structures under additive manufacturing constraints
- Application of topology optimization in mass transfer devices (fuel cells, chemical reactors, membrane separators)
- Topology optimization for heat and mass transfer under unsteady conditions, variable properties, and turbulent flows
- Applications of methods such as machine learning / artificial intelligence in topology optimization/bionics design
- Experimental validation and engineering case studies of bio-inspired structures and topology optimization

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