Advances in Fractional Heat Conduction and Its Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Recent advances in fractional heat conduction theory have significantly expanded the classical understanding of thermal transport by incorporating multiscale relaxation and memory phenomena inherent in complex media. These effects, which cannot be captured by integer-order formulations, strongly influence thermal moments, heat flux dynamics, and thermoelastic bending.

This issue aims to outline key developments in the mathematical formulation, analytical and numerical solutions, and experimental validation of fractional heat conduction models, together with their applications in micro- and nanoscale systems, polymers, biothermal processes, and energy materials.

Special emphasis is placed on applications of fractional heat conduction theories in explanation of experimental methods based on heat propagation and thermoelastic effects, such as photothermal and photoacoustic techniques, calorimetry and radiometry, and thermal-wave interferometry, which provide sensitive tools for probing nonlocal and memory effects. Recent progress in inverse problem methodologies, including regularization approaches, Bayesian inference, and machine-learning-assisted parameter estimation, has enabled the quantitative identification of fractional-order parameters, bridging theoretical models with measurable physical behavior.

Finally, emerging trends such as hybrid fractional–stochastic models and data-driven approaches are highlighted for their potential to unify theoretical modeling, experimental diagnostics, and practical applications in advanced thermal systems.

Dr. Marica N. Popovic
Dr. Slobodanka Galovic
Dr. Miroslava Jordovic Pavlovic
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fractal and Fractional is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.