Néstor Balcázar-Arciniega

Introduction

👋 Welcome to my website!

I’m Néstor V. Balcázar-Arciniega, a Serra Húnter Professor at the Heat and Mass Transfer Technological Center (CTTC) - Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech (UPC), specializing in computational fluid dynamics (CFD), multiphase flows, fluid mechanics, and heat and mass transfer.

My research focuses on numerical and computational methods for transport phenomena, including Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) of gas–liquid systems, variable surface tension (thermocapillarity, surfactants), phase change (boiling, evaporation, condensation), and bubbly flows. I develop high-performance CFD solvers (C++/MPI) in the framework of unstructured meshes and finite-volume approach, including the Unstructured Conservative Level-Set (UCLS), Coupled VoF-LS, and Multi-Marker UCLS methods.

I frequently review for prestigious journals (e.g., Int. J. Multiph. Flow, J. Comput. Phys., Chem. Eng. J., Chem. Eng. Sci., Int. J. Heat Mass Transf., Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow, Comput. Fluids, etc), and evaluate scientific projects (e.g. PRF-ACS).

🎓 Teaching and mentoring are key parts of my academic mission. I lecture in: Undergraduate and Master's courses at UPC on heat and mass transfer fundamentals, energy systems (fuel cells) and thermal equipment. Past experience includes thermodynamics at UNED (Spain) and, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, and chemical reactor engineering at UTPL (Ecuador).

💬 Let’s collaborate
I'm open to collaborations in numerical and computational methods for advanced CFD, multiphase flow, fluid dynamics, heat and mass transfer, high-performance computing (C++ / MPI), and their applications in energy and chemical process engineering, hydraulics engineering, or mechanical engineering.
Whether you're interested in joint research, Ph.D. supervision, or industry-academia partnerships, I’d be happy to connect.

📩 Email: nestor.balcazar@upc.edu

🔬 Some metrics:

📝 48 SCOPUS-indexed publications (51% as first author, 17 in Q1 journals, 5 in first decile JCR)

📈 h-index: 16 | FWCI: 1.844 (SCOPUS, april 2025)

🎓 4 Ph.D. theses supervised (2 industrial doctorates) at the UPC.

🌍 30+ international conference presentations, e.g., DLES, EUROTHERM, ERCOFTAC, ECCOMAS, PRACE days.

Academic Experience:
I hold a PhD in Thermal Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia-BarcelonaTech (UPC), Spain, 2014. Chemical Engineer from the Technical University of Loja, Ecuador, 2004.

Professor-Researcher (Serra-Húnter Excellence Programme), UPC. Spain, 2021 - present.
Research Associate, Newcastle University. UK, 2019-2020
Torres-Quevedo Postdoctoral Researcher. Spain, 2016-2019.
Lecturer, National University of Distance Education (UNED). Spain, 2013-2018.
Postdoctoral Researcher, UPC, Spain, 2014-2016.
Doctoral Researcher, CTTC-UPC, Spain, 2009-2014.
Lecturer, Technical University of Loja, Ecuador, 2004-2009.

Research

CFD & Computational transport phenomena
Gas-liquid multiphase flows
Unstructured conservative level-set method
Coupled volume of fluid and level-set method
Variable surface tension (thermocapillarity, surfactants)
Liquid-vapor phase change (evaporation, boiling, condensation)
Bubbly flows, bubbles, and droplets
Interfacial heat and mass transfer
Numerical methods: Finite-volume method, unstructured meshes, unstructured flux-limiters
High-Performance Computing (C++, MPI)
Adaptive Mesh Refinement
Direct Numerical Simulation of multiphase flows

Publications and academic contribution

Author/co-author of 48 scientific publications indexed by SCOPUS. 51% as first author, 23 average citations, Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) of 1.974, as of 27 November 2024.
H-index of 16, 749 citations (SCOPUS, 27 November 2024). H-index of 16, with 967 citations (Google Scholar, 27 November 2024).
Supervisor of 4 doctoral theses at the UPC-BarcelonaTech, all awarded with excellent cum-laude.
Scientific coordinator and/or researcher in 26 RES supercomputing projects and 2 Tier-0 PRACE projects, researcher in 10 national and international projects.
Scientific referee, for more than 80 papers for prestigious international journals, e.g., International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Chemical Engineering Journal, Chemical Engineering Science, International Journal of Multiphase Flow, International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow, Computers and Fluids, Journal of Computational Physics, and projects of the Petroleum Research Fund - American Chemical Society

Teaching

UPC-BarcelonaTech, Spain (2021-present). Bachelor degree: Gas Dynamics & Heat and Mass Transfer, Heat Transfer, Thermal Engineering. Master degree: Heat and Mass Transfer, Energy Alternatives, Advanced course on Heat and Mass Transfer, Thermal Equipment.
UNED, Spain (2013-2018). Bachelor degree: Thermodynamics, for the mechanical engineering and electrical engineering programs.
UTPL, Ecuador (2004-2009). Bachelor degree: Fluid mechanics, heat transfer, chemical reaction engineering, process control, chemical process design, unit operations, chemical process simulation, differential equations, for the chemical engineering program.

KEYWORDS: transport phenomena, computational fluid dynamics, multiphase flow, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, mass transfer, phase-change, interfacial flows, surface tension, bubbles, droplets, bubbly flows, conservative level-set method, coupled VoF-LS method, multiple markers, unstructured meshes, finite-volume methods, adaptive-mesh-refinement

DNS of Hydrodynamics and Mass Transfer in Gravity-Driven Bubbly Flow: This figure illustrates the Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) of hydrodynamics and mass transfer in gravity-driven bubbly flow, utilizing the multi-marker unstructured conservative level-set method. The numerical code (C++, MPI) is parallelized for execution on supercomputers such as MareNostrum IV and V (Barcelona, Spain).

Further Details:
Balcazar-Arciniega et al.(2024). Numerical study of the drag force, interfacial area and mass transfer in bubbles in a vertical pipe, Chemical Engineering Journal, Volume 495, 153-124.

Contact:

Email: nestor.balcazar@upc.edu , nestorbalcazar@yahoo.es

Scopus Author ID

Google Scholar

ORCID

FUTUR - UPC

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