Introduction
Welcome to my website. I am Professor (Lecturer) Serra-Húnter at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya-BarcelonaTech (UPC). I am doing research at the Heat and Mass Transfer Technological Center from the UPC.
My research interests focus on computational Transport Phenomena, Direct Numerical Simulation of gas-liquid multiphase flows, heat and mass transfer, bubbly flows, variable surface tension (Thermocapillarity and Surfactants), phase change phenomena (Evaporation, Condensation, and Boiling). From the computational/numerical point of view, I am interested in finite-volume methods on unstructured meshes, adaptive mesh refinement, and high-performance parallel computing. My scientific motivation stems from the foundations of transport phenomena and their industrial applications, e.g., unit operations of chemical engineering (distillation, absorption, flotation, ... ), chemical reactors, thermal energy engineering.
ACADEMIC:
Ph.D. Thermal Engineering. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya-BarcelonaTech (UPC). Barcelona-Spain. September, 2014.
Chemical Engineer. Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL). Loja-Ecuador. August, 2004.
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
APPOINTMENTS:
Professor Serra Húnter, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya-BarcelonaTech, Barcelona-Spain. Research topic: DNS of transport phenomena in gas-liquid multiphase flows. 2021-
Research Associate, Newcastle University, School of Engineering, Newcastle upon Tyne-United Kingdom. Research topic: DNS of multiphase turbulent reacting flows. 2019-2020
Torres-Quevedo Postdoctoral Researcher, Termo Fluids S.L., Barcelona-Spain. Research topic: DNS of gas-liquid multiphase flows. 2016-2019
Postdoctoral Researcher, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya-BarcelonaTech (UPC), Barcelona-Spain. Research topic: DNS of gas-liquid multiphase flows. 2014-2016
Teacher (Profesor-Tutor in Spanish) of Thermodynamics, National Distance Education University (UNED), Barcelona-Spain. 2013-2018
MAEC-AECID Doctoral Research Fellowship, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya-BarcelonaTech (UPC), Thermal Engineering Doctoral Program, Barcelona-Spain. 2009-2014
Lecturer and Researcher, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL), Loja-Ecuador, 2004-2009
SUMMARY:
Néstor V. Balcázar-Arciniega holds a Ph.D. in Thermal Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) - BarcelonaTech, obtained in September 2014. He earned his degree in Chemical Engineering from the Technical University of Loja in August 2004. Since February 2021, he has been a Professor-Researcher (Serra-Húnter Program) at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Prior to this, he was Research Associate at Newcastle University (2019-2020, United Kingdom), Torres-Quevedo Postdoctoral Researcher (2016-2019, Spain), Lecturer at the National University of Distance Education (UNED) (2013-2018, Spain), Postdoctoral Researcher at UPC-BarcelonaTech (2014-2016, Spain), Doctoral Researcher at UPC-BarcelonaTech (2009-2014, Spain), and Professor-Researcher at the Technical University of Loja (2004-2009, Ecuador).
Dr. Balcazar-Arciniega's research interests include computational methods for transport phenomena in 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 phenomena, finite-volume method, unstructured meshes, unstructured flux-limiters, High-Performance Computing (C++, MPI), Adaptive Mesh Refinement and Direct Numerical Simulation of multiphase flows.
Dr. Balcázar-Arciniega is the author/co-author of over 40 scientific publications indexed by SCOPUS as of October 2023. Among these, 48% are as the first author and corresponding author, including 18 publications in Q1 and Q2 international journals (JCR, SJR), over 20 publications in international conference proceedings (15 SCOPUS), and 7 book chapters (SCOPUS). He has supervised/co-supervised 4 doctoral theses at UPC-BarcelonaTech, all with the highest cum-laude qualification. He has served as the scientific coordinator and/or researcher for more than 20 supercomputing projects of the Spanish Supercomputing Network (RES), 2 projects of the European Supercomputing Network (PRACE), and 4 state research projects funded by the Ministry of Economy, Science, and Innovation (MINECO, Spain). He has also conducted scientific reviews (over 80 reviews) for international journals such as the 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, among others. Additionally, he has served as a scientific reviewer for projects of the Petroleum Research Fund - American Chemical Society, topic editor for the journal Fluids. His h-index is 15 (Google Scholar), with 810 citations (Google Scholar) as of November 2023.
His teaching activities at UPC-BarcelonaTech include undergraduate courses such as Gas Dynamics and Heat and Mass Transfer, Heat Transfer, Thermal Engineering, and master's courses such as Heat and Mass Transfer, Energy Alternatives, Advanced Heat and Mass Transfer, Thermal Equipment. From 2013 to 2018, he taught thermodynamics in the mechanical engineering and electrical engineering programs at the UNED, Spain. From 2004 to 2009, he taught courses in fluid mechanics, heat transfer, chemical reaction engineering, process control, chemical process design, unit operations, chemical process simulation, and differential equations in the chemical engineering program at the UTPL, Ecuador.