Library · Simulation & modelling
What Thermal & Heat Transfer Simulation got wrong, from 44 theses
Summary written by a model from the records below: Thermal and heat transfer simulation methods frequently break down when simplifying assumptions omit key spatial gradients, dynamic thermal capacitances, or conjugate fluid-solid interactions. Researchers also encounter significant divergence when empirical transport correlations, boundary conditions, or homogenization models fail to capture the complex physics of multi-scale and transient thermal systems. These records come from graduate theses, 2021 to 2025, 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.
Theoretical and empirical transport models diverge from measured thermal conductivity and convective heat transfer
Theoretical formulations such as Boltzmann transport approximations and effective medium models underpredicted thermal conductivities or failed to account for nanoscale boundary resistance and aspect ratio effects. Empirical correlations and simplified transport models similarly miscalculated radial temperature gradients, gas-phase conduction, and hydrate growth rates when compared against experimental data.
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
Lost to a baseline
Mori's constant-thickness convective heat transfer model failed to correlate with measured cyclopentane hydrate growth rates across varying subcooling temperatures.
Investigations of clathrate hydrate formation using advanced optical diagnostic techniques · Imperial · Doctorate
Lost to a baseline
Thickness sequence alone failed to accurately predict thermal conductivity across varying layer thickness distributions compared to physics-informed disorder descriptors (Rd, Rp, δ).
Understanding Coherent and Incoherent Phonon Transport in Superlattices Towards Minimized Lattice Thermal Conductivity · University of Nevada, Reno · PhD
Lost to a baseline
LDA-based BTE thermal conductivity calculations for α-U3O8 significantly underestimated experimentally measured thermal conductivities across 300–1000 K.
COMPREHENSIVE INVESTIGATION OF SELECTED URANIUM COMPOUNDS WITH APPLICATION FOR CLEAN ENERGY · Saskatchewan · PhD
Tried and failed
uncalibrated default gas thermal conductivity models applied to numerical droplet combustion simulations. Outcome: worse than baseline. Reason: standard transport formulations overpredicted gas-phase heat conduction without an empirical 0.9 correction factor
Tried and failed
microinstability transport models applied to tokamak edge plasma thermal conductivity. Outcome: did not generalise. Reason: models failed to quantitatively match experimentally inferred heat conductivity across edge operating regimes
Interpretation of Thermal Conductivity and Toroidal Momentum Transport in DIII-D Taking Into Account IOL and Pinch Velocity · Georgia Tech · PhD
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
Tried and failed
equilibrium molecular dynamics with machine learned potentials applied to interfacial thermal boundary conductance. Outcome: did not generalise. Reason: simulated boundary conductance failed to achieve quantitative agreement with experimental measurements
Lost to a baseline
At thicknesses below 150 nm, the proposed anisotropic/isotropic BTE models showed worse agreement for graphite in-plane thermal conductivity than Minnich's Fuchs-Sondheimer BTE model.
Understanding And Tuning The Heat Transport At Interfaces Between Metals And Highly Anisotropic Semiconductors. · York University · PhD
Lost to a baseline
Calculated lattice thermal conductivity of Mo at 300 K was 16.47 W m-1 K-1, lower than the 38.77 W m-1 K-1 predicted by Wen et al. using GGA with electron-phonon interactions.
COMPREHENSIVE INVESTIGATION OF SELECTED URANIUM COMPOUNDS WITH APPLICATION FOR CLEAN ENERGY · Saskatchewan · PhD
Lost to a baseline
Analytic Carslaw-Jaeger cylindrical thermal conductivity solution was systematically biased 10–20% higher than numerical modeling by Grott et al. (2021) due to low mole aspect ratio (<15).
Geodynamic Modeling of Mars Constrained by InSight · Virginia Tech · Doctorate
Lumped parameter and low order equivalent circuit models miss spatial temperature gradients and transient dynamics
Zero-dimensional lumped capacitance and low-order RC networks assumed uniform temperatures across components, resulting in non-physical thermal decay and overpredicted saturation levels. These simplified formulations also failed to capture directional solar variations, dynamic load shifts, and bidirectional transient heating and cooling rates during cycling.
Tried and failed
lumped thermal capacitance modeling applied to inter-cell temperature distribution in battery modules. Reason: assumed uniform temperature per cell, losing spatial gradients needed to resolve inter-cell non-uniformities
A tool for analyzing the evolution of non-uniformities in lithium-ion cylindrical battery cells at the module level under various operating conditions · Virginia Tech · Master's
Tried and failed
lumped capacitance thermal model applied to beam saturation temperature prediction. Reason: omitted spatial temperature gradients, leading to significant overprediction of saturation temperature
Fatigue crack growth and localisation of strain in zircaloy-4 · Imperial · PhD
Tried and failed
tuning layer thickness in RC network models applied to thermal dynamics of heavy building walls. Reason: increasing thermal resistance inherently coupled directly to capacitance in fixed-material assumptions
Comparison of Simplified Physics-Based Building Energy Model to an Advanced Neural Network for Automatic Fault Detection · Georgia Tech · PhD
Tried and failed
lumped thermal time constant compact models applied to transient thermal dynamics during power cycling. Reason: could not adequately capture both transient temperature rise and drop
Investigation of Transport Characteristics of Gallium Oxide FETs and Carbon Nanotube Network based FETs for Emerging Applications · Georgia Tech · PhD
Tried and failed
single-node RC lumped thermal model applied to building indoor temperature and energy prediction. Outcome: worse than baseline. Reason: failed to capture directional solar-air temperature variations and thermal capacitance dampening across varying insulation levels
CLIMATE—CARBON—EQUITY Making Sustainable Design Concepts Accessible for All · MIT · PhD
Tried and failed
lumped RC grey-box thermal modeling applied to building envelope thermal dynamics. Outcome: did not generalise. Reason: failed to capture dynamics without explicitly modeling solar absorption and re-emission in opaque components
Advanced control strategies for adaptive building envelope systems · Politecnico di Torino · PhD
Lost to a baseline
The standard 5R1C building model underestimated shiftable electricity demand by 1.4 to 5.2 times compared to the 6R2C floor-heating model and IDA ICE detailed dynamic simulation
Integrating heat pump flexibility in building stock modeling to support decarbonization through sector coupled energy systems · TU Wien · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Single-tau thermal model rejected in favor of the two-tau relaxation model for heat capacity analysis when poor thermal conductance existed between sample and platform.
Universal Aspects of Metamagnetic Transitions in Frustrated Ising Chains · EPFL · PhD
Oversimplified boundary conditions fail to capture transient heat retention and local spatial variations
Imposing constant heat transfer coefficients or isothermal wall boundaries caused excessive cooling and neglected transient conductive heat retention in complex geometries and repetitively pulsed regimes. Assuming purely convective heat balance extraction or linear fluid temperature profiles similarly misrepresented radiant system cooling requirements and counter-flow heat exchanger dynamics.
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
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected the constant-volume axisymmetric box model for final thermal analysis due to lack of entrainment, cooling, and boundary physics.
The development of extremely high-grade ignimbrites: the effects of strain heating and implications of ash agglutination · University of Oregon · Master's
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
Tried and failed
isothermal wall boundary condition applied to repetitively pulsed discharge thermal modeling. Outcome: did not generalise. Reason: overestimates conductive heat loss to walls over long multi-pulse sequences compared to single-pulse regimes
Hydrodynamic effect of nanosecond discharge pulses in air : high fidelity models and scaling laws · UT Austin · PhD
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
Tried and failed
constant heat transfer coefficient boundary condition applied to thermal modeling in complex geometries. Outcome: did not generalise. Reason: fails to capture local fluid entrapment and spatial thermal variations in non-cylindrical shapes
Design of gas adsorption systems with phase change materials aided by topology optimisation method · Imperial · Doctorate
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
Analytical models and energy density scaling fail to predict melt pool dynamics in manufacturing
Closed-form analytical models and one-dimensional lumped energy scaling neglected key thermodynamic variables, fluid balling instabilities, and droplet mass transfer distributions during welding and additive manufacturing. These simplifications could not capture steep local thermal gradients, inter-pulse cooling, or the solidification conditions governing microstructure and mechanical strength.
Tried and failed
analytical thermal modeling without numerical iterations applied to melt track instability prediction in additive manufacturing. Outcome: did not generalise. Reason: simplified closed-form geometric melt pool calculations fail to capture complex hydrodynamic balling instabilities at specific process parameters
Prediction of Part Quality in Laser Powder Bed Fusion Metal Additive Manufacturing · Georgia Tech · PhD
Tried and failed
analytical thermal modeling applied to pulsed keyhole laser welding. Outcome: did not generalise. Reason: neglects temperature-dependent absorption, wavelength, pulse duration, and inter-pulse cooling effects
Application of fibre lasers in fabrications and processing of thin gauge alloys for engineering applications · Cranfield · PhD
Tried and failed
constant energy density process parameter scaling applied to metal additive manufacturing microstructure control. Outcome: did not generalise. Reason: energy density alone fails to capture thermal gradients and melt pool dynamics governing solidification morphology
Grain structure control of titanium alloys during wire + arc additive manufacturing · Cranfield · PhD
Tried and failed
geometric feature regression without thermodynamic process variables applied to predicting mechanical properties in manufacturing. Outcome: no signal. Reason: melt pool dimensions alone lacked necessary thermal gradient information governing microstructure and strength
Materials Affected Manufacturing: Simulation of the Crystallographic Texture, Microstructure, and Inelastic Mechanical Properties of Additively Manufactured Polycrystalline Materia · Georgia Tech · PhD
Tried and failed
closed-form analytical thermal modeling applied to melt pool dimension prediction. Outcome: did not generalise. Reason: asymmetric nonlinear sensitivity to input parameter underestimation versus linear sensitivity to overestimation
Prediction of Part Quality in Laser Powder Bed Fusion Metal Additive Manufacturing · Georgia Tech · PhD
Decoupling multiphysics interactions and omitting conjugate heat transfer produces distorted thermal fields
Disregarding conjugate heat transfer removed necessary thermal boundary layers and produced inconsistent temperature trends across variable flow conditions. Ignoring coupled interactions such as cross-element conduction, electro-thermal feedback, or soil consolidation severely distorted local temperature distributions and overestimated thermal stresses.
Tried and failed
isothermal DC simulation applied to RF transistor breakdown voltage prediction. Outcome: did not generalise. Reason: Isothermal assumptions ignore electro-thermal feedback and thermally assisted breakdown mechanisms.
Advancing SiGe HBT Performance: A Study on RF-SOA Prediction, BEOL Engineering, and Layout-Driven Reliability Optimization · Georgia Tech · PhD
Tried and failed
decoupled sub-element simulation ignoring cross-element conduction applied to reactor core thermal-hydraulic modeling. Reason: neglecting inter-element thermal conduction distorts local temperature distributions and underpredicts coolant heating
Coarse-mesh-based Reduced-order Package for Multiphysics Simulation of Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Reactor Core · Georgia Tech · PhD
Tried and failed
fully decoupled multiphysics finite element simulation applied to thermo-active pile foundations in clay. Outcome: worse than baseline. Reason: ignoring transient consolidation and heat transfer interactions severely overestimated thermally-induced structural stresses
Numerical modelling of complex thermo-hydro-mechanical interactions in thermo-active pile foundations · Imperial · PhD
Lost to a baseline
Analytical thermal stress model without displacement correction had up to 52.8% error compared to DEM for loose random packings.
Particle-scale numerical simulation of the thermal behaviour of granular materials · Imperial · PhD
Tried and failed
omitting conjugate heat transfer coupling applied to particle thermal degradation simulation. Reason: removes thermal boundary layer causing unrealistically fast conversion
Multi-scale simulations of biomass particle pyrolysis using lattice Boltzmann method · Iowa State · PhD
Numerical stiffness and high computational complexity cause simulation failure or force model rejection
Simulator convergence failed under cryogenic conditions due to vanishing thermal voltages, while explicit transient schemes and low-flow subchannel solvers suffered numerical instability. Additionally, detailed finite element models and complex radiative view factor calculations incurred excessive computational overhead that precluded real-time evaluation or feasible implementation.
Tried and failed
standard compact modeling at true cryogenic temperatures applied to heterojunction bipolar transistor simulation. Outcome: did not converge. Reason: extremely small thermal voltage caused severe slope error and simulator convergence failure
Using SiGe HBTs for quantum science at deep cryogenic temperatures · Georgia Tech · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected FEA-based thermal simulation because it is computationally prohibitive and cannot update road temperatures in real-time during interactive parameter tuning.
A visual process simulation for novice users of desktop 3D printers to reduce part defects · Iowa State · PhD
Tried and failed
apparent heat capacity method with elevated post-solidification capacity applied to multiphase freezing front thermal diffusion. Outcome: worse than baseline. Reason: artificially elevated heat capacity after solidification severely underpredicted propagation speed and overestimated liquid lifetimes
Europa's Surface and Shallow Water: Ice Shell Activity and Implications for Habitability · Georgia Tech · PhD
Tried and failed
explicit finite difference transient thermal modeling applied to building envelope thermal performance estimation. Outcome: unstable. Reason: numerical instability when Fourier numbers dropped below stability thresholds, requiring severe time-step throttling
Towards Understanding an Imperfect Built Environment: A Methodology for In-Situ Characterization of Building Envelope Thermal Performance · Georgia Tech · PhD
Tried and failed
detailed radiative view factor modeling applied to simplified building thermal simulation. Outcome: infeasible cost. Reason: Added significant computational overhead for only a marginal difference in cooling demand estimates
Comparison of Simplified Physics-Based Building Energy Model to an Advanced Neural Network for Automatic Fault Detection · Georgia Tech · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected thermal radiation modeling in CFD simulations due to increased turbulence model and boundary condition complexity, despite known mixing increases.
The potential for spatial variations in exposure and infection risk within a typical UK classroom: COVID-19 as a case study · Imperial · PhD
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
Homogenization and two-dimensional geometric reductions miscalculate discrete conduction pathways
Smearing discrete three-dimensional thermal bridges into two-dimensional sections or applying parallel path formulas produced inaccurate transverse heat conduction and bulk heating estimates. Treating air gaps as uniform silicon or homogenizing multi-layered formations failed to capture localized heat propagation and bottomhole thermal improvements.
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected simplified semi-infinite slab analytical model for thin substrate layups due to failure to capture significant conductive bulk heating (requires finite slab switching).
Heat transfer modelling, optimisation and monitoring of flashlamp- assisted automated tape placement. · Cranfield · PhD
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Rejected homogeneous substrate thermal modeling (standard HotSpot/3D-ICE) for 2.5D chiplets because treating air gaps as silicon mispredicts inter-chiplet heat propagation.
System-aware Architectural Co-design to Tackle the Memory Wall · EPFL · PhD
Tried and failed
2D cross-section modeling of periodic discrete conductors applied to heat transfer across insulated assemblies. Reason: Smearing 3D discrete thermal bridges into 2D either overestimates or underestimates transverse heat conduction
Computational study of failure of curtain wall facade systems exposed to fire · Imperial · Doctorate
Considered and rejected
Considered and rejected: Homogenized parallel thermal conductivity for multi-layered formations, because it severely underestimates bottomhole interval heat transfer improvements (predicted 2.33% vs 11.25%).
Modeling, optimization, and improvement of the thermal performance of a coaxial closed-loop geothermal system · UT Austin · PhD
Left open by the authors
Problems the authors named and did not get to.
Left open
Simulate and analyze post-quench slow voltage and temperature drift duration across varied deposited energy, cooling conditions, and exponential current dumps. Blocker: Requires experimental validation data from the SULTAN test facility or proprietary multi-physics setup parameters.
Left open
Model dynamic thermal management system interactions and temperature feedback for power electronics and PEM fuel cells in the MATLAB/Simulink propulsion framework. Blocker: Lacks specific governing equations, thermal architecture specifications, and empirical validation parameters for the proprietary aircraft model.
Modelling and evaluation of electrified regional aircraft propulsion systems · Cranfield · PhD
Left open
Model flash temperatures and ambient humidity using micro-scale material properties and validate experimentally under loads >20 N and temperatures >100 °C. Blocker: Requires a physical tribological test rig (pin-on-disc setup with heating and loading controls) for experimental validation.
Wear and airborne noise interdependency at asperitical level: analytical modelling and experimental validation. · Cranfield · PhD
Left open
Validate the InVEST urban cooling model against micro-scale urban canopy energy balance models and computational fluid dynamics simulations. Blocker: None
Left open
Convert photothermal cantilever simulations from 2D to 3D and directly validate temperature profiles using thermocouples or temperature-sensitive samples. Blocker: Requires a physical lab with microfabricated cantilevers, thermocouples, or temperature-sensitive samples for experimental validation.
Ultra small biomorphic cantilevers for high-speed atomic force microscopy · EPFL · PhD
Left open
Optimize the hardware footprint of converter submodules considering thermal stress, safety, EMI criteria, and assembly constraints. Blocker: Requires physical hardware design, fabrication, and physical testing apparatus for thermal and EMI validation
Modeling, Control, and Fault-tolerant Operation of the Isolated Modular Multilevel DC-DC Converter for MVDC Applications · Georgia Tech · PhD
Who has worked on this
Authors of the public theses cited on this page, most-cited first.
- Wenjia Wang · Georgia Tech · PhD · 2022
Prediction of Part Quality in Laser Powder Bed Fusion Metal Additive Manufacturing - Jayangani I Ranasinghe · Saskatchewan · PhD · 2022
COMPREHENSIVE INVESTIGATION OF SELECTED URANIUM COMPOUNDS WITH APPLICATION FOR CLEAN ENERGY - Christopher Fernandez · Georgia Tech · PhD · 2021
Comparison of Simplified Physics-Based Building Energy Model to an Advanced Neural Network for Automatic Fault Detection - Nelson Efrain Sepulveda Ramos · Georgia Tech · PhD · 2025
Advancing SiGe HBT Performance: A Study on RF-SOA Prediction, BEOL Engineering, and Layout-Driven Reliability Optimization - Muhammad Afiq Bin Kamel · Imperial · Doctorate · 2025
Investigations of clathrate hydrate formation using advanced optical diagnostic techniques - Shany Mary Oommen · York University · PhD · 2025
Understanding And Tuning The Heat Transport At Interfaces Between Metals And Highly Anisotropic Semiconductors. - Soham Suneel Dange · Virginia Tech · Master's · 2025
A tool for analyzing the evolution of non-uniformities in lithium-ion cylindrical battery cells at the module level under various operating conditions - Philipp Mascherbauer · TU Wien · PhD · 2025
Integrating heat pump flexibility in building stock modeling to support decarbonization through sector coupled energy systems - Rafael Medina Morillas · EPFL · PhD · 2025
System-aware Architectural Co-design to Tackle the Memory Wall - Bahareh Ghadiani · EPFL · PhD · 2025
Ultra small biomorphic cantilevers for high-speed atomic force microscopy - Songtao Guo · Cornell · PhD · 2024
COMBUSTION DYNAMICS OF COMPLEX FUEL SYSTEMS: ISO-BUTANOL/HEPTANE MIXTURES, N-PROPYLBENZENE, GASOLINE SURROGATES AND GASOLINE SURROGATE/ISO-BUTANOL MIXTURES FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SPHERICAL DROPLET FL - Shiyuan Yin · Georgia Tech · PhD · 2024
Modeling, Control, and Fault-tolerant Operation of the Isolated Modular Multilevel DC-DC Converter for MVDC Applications
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