17 research outputs found
Collaborative Systems Thinking: Towards an Understanding of Team-level Systems Thinking
As the engineering workforce ages, skills with long development periods are lost with
retiring individuals faster than are younger engineers developing the skills. Systems thinking is
one such skill. Recent research, (Davidz 2006), has shown the importance of experiential
learning in systems thinking skill development. However, an engineering career begun today has
fewer program experiences than in past decades because of extended program lifecycles and a
reduction in the number of new large-scale engineering programs. This pattern is clearly visible
in the aerospace industry, which (Stephens 2003) cites as already experiencing a systems
thinking shortage.
The ongoing research outlined in this paper explores systems thinking as an emergent
property of teams. Collaborative systems thinking, a term coined by the authors to denote teamlevel
systems thinking, may offer an opportunity to leverage and develop a skill in short supply
by concentrating on the team in addition to the individual.
This paper introduces the proposed definition for collaborative systems thinking, as
developed by the authors, and the outlines the structure and progress of ongoing case research
into the role of organizational culture and standard process usage in the development of
collaborative systems thinking
Direct Numerical Simulation of Turbulent Heat Transfer Modulation in Micro-Dispersed Channel Flow
The object of this paper is to study the influence of dispersed micrometer
size particles on turbulent heat transfer mechanisms in wall-bounded flows. The
strategic target of the current research is to set up a methodology to size and
design new-concept heat transfer fluids with properties given by those of the
base fluid modulated by the presence of dynamically-interacting,
suitably-chosen, discrete micro- and nano- particles. We run Direct Numerical
Simulation (DNS) for hydrodynamically fully-developed, thermally-developing
turbulent channel flow at shear Reynolds number Re=150 and Prandtl number Pr=3,
and we tracked two large swarms of particles, characterized by different
inertia and thermal inertia. Preliminary results on velocity and temperature
statistics for both phases show that, with respect to single-phase flow, heat
transfer fluxes at the walls increase by roughly 2% when the flow is laden with
the smaller particles, which exhibit a rather persistent stability against
non-homogeneous distribution and near-wall concentration. An opposite trend
(slight heat transfer flux decrease) is observed when the larger particles are
dispersed into the flow. These results are consistent with previous
experimental findings and are discussed in the frame of the current research
activities in the field. Future developments are also outlined.Comment: Pages: 305-32
Ak-ɛ-PDF two-phase turbulence model for simulating sudden-expansion particle-laden flows
The dispersive effects of Basset History forces on particle motion in a turbulent fluid
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