The 26th International Symposium on Shock Waves in Göttingen, Germany was jointly organised by the German Aerospace Centre DLR and the French-German Research Institute of Saint Louis ISL. The year 2007 marked the 50th anniversary of the Symposium, which first took place in 1957 in Boston and has since become an internationally acclaimed series of meetings for the wider Shock Wave Community. The ISSW26 focused on the following areas: Shock Propagation and Reflection, Detonation and Combustion, Hypersonic Flow, Shock Boundary Layer Interaction, Numerical Methods, Medical, Biological and Industrial Applications, Richtmyer Meshkov Instability, Blast Waves, Chemically Reacting Flows, Diagnostics, Facilities, Flow Visualisation, Ignition, Impact and Compaction, Multiphase Flow, Nozzles Flows, Plasmas and Propulsion. The two Volumes contain the papers presented at the symposium and serve as a reference for the participants of the ISSW 26 and individuals interested in these fields.

The content of this book originates from 35 years of teaching “steam generators” to graduate students at the Politecnico of Milan, Milan, Italy, and from 45 years of professional activity in this area – rst in industry and then as founder of a design and consulting company. Beforediscussingthecontentofthetextbook,Iwouldliketopresenttherationale for the title. Boilers are machines consisting of steam-generating tubes only, that is, of internal and external tubes where water is transformed into saturated steam. Steam generators – or, simply, generators – indicate machines equipped with one or more of the following components: superheaters, reheaters, economizers, and air heaters – besides the steam-generating tubes that make up the boiler. Finally, those machines with tubes, where instead of water, a diathermic uid ows inside, are also called boilers, for their construction is similar to that of the latter. The above notwithstanding, the term “boiler” is used even when hot water or superheated water is produced instead of steam. Large systems designed to produce electricity have all components indicated above in addition to the boiler. In medium size systems, some of these components are always present, whereas in small ones a regenerator is frequently and approp- ately included. It is therefore justi ed to use “steam generators” as title, because it best matches the actual makeup of these systems.

Combustion systems are confined fields of compressible fluids where exothermic processes of combustion take place, subject to boundary conditions imposed at its borders. The subject of Dynamics of Combustion Systems is presented in three parts: Part 1. Exothermicity – considering the thermodynamic effects due to evolution of exothermic energy in a combustion system - Part 2. Field– exposing the dynamic properties of flow fields where the exothermic energy is deposited - Part 3. Explosions – revealing the dynamic features of fields and fronts due to rapid deposition of exothermic energy.

The numerical simulation of combustion processes in internal combustion engines, including also the formation of pollutants, has become increasingly important in the recent years, and today the simulation of those processes has already become an indispensable tool when - veloping new combustion concepts. While pure thermodynamic models are well-established tools that are in use for the simulation of the transient behavior of complex systems for a long time, the phenomenological models have become more important in the recent years and have also been implemented in these simulation programs. In contrast to this, the thr- dimensional simulation of in-cylinder combustion, i. e. the detailed, integrated and continuous simulation of the process chain injection, mixture formation, ignition, heat release due to combustion and formation of pollutants, has been significantly improved, but there is still a number of challenging problems to solve, regarding for example the exact description of s- processes like the structure of turbulence during combustion as well as the appropriate choice of the numerical grid. While chapter 2 includes a short introduction of functionality and operating modes of internal combustion engines, the basics of kinetic reactions are presented in chapter 3. In chapter 4 the physical and chemical processes taking place in the combustion chamber are described. Ch- ter 5 is about phenomenological multi-zone models, and in chapter 6 the formation of poll- ants is described.

Prof. D. Brian Spalding, working with a small group of students and colleagues at Imperial College, London in the mid-to late-1960’s, single-handedly pioneered the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for engineering practice.​This book brings together advances in computational fluid dynamics in a collection of chapters authored by leading researchers, many of them students or associates of Prof. Spalding.

Combustion is an old technology, which at present provides about 90% of our worldwide energy support. Combustion research in the past used fluid mechanics with global heat release by chemical reactions described with thermodynamics, assuming infinitely fast reactions. This approach was useful for stationary combustion processes, but it is not sufficient for transient processes like ignition and quenching or for pollutant formation. Yet pollutant formation during combustion of fossil fuels is a central topic and will continue to be so in future. This book provides a detailed and rigorous treatment of the coupling of chemical reactions and fluid flow. Also, combustion-specific topics of chemistry and fluid mechanics are considered, and tools described for the simulation of combustion processes. For the 2nd edition, the parts dealing with experiments, spray combustion, and soot were thoroughly revised.

Prof. D. Brian Spalding, working with a small group of students and colleagues at Imperial College, London in the mid-to late-1960’s, single-handedly pioneered the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for engineering practice.​This book brings together advances in computational fluid dynamics in a collection of chapters authored by leading researchers, many of them students or associates of Prof. Spalding.

This book provides an overview of recent progress in renewable energy materials and devices. Various forms of renewable energy, such as solar, water, and wind energy, have garnered significant attention in research domains due to their potential applications.

Prof. D. Brian Spalding, working with a small group of students and colleagues at Imperial College, London in the mid-to late-1960’s, single-handedly pioneered the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for engineering practice.​This book brings together advances in computational fluid dynamics in a collection of chapters authored by leading researchers, many of them students or associates of Prof. Spalding.