Publications

My research focuses on computational methods for transport phenomena, direct numerical simulation (DNS) of gas-liquid multiphase flows, interfacial heat and mass transfer, liquid-vapor phase change phenomena, and variable surface tension (thermocapillarity and surfactants). This includes studies of bubbles, droplets, and bubbly flows. 

I have developed interface capturing methods such as the unstructured conservative level-set (UCLS) method, unstructured Volume-of-Fluid/LS method, and multiple markers UCLS methods. My work involves finite-volume methods on unstructured meshes, unstructured flux limiters, and unstructured adaptive-mesh refinement, implemented on High-Performance Computing (HPC) platforms using C++ for object-oriented design and MPI for parallel communications. These computational codes have been proven on world-class supercomputers such as MareNostrum 3-5 (Barcelona, Spain).  

My research spans from the fundamental principles of momentum, heat, and mass transport phenomena to their industrial applications in chemical engineering (unit operations and chemical reactors), energy engineering (thermal equipment), and mechanical engineering.

Thermocapillary migration of deformable droplets
Thermocapillary migration of deformable droplets.  Further details.

Publications on International Journals:  

[A18] Néstor Balcázar-Arciniega, Joaquin Rigola, Carlos D. Pérez-Segarra, Assensi Oliva,. (2024). Numerical study of drag-force, interfacial area and mass transfer in bubbles in a vertical pipe, Chemical Engineering Journal 495, 153124.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2024.153124
Impact factor: 13.3 (JCR, year 2023)
Quartile and area: Q1 (JCR, year 2023) Chemical Engineering (Position 7 from 170). 

[A17] Siriano, S.; Balcázar, N.; Tassone, A.; Rigola, J.; Caruso, G. (2022) Numerical Simulation of High-Density Ratio Bubble Motion with interIsoFoam. Fluids.  Volume 7.  Pages 152. 
doi:  https://doi.org/10.3390/fluids7050152 

[A16]  Antepara, O, Balcázar, N, Oliva, A. (2021) Tetrahedral adaptive mesh refinement for two‐phase flows using conservative level‐set method. Int J Numer Meth Fluids.  Volume 93.  Pages 481-503.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/fld.4893

[A15] Ahmad Amani, Néstor Balcázar, Alireza Naseri, Joaquim Rigola, (2020). A numerical approach for non-Newtonian two-phase flows using a conservative level-set method, Chemical Engineering Journal. Volume 385, Pages 123896.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2019.123896
Impact factor:  10.652 (JCR, year 2019).  Quartile and area:  Q1 (JCR, year 2019) Chemical Engineering (First decile).

[A14] Néstor Balcázar-Arciniega, Óscar Antepara, Joaquim Rigola, Assensi Oliva, (2019). A level-set model for mass transfer in bubbly flows, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. Volume 138. Pages 335-356.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2019.04.008 
Impact factor:  4.947 (JCR, year 2019).  Quartile and area:  Q1 (JCR, year 2019) Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes (Position 2 from 120.  First decile).

[A13] Ahmad Amani, Néstor Balcázar, Jesús Castro, Assensi Oliva, (2019). Numerical study of droplet deformation in shear flow using a conservative level-set method, Chemical Engineering Science, Volume 207, Pages 153-171,
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2019.06.014
Impact factor:  3.871 (JCR, year 2019).  Quartile and area:  Q1 (SJR, year 2018) Chemical Engineering.

[A12] Oscar Antepara, Néstor Balcázar, Joaquim Rigola, Assensi Oliva, (2019). Numerical study of rising bubbles with path instability using conservative level-set and adaptive mesh refinement, Computers & Fluids, Volume 187, Pages 83-97. 
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compfluid.2019.04.013 
Impact factor:  2.399 (JCR, year 2019).  Quartile and area:  Q1 (SJR, year 2018) Engineering (miscelaneous).

[A11] Ahmad Amani, Néstor Balcázar, Enrique Gutiérrez, Assensi Oliva, (2019). Numerical study of binary droplets collision in the main collision regimes, Chemical Engineering Journal. Volume 370, Pages 477-498,
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2019.03.188 
Impact factor:  10.652 (JCR, year 2019).  Quartile and area:  Q1 (JCR, year 2019) Chemical Engineering  (First decile) 

[A10] Schillaci E., Antepara O., Balcázar N., Rigola J., Oliva A., (2019). A numerical study of liquid atomization regimes by means of conservative level-set simulations, Computers & Fluids 179, 137-149.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compfluid.2018.10.017 
Impact factor:  2.399 (JCR, year 2019).  Quartile and area:  Q1 (SJR, year 2018) Engineering (miscelaneous).

[A09] Gutiérrez E., Favre F., Balcázar N., Amani A., Rigola J. (2018). Numerical approach to study bubbles and drops evolving through complex geometries by using a level set – Moving mesh – Immersed boundary method, Chemical Engineering Journal 349, 662-682.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2018.05.110 
Impact factor:  8.355 (JCR, year 2018).  Quartile and area:  Q1 (JCR, year 2018) Chemical Engineering  (First decile).

[A08] E. Gutiérrez, N. Balcázar, E. Bartrons, J. Rigola. (2017). Numerical study of Taylor bubbles rising in a stagnant liquid using a level-set/moving-mesh method. Chemical Engineering Science 164. 158-177. 
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2017.02.018
Impact factor:  3.306 (JCR, year 2017).  Quartile and area:  Q1 (SJR, year 2017) Chemical Engineering.

[A07] Schillaci, E., Jofre, L., Balcázar, N., Antepara, O., Oliva, (2017). A low-dissipation convection scheme for the stable discretization of turbulent interfacial flow. Computers & Fluids 15, 102-117.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compfluid.2017.05.009
Impact factor:  2.221 (JCR, year 2017).  Quartile and area:  Q1 (SJR, year 2017) Engineering (miscelaneous).

[A06] Balcázar, N., Rigola, J., Castro, J., Oliva, A., (2016). A level-set model for thermocapillary motion of deformable fluid particles, International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow, Volume 62, Part B, pp 324-343.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatfluidflow.2016.09.015
Impact factor:  1.873 (JCR, year 2016).  Quartile and area:  Q1 (SJR, year 2016) Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes.

[A05] Schillaci, E., Jofre, L., Balcázar, N., Lehmkuhl, O., Oliva, A., (2016). A level-set aided single-phase model for the numerical simulation of free-surface flow on unstructured meshes. Computers & Fluids 140, pp. 97-110. 
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compfluid.2016.09.014 
Impact factor:  2.221 (JCR, year 2017).  Quartile and area:  Q1 (SJR, year 2017) Engineering (miscelaneous).

[A04] Balcázar, N., Lehmkuhl, O., Jofre, L., Rigola, J., Oliva, A. (2016). A coupled volume-of- fluid/level-set method for simulation of two-phase flows on unstructured meshes. Computers & Fluids 124, pp. 12-29.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compfluid.2015.10.005
Impact factor:  2.313 (JCR, year 2016) .  Quartile and area:  Q1 (JCR, year 2016) Engineering (miscelaneous).

[A03] Balcázar, N., Lehmkuhl, O., Jofre, L., Oliva, A., (2015). Level-set simulations of buoyancy-driven motion of single and multiple bubbles. International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow 56, pp. 91-107.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatfluidflow.2015.07.004 
Impact factor:  1.713 (JCR, year 2015).  Quartile and area:  Q1 (SJR, year 2015) Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes.

[A02] Balcázar, N., Lehmkuhl, O., Rigola, J., Oliva, A. (2015). A multiple marker level-set method for simulation of deformable fluid particles, International Journal of Multiphase Flow 74, pp 125 -142.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmultiphaseflow.2015.04.009 
Impact factor:  2.25 (JCR, year 2015).  Quartile and area:  Q1 (JCR, year 2015) Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes.

[A01] Balcázar, N., Jofre, L., Lehmkuhl, O., Castro, J., Rigola, J. (2014). A finite-volume/level- set method for simulating two-phase flows on unstructured grids. International Journal of Multiphase Flow 64, pp. 55 – 72.
doi:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmultiphaseflow.2014.04.008
Impact factor:  2.061 (JCR, year 2014).  Quartile and area:  Q1 (JCR, year 2014) Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes.

Book Chapters:

[BC10] Balcázar-Arciniega, N., Rigola, J., Oliva, A. (2024). Unstructured Flux-Limiter Convective Schemes for Simulation of Transport Phenomena in Two-Phase Flows. In: Franco, L., de Mulatier, C., Paszynski, M., Krzhizhanovskaya, V.V., Dongarra, J.J., Sloot, P.M.A. (eds) Computational Science – ICCS 2024. ICCS 2024. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14838. Springer, Cham.
dOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-63783-4_3 

[BC09] Balcazar-Arciniega, N., Rigola, J., Oliva, A. (2024). DNS of Mass Transfer in Bi-dispersed Bubbly Flows in a Vertical Pipe. In: Marchioli, C., Salvetti, M.V., Garcia-Villalba, M., Schlatter, P. (eds) Direct and Large Eddy Simulation XIII. DLES 2023. ERCOFTAC Series, vol 31. Springer, Cham. 
doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47028-8_9 

[BC08] Balcázar-Arciniega, N., Rigola, J., Oliva, A. (2023). DNS of Thermocapillary Migration of a Bi-dispersed Suspension of Droplets. In: Mikyška, J., de Mulatier, C., Paszynski, M., Krzhizhanovskaya, V.V., Dongarra, J.J., Sloot, P.M. (eds) Computational Science – ICCS 2023. ICCS 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 10477. Springer, Cham.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36030-5_25 

[BC07] Balcázar-Arciniega, N., Rigola, J., Oliva, A. (2023). Unstructured Conservative Level-Set (UCLS) Simulations of Film Boiling Heat Transfer. In: Mikyška, J., de Mulatier, C., Paszynski, M., Krzhizhanovskaya, V.V., Dongarra, J.J., Sloot, P.M. (eds) Computational Science – ICCS 2023. ICCS 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 10477. Springer, Cham.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36030-5_26 

[BC06] Balcázar-Arciniega, N., Rigola, J., Oliva, A. (2022). DNS of Mass Transfer in Bi-dispersed Bubble Swarms. In: Groen, D., de Mulatier, C., Paszynski, M., Krzhizhanovskaya, V.V., Dongarra, J.J., Sloot, P.M.A. (eds) Computational Science – ICCS 2022. ICCS 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13353. Springer, Cham.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08760-8_24 

[BC05] Balcázar N., Antepara O., Rigola J., Oliva A. (2020) DNS of Drag-Force and Reactive Mass Transfer in Gravity-Driven Bubbly Flows. In: García-Villalba M., Kuerten H., Salvetti M. (eds) Direct and Large Eddy Simulation XII. DLES 2019. ERCOFTAC Series, vol 27. Springer, Cham.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42822-8_16 

[BC04] Amani A., Balcázar N., Gutiérrez E., Oliva A. (2020) DNS of Unequal Size Droplets Collision Using a Moving-Mesh/Level-Set Method. In: García-Villalba M., Kuerten H., Salvetti M. (eds) Direct and Large Eddy Simulation XII. DLES 2019. ERCOFTAC Series, vol 27. Springer, Cham.
doi:  https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42822-8_14 

[BC03] Balcázar-Arciniega N., Rigola J., Oliva A. (2019), DNS of Mass Transfer from Bubbles Rising in a Vertical Channel. In: Rodrigues J. et al. (eds) Computational Science – ICCS 2019. ICCS 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 11539. Springer, Cham.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22747-0_45 

[BC02] Balcázar N., Antepara O., Rigola J., Oliva A. (2019), DNS of Thermocapillary Migration of Deformable Droplets. In: Salvetti M., Armenio V., Fröhlich J., Geurts B., Kuerten H. (eds) Direct and Large-Eddy Simulation XI. ERCOFTAC Series, vol 25. Springer, Cham.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04915-7_28 

[BC01] Balcázar N., Lehmkuhl O., Castro J., Oliva A. (2018), DNS of the Rising Motion of a Swarm of Bubbles in a Confined Vertical Channel. In: Grigoriadis D., Geurts B., Kuerten H., Fröhlich J., Armenio V. (eds) Direct and Large-Eddy Simulation X. ERCOFTAC Series, vol 24. Springer, Cham.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63212-4_15 

Publications on Peer-Reviewed Conference Proceedings:

[CP19] Balcázar N., Antepara O., Rigola J., Oliva A. (2018). A level-set method for interfacial heat or mass transfer in two-phase flows. In: Proceeding of 7th European Conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics (ECFD 7). 11-15 June 2018, Glasgow, UK.

[CP18] Amani A., Balcázar N., Nazeri A., Oliva A. (2018). A study on binary collision of GNF droplets using a conservative level-set method. In: Proceeding of 7th European Conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics (ECFD 7). 11-15 June 2018, Glasgow, UK.

[CP17] Balcázar, N., Castro, J., Rigola, J., Oliva, A., (2017). DNS of the wall effect on the motion of bubble swarms. Procedia Computer Science 108, Pages 2008-2017.  doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2017.05.076 

[CP16] Néstor Balcázar, Jesús Castro, Jorge Chiva, Assensi Oliva, (2018). DNS of Falling Droplets in a Vertical Channel. International Journal of Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements. Volume 6, Issue 2. p. 398 – 410. doi: 10.2495/CMEM-V6-N2-398-410  

[CP15] Eugenio Schillaci, Federico Favre, Oscar Antepara, Néstor Balcázar, Asensi Oliva, (2018). Numerical study of an impulse wave generated by a sliding mass. International Journal of Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements. Volume 6, Issue 1. p. 98 – 109. doi: 10.2495/CMEM-V6-N2-398-410

[CP14] Enrique Gutiérrez, Federico Favre, Néstor Balcázar, Joaquim Rigola, (2018). On the solution of the problem of a drop falling against a plane by using a level set - moving mesh – immersed boundary method. International Journal of Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements. Volume 6, Issue 1. p. 208 – 219. doi: 10.2495/CMEM-V6-N1-208-219 

[CP13] Balcázar N., Antepara O., Castro J., Oliva A., (2018), A level-set method for mass transfer in bubble swarms. In: Proceeding of 12th International ERCOFTAC Symposium on Engineering Turbulence Modelling and Measurements. Montpellier, France, September 26-28.

[CP12] Antepara O., Balcázar N., Rigola J., Oliva A., (2018), Direct numerical simulation of rising bubble with path instability. In: Proceeding of 12th International ERCOFTAC Symposium on Engineering Turbulence Modelling and Measurements. Montpellier, France, September 26-28.

[CP11] Antepara O., Balcázar, N., Oliva A., (2017), A comparative study of interface capturing methods with AMR for incompressible two-phase flows. In: Proceedings of Coupled Problems in Science and Engineering VII, pp. 981-992. 12- 14 June 2017, Rhodes Island-Greece.

[CP10] Balcázar, N., Rigola, J., Oliva, A., A level-set method for thermal motion of bubbles and droplets. In:  Proceeding of 7th European Thermal-Sciences Conference (Eurotherm2016). Journal of Physics: Conference Series 745 (2016) 032113. doi: 10.1088/1742-6596/745/3/032113 

[CP09] E. Gutiérrez, N. Balcázar, O. Lehmkuhl, A. Oliva., On the solution of the full three- dimensional Taylor bubble problem by using a coupled Conservative Level Set - Moving Mesh method. In:  Proceeding of 7th European Thermal-Sciences Conference (Eurotherm2016). Journal of Physics: Conference Series 745 (2016) 032116. doi: 10.1088/1742-6596/745/3/032116   

[CP08] Balcázar, N., Lehmkuhl, O., Castro, J., Rigola, J., Oliva, A., GRAVITY-DRIVEN MOTION OF A SWARM OF BUBBLES IN A VERTICAL PIPE. In:  Proceeding of  27th International Conference on Parallel Computational Fluid Dynamics, Parallel CFD2015. 2015.  Abstract   Full Paper

[CP07] Schillaci, E.; Balcázar, N.; Lehmkuhl, O.; Jofre, L.; Oliva, A. A free surface model for the numerical simulation of oscillating water column systems. In:  Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics (ECFD VI), July 20-25, 2014, Barcelona, Spain. pp. 5286 - 5297. 2014. ISBN 978-84-942844-7-2.

[CP06] Jofre, L.; Balcázar, N.; Lehmkuhl, O.; Borrell, R.; Castro, J. Direct numerical simulation of the flow over a spherical bubble in a turbulent pipe flow. In:  Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics (ECFD VI), July 20-25, 2014, Barcelona, Spain. pp. 5333 – 5343. ISBN 978- 84-942844-7-2.

[CP05] Balcázar, N., Jofre, L., Lehmkuhl, O., Castro, J., Oliva, A., A multiple marker level-set method for simulation of bubbly flows. In:  Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics (ECFD VI), July 20-25, 2014, Barcelona, Spain. pp. 5298 – 5309. ISBN 978-84-942844-7-2.  

[CP04] Jofre, L.; Lehmkuhl, O.; Balcázar, N.; Castro, J.; Rigola, J.; Oliva, A. Conservative discretization of multiphase flow with high density ratios. Advances in Fluid Mechanics X, WIT Transactions on Engineering Sciences. pp. 153 – 164. 2014. ISBN 978-184564790-2.

[CP03] Balcázar, N.; Jofre, L.; Lehmkuhl, O.; Rigola, J.; Castro, J.; Oliva, A. A finitevolume/ level-set interface capturing method for unstructured grids: Simulations of bubbles rising through viscous liquids. Advances in Fluid Mechanics X, WIT Transactions on Engineering Sciences. pp. 239 - 252. 2014. ISBN 978-184564790-2. 

[CP02] Jofre, L.; Balcázar, N.; Lehmkuhl, O.; Castro, J.; Oliva, A. Numerical study of the incompressible Richtmyer-Meshkov instability. Interface tracking methods on general meshes. In:  Proceedings of the Conference on Modelling Fluid Flow: CMFF'12: the 15th event of international conference series on fluid flow technologies held in Budapest. pp. 584 - 591. 2012.

[CP01] Balcázar, N.; Jofre, L.; Lehmkuhl, O.; Rigola, J.; Castro, J. Numerical simulation of incompressible two phase flows by conservative level set method. In:  Proceedings of the Conference on Modelling Fluid Flow: CMFF'12: the 15th event of international conference series on fluid flow technologies held in Budapest. pp. 665 - 673. 2012.

Presentations on International Conferences:

[P14] Balcázar N., Rigola J., Oliva A., DNS of mass transfer in turbulent bubbly flow in a vertical pipe. The 13th International ERCOFTAC symposium on engineering, turbulence, modelling and measurements, 15-17 September, 2021, Rhodes, Greece. (Oral presentation)

[P13] Balcázar N., Rigola J., Oliva A., Unstructured Level-Set Method For Saturated Liquid-Vapor Phase Change.  14th Virtual Congress WCCM & ECCOMAS 2020,  January 11th to 15th , 2021.  (Oral presentation)

[P12] Balcázar N., Rigola J., Oliva A., DNS of mass transfer from bubbles rising in a vertical channel. International Conference on Computational Science (ICCS 2019). Faro, Algarve, Portugal, 12-14 June, 2019. (Oral presentation)

[P11] Balcázar N., Antepara O., Rigola J., Oliva A., DNS of drag-force and reactive mass transfer in gravity-driven bubbly flows. ERCOFTAC WORKSHOP DIRECT AND LARGE EDDY SIMULATION (DLES12). Madrid, Spain, June 5-7, 2019. (Oral presentation)

[P10] Balcázar N., Antepara O., Castro J., Oliva A., A level-set method for mass transfer in bubble swarms. 12th International ERCOFTAC Symposium on Engineering Turbulence Modelling and Measurements. Montpellier, France, September 26-28, 2018. (Oral presentation) 

[P09] Balcázar N., Antepara O., Rigola J., Oliva A. (2018). A level-set method for interfacial heat or mass transfer in two-phase flows.  7th European Conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics (ECFD 7). 11-15 June 2018, Glasgow-UK. (Key-note, invited oral presentation) 

[P08] Balcázar N., Antepara O., Rigola J., Oliva A. (2018). DNS of interfacial heat and mass transfer in bubble swarms. European HPC Summit Week, Scientific and Industrial Conference-PRACEdays18. 29-31 May 2018. Ljubljana-Slovenia. (Invited oral presentation) 

[P07] Balcázar N., Castro J., Rigola J., Oliva A. (2017). DNS of Gravity-driven bubbly flows. European HPC Summit Week, Scientific and Industrial Conference – PRACEdays17. 16-18 May 2017, Barcelona-Spain. (Invited Oral presentation)

[P06] Balcázar N., Castro J., Rigola J., Oliva A. (2017). Castro, J., Rigola, J., Oliva, A., DNS of the wall effect on the motion of bubble swarms. The International Conference on Computational Science (ICCS 2017). 12-14 June 2017. Zürich, Switzerland. (Oral presentation) 

[P05] Balcázar N., Jesús Castro, Jorge Chiva & Assensi Oliva. (2017). DNS of Falling Droplets in a Vertical Channel.  Multiphase Flow 2017:  The 9th International Conference on Computational and Experimental Methods in Multiphase and Complex Flow. 20-22 June 2017. Tallin-Stonia. (Oral presentation) 

[P04] Balcázar N., Rigola, J., Oliva, A., (2016). A level-set method for thermal motion of bubbles and droplets. 7th European Thermal-Sciences Conference (Eurotherm2016). 19-23 June 2016, Krakow-Poland. (Oral presentation) 

[P03] Balcázar N., Lehmkuhl, O., Castro, J., Rigola, J., Oliva, A., (2015). DNS of buoyancy- driven motion of a swarm of bubbles in a wall confined domain. Workshop series on Direct and Large Eddy Simulation (DLES10). Limassol, Cyprus, 27-29 May 2015. (Oral presentation) 

[P02] Balcázar N., Jofre, L., Lehmkuhl, O., Castro, J., Oliva, A., (2014). A multiple marker level- set method for simulation of bubbly flows. 6th European Conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics (ECFD VI), July 20-25, 2014, Barcelona, Spain. (Oral presentation). 

[P01] Balcázar N.; Jofre, L.; Lehmkuhl, O.; Rigola, J.; Castro, J.; Oliva, A. (2013). A finite-volume/level-set interface capturing method for unstructured grids: Simulations of bubbles rising through viscous liquids. Multiphase Flow 2013: 7th International Conference on Computational and Experimental Methods in Multiphase and Complex Flow. 3 - 5 July 2013, A Coruña, Spain. (Oral presentation)

Doctoral Thesis:

[DT1] Balcázar, N., Numerical Simulation of Multiphase-Flows: Level-Set Techniques, Ph.D. Thesis, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech (UPC), September 2014. Advisor: Prof. Dr. Assensi Oliva. Co-advisors: Prof. Dr. Joaquim Rigola, Dr. O. Lehmkuhl.  Mark:  Excellent Cum Laude

Supervised Doctoral Theses:

[SDT4] Amani, A., Numerical Simulation of Newtonian/no-Newtonian Multiphase Flows: Deformation and Collision of Droplets. Ph.D. Thesis, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech (UPC), 24 July 2019. Advisor: Dr. Néstor Balcázar. Co-Advisor: Dr. Xavier Trias.  Mark:  Excellent Cum Laude

[SDT3] Antepara, O., Adaptive mesh refinement methods for CFD applications. Ph.D. Thesis, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech (UPC), January 2019. Advisors: Prof. Dr.Assensi Oliva, Dr. Néstor Balcázar, Dr. Guillem Colomer.  Mark:  Excellent Cum Laude

[SDT2] Gutiérrez, E., Numerical simulation of bubbles and drops in complex geometries byusing dynamic meshes, Ph.D. Thesis, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech (UPC), July 2018. Advisors: Prof. Dr. Assensi Oliva, Dr. Néstor Balcázar.  Mark:  Excellent Cum Laude

[SDT1] Schilaci, E., DNS of multiphase flows: study of atomization and free-surface phenomena, Ph.D. Thesis, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech (UPC), October2017. Advisors: Prof. Dr. Joaquim Rigola, Dr. Néstor Balcázar.  Mark:  Excellent Cum Laude

Research Projects:

Dr. Balcázar has been Researcher/Co-leader (together with Prof. Oliva, CTTC-UPC)  of 2 Tier-0 supercomputing projects on DNS of gravity-driven bubbly flows, awarded by PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe), which is the most relevant supercomputing organization in Europe. PRACE offers world class computing resources through a highly competitive peer review process.  The reader is referred to the special issue PRACE Digest 2016 (Pags. 16-17), for further details on the project DNS of gravity-driven bubbly flows.  The projects are listed as follows:

[Proj15] Direct Numerical Simulation of Bubbly Flows with Interfacial Heat and Mass Transfer. (Ref. 2016153612). PRACE 14th Call. Funding: 18 millions of computing hours at the supercomputer Marenostrum IV based in Barcelona-Spain. Granted by Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE). Barcelona-Spain. March 2017-March 2018. Co-leader together with Prof. Assensi Oliva. (12 months). 

[Proj14] Direct Numerical Simulation of Gravity-Driven Bubbly Flows (Ref. 2014112666). PRACE 10th Call. Funding: 22 millions of computing hours at the supercomputer Marenostrum III based in Barcelona-Spain. Granted by Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE). Barcelona- Spain. March 2015-March 2016. Co-leader together with Prof. Assensi Oliva. (12 months).   Further details:   PRACE DIGEST 2016 (Pag. 16-17).


Researcher and/or Co-leader of supercomputing projects awarded by RES (Spanish Supercomputing Network).  RES is the most important Spanish organization in supercomputing, and projects are assigned after a competitive peer-review process:

[Proj13] DNS of mass transfer in bubbly flows with high Peclet number (FI-2019-1-0039). Funding: 1.0 million of computing hours at the supercomputer MareNostrum IV. Granted by Spanish Supercomputing Network (RES). March 2019-June 2019. Co-leader together with Prof. Joaquim Rigola. (4 months). 

[Proj12] Direct Numerical Simulation of reactive mass transfer in bubble swarms (FI-2018-3- 0037). Funding: 1.5 million of computing hours at the supercomputer Altamira. Granted by Spanish Supercomputing Network (RES). November 2018-February 2019. Co-leader together with Prof. Joaquim Rigola. (4 months). 

[Proj11] DNS of binary droplet collision in Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids (FI-2018-3-0045). Funding: 0.6 million of computing hours at the supercomputer Altamira. Granted by Spanish Supercomputing Network (RES). November 2018-February 2019. Co-leader together with Prof. Assensi Oliva. (4 months). 

[Proj10] Direct Numerical Simulation of polydispersed bubble swarms on confined and unconfined domains (FI-2018-1-0025). Funding: 2.056 million of computing hours at the supercomputer Marenostrum IV (BSC). Granted by Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC)-Spanish Supercomputing Network (RES). Barcelona-Spain. March 2018-June 2018. Co-leader together with Prof. Joaquim Rigola. (4 months). 

[Proj09] DNS of 3D turbulent sprays with the aid of adaptive mesh refinement and low dissipative advective schemes (FI-2017-2-0015). Funding: 0.8 million of computing hours at the supercomputer Marenostrum III (BSC). Granted by Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC)-Spanish Supercomputing Network (RES). Barcelona-Spain. July 2017-October 2017 (4 months). 

[Proj08] Computations of the impact of a bubble against an inclined plane (FI-2017-2-0042). Funding: 0.76 million of computing hours at the supercomputer Marenostrum III (BSC). Granted by Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC)-Spanish Supercomputing Network (RES). Barcelona- Spain. July 2017-October 2017 (4 months). 

[Proj07] Computations of 3D Taylor bubbles in a broad range of flow conditions (FI-2016-3-0037). Funding: 0.192 million of computing hours at the supercomputer Marenostrum III (BSC). Granted by Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC)-Spanish Supercomputing Network (RES). Barcelona- Spain. November 2016-February 2017 (4 months). 

[Proj06] DNS of 3D turbulent sprays with the aid of adaptive mesh refinement and low dissipative advective schemes (FI-2016-3-0015). Funding: 0.75 millions of computing hours at the supercomputer Marenostrum III (BSC). Granted by Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC)-Spanish Supercomputing Network (RES). Barcelona-Spain. November 2016-March 2017 (4 months). 

[Proj05] Direct Numerical Simulation of turbulent atomizing two-phase jets with an adaptive mesh refinement strategy (FI-2016-1-0023). Funding: 0.55 millions of computing hours at the supercomputer Marenostrum III (BSC). Granted by Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC)-Spanish Supercomputing Network (RES). Barcelona-Spain. March 2016-Octubre 2016 (4 months). 

[Proj04] Direct Numerical Simulations of Taylor bubbles in inclined channels by using domain optimization methods (FI-2016-1-0024). Funding: 0.55 million of computing hours at the supercomputer Marenostrum III (BSC). Granted by Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC)-Spanish Supercomputing Network (RES). Barcelona-Spain. March 2016-June 2016 (4 months). 

[Proj03] Direct Numerical Simulation of Channel Flow with Regime Transition Due to Coalescence in Gas Liquid Bubbly Flows. (FI-2012-3-0021, FI-2013-1-0024). Granted by Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC)-Spanish Supercomputing Network (RES). Funding: 0.75 million of computing hours at the supercomputer Marenostrum III (BSC). Barcelona-Spain. November 2012-June 2013 (8 months).


Researcher in competitive national research projects, awarded by the Spanish Government:

[Proj02] GALIFLOW - Modelización multiescala y simulación numérica directa de flujos multifásicos gas líquido en burbujas, películas y esprays (Ref. ENE2015-70672-P). Funding: 120500 euros. Granted by Spanish Government. Spain. 2015-2018 (36 months).  Dr. Balcázar designed and executed the workpackage “DNS of gas-liquid multiphase flows”.  PI:  Prof. J. Rigola, Co-PI: Prof. J. Castro. (CTTC-UPC)

[Proj01] VAPFLOW – Analysis of mass transfer and phase change phenomena in moist air environments: frosting, defrosting and supersaturated stream mixing (Ref. J-01790, Ref. ENE2012-36910). Funding: 122000 euros. Granted by Spanish Government. Spain. 2013-2015 (36 months).  PI:  Prof. J. Rigola, Co-PI: Prof. J. Castro. (CTTC-UPC)

Awards, Recognitions, and Fellowships: