Library · Engineering & mechanics
What Thermal Dissipation & Heat Exchangers got wrong, from 62 theses
Summary written by a model from the records below: The records evaluate various thermal management strategies, heat exchanger configurations, and computational modeling approaches across electronic, energy, and mechanical systems. Many investigations encountered performance bottlenecks due to flow maldistribution, inadequate material conductivity, excessive thermomechanical stress, or oversimplified numerical assumptions. These records come from graduate theses, 2021 to 2026, each labeled with its degree where the repository states it, and each links to its thesis. They were extracted by language models reading the full text, so treat each as a lead to read, not a verdict.
Plus 6 problems the authors left open, listed at the end.
Failure modes, by theses reporting them
Select a mode to jump to its records.
Low material conductivity and high interface resistance create critical heat transfer bottlenecks
Low intrinsic thermal conductivity across substrates, encapsulants, and phase change materials restricts conductive heat transport to external sinks. High thermal contact resistance and nanofiller agglomeration further compound these bottlenecks, causing devices to exceed operating temperature limits.
Lost to a baseline
Unpowered TEM heat sinks exhibited lower effectiveness (0.341 high flow, 0.592 low flow) than bare heat sinks without TEMs (0.698 and 0.811) due to TEM thermal resistance.
Modelling of a Heat Recovery Ventilator Incorporating Thermoelectric Modules · Queen's University · Master's
Tried and failed
increasing nanofiller loading in polymer composites applied to thermal conductivity enhancement in polymers. Outcome: worse than baseline. Reason: nanosheet aggregation impeded phonon motion across the matrix
Tried and failed
effective medium continuum model applied to nanofluid effective thermal conductivity. Outcome: worse than baseline. Reason: neglects nanoscale interfacial thermal resistance and non-local transport mechanisms present in atomistic mixtures
Non-local methods in transport phenomena · UT Austin · PhD
Lost to a baseline
Fe3O4-water nanofluid resulted in lower outlet temperatures and lower Nusselt numbers compared to Al2O3-water nanofluid due to lower effective thermal conductivity
Amélioration des transferts de chaleur par utilisation des nanofluides. Cas des écoulements dans un canal et dans une cavité à grand facteur d’aspect. · University of Batna 1 · Doctorate
Lost to a baseline
At 80% filling ratio, the thermal performance of the PHP with pure DI water was superior to all MEPCM suspensions across all heat inputs due to increased fluid viscosity.
Behaviours of droplets interaction with solid surfaces and thermal performance of a pulsating heat pipe · Nottingham · Doctorate
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected Parylene-C coatings (>10 µm) for water immersion due to high thermal resistance (0.1 W/(m K)) yielding lower performance than uncoated dies in dielectric fluid.
Two-phase immersion cooling for power dense printed circuit board converters · Oxford · PhD
Tried and failed
gap-filling thermal interface material for heat dissipation applied to thermoelectric cooling system thermal interface. Reason: thermal resistance was too high, preventing sufficient heat dissipation
The Wide-Field Infrared Transient Explorer (WINTER): a new near-infrared time-domain survey · MIT · PhD
Tried and failed
increasing heat spreader thermal conductivity applied to ultra-wide-bandgap semiconductor devices. Reason: the low intrinsic thermal conductivity of the underlying substrate acts as the primary thermal bottleneck
Thermally Aware Design Approaches for High Power Density Ultra-Wide Bandgap Power Electronics · Georgia Tech · PhD
Lost to a baseline
Solid copper block thermal conductivity measured at '306' W/m*K, falling short of the reference baseline of 386 W/m*K due to hand-cut insulation errors.
DEVELOPMENT, INTEGRATION, AND EVALUATION OF LIGHTWEIGHT MATERIALS FOR CUBESAT ARCHITECTURES · Naval Postgraduate School · Master's
Lost to a baseline
SPS consolidated FGCu-Cu pellet vertical thermal conductivity (237.78 W m-1 K-1) was lower than pure Cu pellets (360 W m-1 K-1).
Decoration of graphene-carbon nanotube nanostructures: synthesis and applications · Nottingham · PhD
Lost to a baseline
Base case (solid aluminium heatsink without PCM) remained below 140°C for 2.6 s longer than inactive PCM (LM220) due to PCM's lower thermal conductivity displacing aluminium.
Enhancement of fault current contribution from inverter-based resources · Imperial · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected copper encapsulation in favour of aluminium tubes because copper's excessively high thermal conductivity caused rapid PCM melting and shorter temperature stabilisation duration.
Integrated hybrid ventilative cooling technology for residential buildings in tropical savannah climate · Nottingham · Doctorate
Tried and failed
stainless steel construction for high-power plasma vessel applied to multicusp ion source chamber. Reason: poor thermal conductivity caused aperture thermal distortion during continuous high-power operation
Ion Source Development for IsoDAR and Multi-Messenger Astrophysics with KamLAND · MIT · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected PCB windings due to poor thermal conductivity of winding material/surrounding insulation causing excessive thermal hot spots at higher power levels.
Design of a 405/430 kHz, 100 kW Transformer with Medium Voltage Insulation Sheets · Virginia Tech · Master's
Tried and failed
bottom-side substrate cooling applied to high-frequency transient thermal management. Outcome: worse than baseline. Reason: low thermal diffusivity prevents heat dissipation during short transient timescales under high switching frequencies
Thermally Aware Design Approaches for High Power Density Ultra-Wide Bandgap Power Electronics · Georgia Tech · PhD
Lost to a baseline
In ambient air, stacked Mylar exhibited thermal conductivity roughly 2x–3x higher (worse) than conventional aerogels and fibrous aerogel composites (20–30 mW m-1 K-1).
NANO- AND MICROSTRUCTURED LAYERED THERMAL INSULATORS FOR VACUUM APPLICATIONS · Penn · PhD
Thermal cycling and excessive heat loads cause thermomechanical stress cracking and material degradation
Elevated temperatures and thermal expansion mismatches induce mechanical stresses that cause delamination, seal failure, and structural cracking along pressure boundaries. Prolonged heat exposure also triggers rapid material degradation, phase decomposition, and open-circuit electrical failures.
Lost to a baseline
In ARCH IHX, Hastelloy-N/Ni-201 MMLC tubing maintains higher FLiBe velocities and smaller tube diameters compared to degraded Hastelloy-N, but results in higher cumulative pressure losses (increasing required pumping power) and higher thermal stresses at the interface.
Expanding the Operating Envelopes of Advanced Reactors with Multi-Metallic Layered Composite Materials · Georgia Tech · PhD
Tried and failed
copper gaskets for high temperature pressure sealing applied to high-temperature high-pressure gas cooling loops. Reason: copper gaskets suffered thermal failure and lost seal integrity under elevated operating temperatures and heat fluxes
Thermo-Fluids Perfromance of Helium Cooled Divertors Emphasizing Plate-Type Concepts · Georgia Tech · PhD
Tried and failed
monolithic additive manufacturing of multi-feature thermal assemblies applied to copper heat exchanger and heating column. Reason: could not achieve acceptable build quality across both fine fins and bulk structures simultaneously
DIGITAL CODESIGN OF A POWER MODULE WITH INTEGRATED THERMAL MANAGEMENT · Georgia Tech · PhD
Tried and failed
thin-film microheaters on thick oxide buffers applied to thermal actuation of phase-change materials. Reason: microheaters experienced electrical open-circuit failure at low currents due to thermal dissipation and stress
Phase Change Material Based Reconfigurable Phase Shifters and Filters for mmWave Antenna Arrays · Georgia Tech · PhD
Tried and failed
deep reactive-ion etching applied to bonded thin-film heterostructures. Outcome: unstable. Reason: process chamber heating induced thermal stress causing thin film delamination at the bonded interface
Towards microwave-to-optical quantum transduction with barium titanate/strontium titanate integrated photonics · EPFL · PhD
Tried and failed
monolithic integrated pressure shell structure applied to high-pressure gas cooling channels. Reason: thermal stress induced cracks propagating to the pressure boundary under high thermal and pressure loads
Thermo-Fluids Perfromance of Helium Cooled Divertors Emphasizing Plate-Type Concepts · Georgia Tech · PhD
Lost to a baseline
Cu/TaOx/Ru/Ti/SiO2/Si (Device A) failed completely under high heat dissipation (Icc = 50 µA, rr = 0.2 V/s), losing to the modified embedment Cu/TaOx/Ru/Ti/TaOx/SiO2/Si (Device B) which achieved up to 37 switching cycles (and 5–6 cycles under high heat).
Impact of Thermal Effects and Other Material Properties on the Performance and Electro-Thermal Reliability of Resistive Random Access Memory Arrays · Virginia Tech · Doctorate
Lost to a baseline
Under ISOS-D-2 thermal stress at 85°C, PEAI (TFE:DMF) 2D/3D devices degraded to 47% of initial PCE after 1000 h, performing worse than the control 3D perovskite devices due to 2D-capping layer disproportionation into n = 1 phase and PbI2.
Formation and Stabilization of Dimensionally Mixed Perovskites for Efficient and Stable Photovoltaics · Cornell · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected welded deep-drawn Alloy 625 sheet metal shrouding due to structural mechanics/durability failure under thermal loads, forcing monolithic casting or additive manufacturing.
Einstufige Abgasturboaufladung von Pkw-Motoren mit Luftüberschuss für einen realtitätsnahen Fahrzyklus Single-Stage Turbocharging of Lean-Burn Passenger Car Engines for Real-World Driving Cycles · Leibniz Universität Hannover · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected thin plastic connecting hose due to rapid thermal degradation caused by pump rotor-stator friction.
Performance and Design of Extruded Fiber-Reinforced Mortar with Preferentially Aligned Fibers · Virginia Tech · Doctorate
Tried and failed
extended pyrolysis duration for carbon-metal oxide composites applied to battery cathode materials. Outcome: worse than baseline. Reason: prolonged thermal treatment degraded structural stability leading to rapid capacity fading after initial cycling
SUPPRESSING PHYSICOCHEMICAL INSTABILITIES AT ELECTROCHEMICAL INTERFACES——TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE BATTERY ELECTRODES · Cornell · PhD
Tried and failed
vacuum post-annealing of mechanochemically synthesized materials applied to halide solid electrolytes. Outcome: unstable. Reason: vacuum annealing induced thermal decomposition and unwanted phase transitions
Understanding ion transport in halide solid electrolytes with varying mobile species · Imperial · PhD
Lost to a baseline
At 3.05 wt% PDA-G-C loading, the composite TIM exhibited slightly higher modeled thermal stress than neat epoxy due to higher storage modulus.
High Thermal Conductivity Epoxy Composites In The Application Of 3D Semiconductor Packaging · Georgia Tech · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected standard PC (polycarbonate) stamping/transfer for MnBi2Te4 because heating up to 180 °C melts PC and causes thermal degradation/reconstruction of the crystal, replacing it with cryogenic PDMS transfer.
Probing Quantum Geometric Phenomena in Antiferromagnetic Topological Insulators · Harvard · PhD
Simplified thermal assumptions and idealized boundary conditions lead to numerical errors and model divergence
Analytical formulations that assume linear temperature distributions, purely convective heat extraction, or constant fluid properties diverge substantially from experimental behavior. These oversimplified boundary conditions and solver frameworks induce numerical instability, inaccurate heat loss predictions, and underpredicted phase change dimensions.
Tried and failed
axial marching subchannel solver with crossflow applied to low-flow natural circulation thermal hydraulics. Outcome: unstable. Reason: low flow rates, steep radial power gradients, and small subchannel geometry caused numerical instabilities
A Whole-Core Thermal Hydraulic Model for Pin-Fueled Fluoride-Salt-Cooled Reactors · Georgia Tech · PhD
Tried and failed
heat balance with convective transfer assumptions applied to radiant cooling load calculation. Outcome: did not generalise. Reason: tabulated coefficients assume purely convective heat extraction, underestimating cooling requirements for radiant systems
Indoor and outdoor radiant cooling systems for buildings · UT Austin · PhD
Lost to a baseline
Simplified in-flight analytical cooling model was beaten by the detailed numerical heat transfer/forced-convection model developed with University of Warwick due to underestimating convective heat loss.
Drop-on-demand metal additive manufacturing from droplet formation to 3D structures · Nottingham · Doctorate
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected standard Rosenthal thermal solution in favor of Ning et al.'s analytical moving heat source formulation to capture conduction, convection, and radiation heat losses.
Materials Affected Manufacturing: Simulation of the Crystallographic Texture, Microstructure, and Inelastic Mechanical Properties of Additively Manufactured Polycrystalline Materials · Georgia Tech · PhD
Tried and failed
linear temperature profile approximation applied to counter-flow heat exchanger modeling. Outcome: did not generalise. Reason: unbalanced fluid heat capacitance causes nonlinear thermal profiles leading to large mean fluid temperature errors
ON THE SUITABILITY OF PRINTED CIRCUIT HEAT EXCHANGERS FOR HIGH TEMPERATURE NUCLEAR SERVICE · Georgia Tech · PhD
Tried and failed
binary phase initialization with linear conductivity mixing applied to multiphase heat transfer modeling. Outcome: worse than baseline. Reason: Overestimated effective heat dissipation, severely underpredicting localized phase change volume and melt dimensions
Tried and failed
prescribing surface heat flux boundary condition applied to stable boundary layer simulations. Outcome: unstable. Reason: caused unphysical excessive cooling during the decay of inertial oscillations
Power output and wake effects of very large wind farms investigated by large-eddy simulations · Leibniz Universität Hannover · PhD
Lost to a baseline
The Vernacchia et al. theoretical burn rate coefficient model over-predicted measured burn rate coefficients from this thesis's motor tests by 20% to 25% due to higher casing thermal losses.
Integrated Design of Solid Rocket Powered Vehicles Including Exhaust Plume Radiant Emission · MIT · PhD
Lost to a baseline
simple one dimensional infinite solid approximation performed well on aluminum matched case (Run 101) where the thesis model had thermal losses at bottom boundary
Heat Flux Reconstruction in a Multimaterial Gauge with Multiple Embedded Temperature Sensors · Virginia Tech · Master's
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected conventional regular convection boundary (RCB) with constant bulk temperature because it led to excessive cooling and failed to capture transient conductive heat retention
Bead shape control using multi-energy source (mes) for wire-based directed energy deposition (ded) process. · Cranfield · Doctorate
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected conduction-based melting thermal solver for multi-layer AM simulations due to excessive runtimes, abandoning it in favour of analytical Rosenthal solutions and external thermo-fluid coupling
Meso-scale Grain Structure Prediction Models for Metallic Additive Manufacturing Processes · University College Dublin · PhD
Channel geometries and inlet manifolds induce flow maldistribution and excessive hydraulic penalties
Poorly matched cooling channel dimensions, sharp bends, and inlet manifolds cause momentum separation, flow choking, and severe pressure drops. These hydraulic inefficiencies restrict overall coolant flow and create uneven fluid distribution, resulting in localized hotspots across cooling networks.
Tried and failed
surface micro-structuring for enhanced transport applied to cross-plane channel heat transfer. Outcome: worse than baseline. Reason: trapped fluid pockets create insulating regions that degrade overall thermal conductivity across the channel
Superhydrophobic surfaces: their hydrodynamic stability, thermal resistance and boundary layers · Imperial · PhD
Tried and failed
staggered pin fin arrangement for heat transfer applied to jet impingement cooling. Outcome: worse than baseline. Reason: channel-flow assumptions inverted under jet impingement; inline arrangements achieved superior thermal performance
DIGITAL CODESIGN OF A POWER MODULE WITH INTEGRATED THERMAL MANAGEMENT · Georgia Tech · PhD
Tried and failed
pulsating flow heat transfer enhancement applied to restricted exhaust thermal cooling channels. Outcome: worse than baseline. Reason: flow pulsations universally degraded heat transfer coefficients across tested frequencies and amplitudes in restricted geometry
Generative constructal design for thermal flow systems · Imperial · PhD
Tried and failed
reducing internal cooling channel radius applied to conformal cooling in stamping dies. Outcome: worse than baseline. Reason: insufficient circulated coolant volume impaired overall heat transfer performance
Design for additive manufacturing of hot stamping tools · Imperial · PhD
Tried and failed
axial inlet manifold for multi-channel distribution applied to parallel cooling channel flow distribution. Reason: inlet momentum and corner separation caused severe flow maldistribution across parallel channels
Investigation of a helium-cooled modular divertor with multiple jets using a reversed heat flux approach · Georgia Tech · PhD
Tried and failed
Internal honeycomb fin structures for flow conditioning applied to Vascular cooling network inlet channels. Reason: Internal structures acted as a converging nozzle, causing early flow choking and severe pressure drop
Generative constructal design for thermal flow systems · Imperial · PhD
Lost to a baseline
Leslie Type 3 integrated microchannel design achieved ~7x lower convective thermal resistance R"cw than this work's pin-fin direct cooling.
800 V Traction Inverter Power Stage with Double-Side, Direct-Liquid-Cooled Phase-Leg Modulets · Virginia Tech · Master's
Lost to a baseline
10 mm cell size gyroid network lattice underperformed the pin-fin benchmark in thermal performance (h_mod / Delta-P) at mass flow rates below 6 × 10^-3 kg·s^-1.
Thermal properties of lattice structures by laser powder bed fusion for aerospace systems · Nottingham · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected microchannel internal cooling configurations for wind tunnel testing because small channel cross-sections could not supply sufficient coolant mass flow for high blowing ratio film cooling.
Optimization and characterization of integrated cooling circuit for gas turbine cooling · UT Austin · PhD
Tried and failed
Parallel cooling channels for series thermoelectric coolers applied to thermoelectric temperature control systems. Reason: Parallel coolant flow across serially powered elements caused uneven heat dissipation and thermal gradients
Robotic manipulation to investigate the physical principles of biological self-organization · EPFL · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected parallel cooling channel routing beneath Peltier elements because warming water produced uneven heat dissipation across serially wired zones; switched to orthogonal routing.
Robotic manipulation to investigate the physical principles of biological self-organization · EPFL · PhD
Passive air heat sinks and pulsating heat pipes fail to provide sufficient heat dissipation capacity
Natural convection, air-cooled fin arrays, and oscillating heat pipes frequently exhibit inadequate thermal capacity under heavy heat loads or elevated ambient temperatures. As a result, these passive and semi-passive systems are consistently outperformed by active liquid cooling and conventional heat exchangers.
Tried and failed
natural convection cooling with finned heat sink applied to condenser heat rejection. Reason: downward fin orientation caused air stagnation and insufficient heat transfer rate
Sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting: from atoms to applications · MIT · PhD
Tried and failed
passive air heat sink cooling applied to high-power 3D stacked integrated circuits. Reason: insufficient thermal dissipation capacity resulted in junction temperatures exceeding critical safety limits
Power Delivery and Thermal-Aware Electronic Design Automation Solutions for High-Performance 3D ICs · Georgia Tech · PhD
Tried and failed
sensible heat rejection via single-phase liquid loop applied to transient high-temperature peak thermal loads. Outcome: worse than baseline. Reason: insufficient thermal capacitance without phase change materials or active refrigeration under worst-case ambient conditions
An Architecting Methodology for Thermal Management Systems of Commercial Aircraft at the Conceptual Design Phase · Georgia Tech · PhD
Lost to a baseline
At lower heat loads and 20 °C condenser temperature, copper thermal straps showed higher thermal conductivity than μOHPs (e.g., copper was superior below 10 W for acetone at 50% fill ratio).
Thermal management of components for high energy physics experiments and space applications · EPFL · PhD
Lost to a baseline
Config 1 (cooling coils only) achieved lower total electricity consumption than Config 5 (indirect evaporative cooling) due to lower fan pressure drop in the OAU despite higher heatpump energy
Lost to a baseline
Under 1C discharge at 25 °C ambient, large-scale PHP reached Tmax of 45 °C compared to 35.8 °C for liquid cooling and ~42.5 °C for forced air cooling.
A Pulsating Heat Pipe Based Thermal Management System for Lithium-ion Batteries · Carleton University · Master's
Lost to a baseline
Under 1C discharge at 40 °C ambient, large-scale PHP reached Tmax of 55.5 °C compared to 45 °C for liquid cooling.
A Pulsating Heat Pipe Based Thermal Management System for Lithium-ion Batteries · Carleton University · Master's
Lost to a baseline
Liquid cooling achieved Tmax of 39.0 °C compared to large-scale PHP's 43.0 °C under 2C discharge at 25 °C ambient.
A Pulsating Heat Pipe Based Thermal Management System for Lithium-ion Batteries · Carleton University · Master's
Lost to a baseline
Liquid cooling achieved Tmax of 35.8 °C compared to small-scale PHP's 39.0 °C at 1C discharge (25 °C ambient).
A Pulsating Heat Pipe Based Thermal Management System for Lithium-ion Batteries · Carleton University · Master's
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected air-mediated adiabatic evaporative cooling and passive radiative cooling for humid climates due to performance vanishing at high ambient humidity (e.g. RH > 80%).
Heat and mass transfer in porous materials for passive energy-conversion devices · Politecnico di Torino · PhD
Inadequate heat removal and dense microstructures trigger liquid dryout and thermal runaway
Short dense surface texturing induces permanent localized liquid dryout that prevents adequate heat extraction at high heat fluxes. Consequently, excessive current density, thermal coupling, and small heat removal paths trigger self-reinforcing thermal runaway across battery cells, capacitors, and active semiconductors.
Tried and failed
short dense micropillar surface texturing applied to microchannel flow boiling heat transfer. Outcome: unstable. Reason: short dense structures induced permanent local liquid dryout and premature thermal runaway at high heat flux
Surface structure enhanced microchannel flow boiling of low surface tension fluids · MIT · PhD
Lost to a baseline
Short-dense micropillared channel suffered early dryout and thermal runaway at 306 W/cm², performing worse than the smooth channel below ~300 W/cm².
Surface structure enhanced microchannel flow boiling of low surface tension fluids · MIT · PhD
Tried and failed
adding back-end dummy metal layers for heat dissipation applied to heterojunction bipolar transistor power amplifiers. Outcome: unstable. Reason: current density increase overwhelmed thermal resistance reduction, triggering premature thermal runaway
Advancing SiGe HBT Performance: A Study on RF-SOA Prediction, BEOL Engineering, and Layout-Driven Reliability Optimization · Georgia Tech · PhD
Tried and failed
tab cooling thermal management applied to pouch lithium-ion battery cells. Outcome: worse than baseline. Reason: insufficient tab cross-sectional area caused higher average temperatures and accelerated degradation
Life-cycle modelling of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles · Imperial · PhD
Tried and failed
Passive room-temperature cooling during volumetric photopolymerization applied to large-scale volumetric additive manufacturing. Outcome: unstable. Reason: Exothermic thermal runaway caused uncontrolled overcuring and adhesion to the container wall.
POLYMERIZATION AND VOLUMETRIC PRINTING OF SOFT COMPOSITES · Cornell · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Using lower-cost DC blocking capacitors cooled by forced-convection 120 mm fans instead of RF-rated disc capacitors, which failed due to severe thermal runaway (>80 C within 3 minutes).
Accelerator Design and Measurements of Proton-Lithium-7 Fusion Cross Section Enhancement · Carleton University · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected relying purely on pulsed-mode voltage measurements without emitter ballasting to study pinch-in, because high thermal resistance still caused thermal runaway before reaching impact-ionization limits.
Investigating the Reliability and Circuit-Relevant Operational Limits of Highly-Scaled Silicon Germanium Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors in Extreme Environments · Georgia Tech · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected using fixed chiplet sizes and maximum packing densities in multi-chip modules due to inter-chiplet thermal coupling and thermal runaway violations.
Temperature-aware 3D-integrated systolic array DNN accelerators · Boston University · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected single-cell thermal runaway vent parameters as conservative design inputs for multi-cell modules due to distinct propagation mechanics
Fire & explosion hazards due to thermal runaway propagation in lithium-ion battery systems · UT Austin · PhD
Left open by the authors
Problems the authors named and did not get to.
Left open
Optimize microfluidic delivery manifolds by simulating port splitting and flow paths matched to chip thermal powermaps. Blocker: None
DENSE INTERCONNECTION AND ADVANCED COOLING TECHNOLOGIES FOR 2.5D AND 3D HETEROGENEOUS INTEGRATED CIRCUITS · Georgia Tech · PhD
Left open
Repeat thermal flow rate sensor experiments on microchannels, heat pipes, and electronic cooling systems to improve laminar flow sensitivity. Blocker: Requires physical experimental setups (microchannels, heat pipes, electronic chips) and custom sensor hardware.
Intelligent Non-Invasive Thermal Energy Flow Rate Sensor for Laminar and Turbulent Pipe Flows · Virginia Tech · Doctorate
Left open
Quantify cumulative multi-particle Brownian stirring effects on thermal conductivity enhancement in dense nanofluids using hydrodynamic interaction simulations. Blocker: None
Basis transform solution for Brinkman equation to describe unsteady hydrodynamic interactions · Texas Tech · PhD
Left open
Optimize thermal desorption of nanoporous silicon preconcentrators at temperatures above 70 °C to reduce analysis time and improve preconcentration factor. Blocker: Requires a physical lab setup, fabricated nanoporous silicon devices, and hardware heating elements beyond the current Peltier cooler
Nanoporous Silicon in Gas Preconcentration and Sensing · Cambridge · PhD
Left open
Investigate foulant layer characteristics (density, pore structure, thermal conductivity) and their relationship to deposition modes and flux loss in membrane distillation. Blocker: Requires direct contact membrane distillation experimental lab setups and material characterization tools.
Promoting the recovery of water through innovative treatment and desalination systems within water-intensive energy production processes: Three case studies · Politecnico di Torino · PhD
Left open
Investigate phase separation kinetics and cargo diffusion pathways in PFH-hexane liquid-shell microcapsules under thermal stimuli. Blocker: Requires wet lab equipment, microfluidic devices, chemical synthesis, and specialized thermal imaging/characterization apparatus.
Engineering Functional Microcapsules for Controlled Cargo Delivery · Harvard · PhD
Who has worked on this
Authors of the public theses cited on this page, most-cited first.
- Jianyu Liu · Carleton University · Master's · 2021
A Pulsating Heat Pipe Based Thermal Management System for Lithium-ion Batteries - Matei-Cristian Ignuta-Ciuncanu · Imperial · PhD · 2025
Generative constructal design for thermal flow systems - Daniel Seokjun Lee · Georgia Tech · PhD · 2023
Thermo-Fluids Perfromance of Helium Cooled Divertors Emphasizing Plate-Type Concepts - Samuel Kim · Georgia Tech · PhD · 2022
Thermally Aware Design Approaches for High Power Density Ultra-Wide Bandgap Power Electronics - Brian James Kelly · Georgia Tech · PhD · 2022
DIGITAL CODESIGN OF A POWER MODULE WITH INTEGRATED THERMAL MANAGEMENT - Fazil Emre Uslu · EPFL · PhD · 2022
Robotic manipulation to investigate the physical principles of biological self-organization - Jay Sircar · MIT · PhD · 2021
Surface structure enhanced microchannel flow boiling of low surface tension fluids - Yufei Liu · Harvard · PhD · 2026
Probing Quantum Geometric Phenomena in Antiferromagnetic Topological Insulators - Danielle Levin · Penn · PhD · 2026
NANO- AND MICROSTRUCTURED LAYERED THERMAL INSULATORS FOR VACUUM APPLICATIONS - Christoph Küstner · Leibniz Universität Hannover · PhD · 2026
Einstufige Abgasturboaufladung von Pkw-Motoren mit Luftüberschuss für einen realtitätsnahen Fahrzyklus Single-Stage Turbocharging of Lean-Burn Passenger Car Engines for Real-World Driving Cycles - Joshua Richard Gardner · Virginia Tech · Master's · 2026
800 V Traction Inverter Power Stage with Double-Side, Direct-Liquid-Cooled Phase-Leg Modulets - Aaron Alexander English · Carleton University · PhD · 2026
Accelerator Design and Measurements of Proton-Lithium-7 Fusion Cross Section Enhancement
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