The competence center AdTherM (Advanced Computing for Sustainable Thermal Management in Industry) target thermal management in industrial processes. Heating, cooling, fluid flow, boiling, melting, energy recovery, and thermo-chemical and electro-chemical energy conversion are of high relevance for a wide range of industrial applications. The majority of the challenges within thermal management faced by the industry are related to the same underlying physical processes involving fluid dynamics, turbulence, mass-, momentum-, and energy transport and mixing, chemical reactions, phase change processes, and the inability of the current models to accurately predict such complex physical processes. To advance and innovate at a competitive rate it is essential to have a fundamental and cross-disciplinary understanding of these processes as well as access to reliable tools and predictive models, enabling the development of efficient and stable industrial processes and new products, and supporting the disruptive technologies needed for the green transition and to reach a climate neutral industry by 2045.
AdTherM is envisioned to be a platform around the tools, techniques and methodologies used to evaluate, analyze, and advance thermal industry systems, hence providing knowledge-based development for the next generation technologies.
The overall aim is to increase energy efficiency, reduce the carbon footprint, improve performance, and enhance operational efficiency through accurate and novel simulation models of thermal systems. AdTherM spans over several industry sectors as well as academia with a cross-disciplined research programme built on industrial needs. Education and training of future experts in the Swedish engineering sector is also, in addition to research, an important objective.
Expected results from the center include basic and applied research findings to be disseminated in journal- and conference papers, patentable intellectual property, education material, reports (PhD thesis, master thesis, student projects etc.), numerical tools, technical installations, and instrumentation.
The center is coordinated by Lund University, LTH, with the Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, and Luleå University of Technology, LTU, as academic partners. Togher with twelve industrial partners the center forms a broad network of partners with key roles in the sustainability value chain. AdTherM is granted support during five years, 2023-2028, with possible prolongation of another five years.
The competence center Advanced Computing for Sustainable Thermal Management in Industry is carried out with support from Vinnova. LTH, Lund University, is the coordinating partner.