Design, Simulation and Optimization of Bio-Inspired Thermal Systems

A special issue of Thermo (ISSN 2673-7264).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 November 2026 | Viewed by 1005

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Guest Editor
Department of Industrial Engineering, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, 80125 Napoli, Italy
Interests: heat transfer; thermal management; thermal storage; heat transfer enhancement; phase change problems; topology optimization; multi-objective optimization; generative design

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Guest Editor
Department of Industrial Engineering, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, 80125 Napoli, Italy
Interests: heat transfer; cellular materials; porous materials; topology optimization; thermal management; bioheat transfer; multi-objective optimization; batteries’ thermal management; thermal storage; electronic cooling; hyperthermia
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Guest Editor
Department of Architecture, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, 80134 Naples, Italy
Interests: heat transfer; building performance simulation; thermal behaviors; energy analysis; energy efficiency; multi-objective optimization; thermodynamics; thermophysics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

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

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Keywords

  • thermal systems
  • heat transfer
  • bio-inspired design
  • topology optimization
  • cellular materials
  • triply-periodic minimal surfaces
  • heat transfer enhancement
  • surrogate modeling
  • evolutionary algorithms

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

24 pages, 4072 KB  
Article
Enhancing Battery Available Operating Time (BAOT) via a Passive Series-PCM and Optimized Finned Structures
by Nicola Bianco, Rosa Francesca De Masi, Andrea Fragnito, Marcello Iasiello, Vittorio Orlanducci and Francesco Piccirillo
Thermo 2026, 6(2), 40; https://doi.org/10.3390/thermo6020040 - 31 May 2026
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Abstract
Keeping the battery temperature below a reasonable limit of 50 °C is a primary objective of battery thermal management systems (BTMSs). Accordingly, the battery available operating time (BAOT) can be defined as the time required for the battery maximum temperature to reach 50 [...] Read more.
Keeping the battery temperature below a reasonable limit of 50 °C is a primary objective of battery thermal management systems (BTMSs). Accordingly, the battery available operating time (BAOT) can be defined as the time required for the battery maximum temperature to reach 50 °C, which could be adopted as a key indicator for safe and efficient operation. BAOT can be improved through different BTMS configurations. This work focuses on passive solutions, aiming to increase BAOT without requiring pumping power. The study numerically investigates the combined use of phase change materials (PCMs) and fins to evaluate their effectiveness in terms of time percentage improvement (TPI). A preliminary analysis is conducted to assess the need for PCMs and fins at three discharge rates, namely 1C, 3C, and 5C. The results indicate that PCMs are required under all operating conditions, while the use of fins is not always advantageous; in particular, at 1C, fins lead to a reduction in BAOT. The analysis then focuses on the 3C and 5C cases, where topology-optimized fins are employed to dump temperatures under these stress conditions. Three fin arc lengths (ψfin) and eight diffusion coefficients (Rf) are examined. The optimized fin configurations increase BAOT, achieving maximum TPIs of 10.61% and 7.69% for the 3C and 5C cases, respectively, both corresponding to ψfin = 2.75 mm and Rf = 0.10 mm. At 5C, BAOT is limited to only a few seconds; therefore, configurations with PCMs arranged in series are also analyzed using different combinations of four selected PCMs. When coupled with optimized fins, the PCM-in-series solutions yield further improvements, with maximum TPIs of 22.92% for 3C and 62.50% for 5C compared to the single-PCM configuration coupled with optimized fins. The results also show that the optimal diffusion coefficient and PCM arrangement strongly depend on the discharge rate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Design, Simulation and Optimization of Bio-Inspired Thermal Systems)
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