Fluid-Particle Interactions VI
Barga, Italy. August 25-30, 2002

The conference attracted 62 researchers from 17 countries around the world with the following profile: 43 from academia, 16 from industry and 3 from government laboratories. Five sessions were organized:

• Emerging industrial applications
• Recent advances in novel measurement techniques
• Recent advances in modeling and simulation methods
• Advances in understanding forces in fluid-particle systems
• Advances in understanding effects of particle characteristics on multiphase flows

Seven 40-minute keynote speeches were delivered and 34 20-minute papers presented. The keynote presentations provided reviews of the state-of-the-art developments in respective subjects and helped wide-range discussions. In addition, there were 20 posters in a dedicated poster session. To promote more dialog and interaction among the participants, 30 minutes were allocated for free discussions at the end of each session and two-hour free time was scheduled after lunch. The conference began with presentations and enthusiastic discussions on industrial applications. That set the tone for the entire conference.

The informal nature of the conference encouraged free discussions of new and sometimes controversial ideas. Most participants agreed that the conference was timely and the exchanges of ideas were evident throughout the conference. Many expressed the delight in interacting with researchers from so many different fields. As a participant put it during a discussion: Innovation comes from the boundary of different fields.

At the wrap-up session, the following issues were discussed as potential topics for future conferences:

• Process analysis and synthesis for nano-particle technologies
• More effective description and measurement of structured materials
• How to characterize samples with small quantities
• More consensus in how to model and when to include inter-particle forces
• Benefits of simulation and modeling from more collaborations between academia and industry
• Applicability of the concept of drag coefficient in complex flow systems
• Post-simulation statistics

Phil Hsieh. Email: HPHChemTec@aol.com