Special Section on Flow Physics of Supercritical Fluids in Engineering

Abstract

Supercritical-fluid applications have recently received extensive attention. Applications of supercritical flows include thermal power generation, cooling of scramjet engines, highly efficient compact power systems, concentrated solar power, nuclear power, geothermal energy, refrigeration systems, and waste-heat utilization systems.Supercritical flow characteristics, particularly for the region in the vicinity of the pseudo-critical point, need to be investigated and analyzed to better understand the distinguished behavior of these flows, such as heat transfer deterioration and enhancement. Therefore, the main motivation of this special section of the ASME Journal of Fluids Engineering is to bring together original articles on recent developments in the field of supercritical fluids in engineering applications. After careful reviews of all the submissions, three papers were finally accepted for this special section.