Design, Simulation and Optimization of Bio-Inspired Thermal Systems

Dear Colleagues,

The optimization of thermal systems plays a pivotal role in advancing energy efficiency and sustainability across industrial, transportation, biological, and architectural domains. As energy systems become increasingly complex and performance-driven, there is a growing need for innovative solutions that meet thermal requirements while remaining feasible within design, material, and computational constraints. Traditional engineering approaches often face limitations when confronted with the multi-scale, multi-physics challenges inherent to next-generation thermal technologies.

Nature provides powerful design principles that can guide this process. Bio-inspired strategies, such as fractal geometries, evolutionary algorithms, branching structures, cellular materials, and topology optimization, provide innovative pathways to enhance thermal system adaptability and performance.

This Special Issue welcomes high-quality original contributions on bio-inspired thermal systems, with a focus on the following:

• Design methodologies for structural scaling, including lattices such as honeycombs, metal foams, and triply periodic minimal surfaces;
• Advanced modeling and simulation techniques for shape optimization (e.g., topology optimization);
• Strategies to enhance the thermal performance of bio-inspired systems;
• Surrogate modeling and regression approaches to replicate natural laws;
• Application-driven case studies demonstrating practical implementations.

Submissions may include experimental, numerical, or theoretical studies. Contributions that explore and address fundamental mechanisms while offering insights into real-world applications are particularly encouraged.

Dr. Andrea Fragnito
Dr. Marcello Iasiello
Dr. Gerardo Maria Mauro
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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Thermo is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly 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 1200 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.