Thermocapillary Convection in Microgravity: Thermohydrodynamic Experiment in Kibo Aboard International Space Station

by Hiroshi Kawamura (Editor), Koichi Nishino (Editor), Satoshi Matsumoto (Editor), Ichiro Ueno (Editor), Taishi Yano (Editor)

Overview

This book overviews cutting-edge research on thermocapillary convection driven by temperature dependence of surface tension. A notable feature of the book is that it is concerned with a series of experiments performed under microgravity in the Japanese experimental module Kibo aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Also described are related topics such as onboard experimental apparatus, executing procedures, international collaborations, preceding terrestrial studies, and their many outcomes. Further, it presents insights into applications of capillarity to microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), micro-total analysis systems (µTAS), material processing, and future human space exploration, where surface tension must play a major role instead of gravity.Intended as a pedagogical introduction for readers who are not familiar with this subject, the book also skillfully reviews fundamental physics and analysis of thermocapillary convection, describing phenomenology and theory of surface tension, analysis of a transition threshold to unsteady flows, and computational methods for flow and temperature fields. It is thus a valuable resource for graduate students, young researchers, and engineers who are interested in related topics, and enables them to quickly catch up with the latest research from basic to applied to thermofluid dynamics subject matter to microgravity science and technology.

This is an open access book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789819629909
Publisher:	Springer Nature Singapore
Publication date:	08/29/2025
Series:	Fluid Mechanics and Its Applications , #139
Pages:	381
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Hiroshi Kawamura is a professor emeritus at Tokyo University of Science and Suwa University of Science. His research focuses on thermohydrodynamics, specifically the thermocapillary convection and the turbulent heat transfer. He received his doctoral degree from The University of Tokyo in 1970, and subsequently served as a professor at Tokyo University of Science and also as president of Suwa University of Science. He has contributed to academic communities, serving as president of the Heat Transfer Society of Japan and as a council member of the International Centre of Heat and Mass Transfer. He proposed a series of thermo-hydrodynamic experiments in microgravity, the central theme of this book, and carried it out in 2008 as the principal investigator (PI) through the first scientific experiment aboard the Japanese experimental module, Kibo, on the International Space Station (ISS), in collaboration with the other editors of this book.

Koichi Nishino is a professor at Yokohama National University (YNU). His research interest is in thermal and fluid engineering, and thermal and flow measurement. He received his Doctor of Engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1990. He joined YNU as a lecturer in 1990 and became an associate professor and a professor there in 1994 and 2004, respectively. He was honored with a fellowship from the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers and an award for contribution from its thermal engineering division. He also contributed to communities including the Visualization Society of Japan and the Heat Transfer Society of Japan as a council member, and the Institute of Professional Engineers, Japan as a division chair. He played the role of PI in the microgravity experiments on thermocapillary convection in Kibo from 2009 until the project was completed successfully in 2013.

Satoshi Matsumoto is a senior researcher at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). His work is concerned with thermal and fluid mechanics and space engineering. He received his Doctor of Engineering from Toyo University in 1996. He joined JAXA as a researcher in 2001. He has served in his current position there since 2006 and has implemented the space experiment as a program scientist. He has also served as a professor at Tsukuba University since 2010. He contributed to the International Astronautical Federation as a member of the International Programme Committee. He received the Robert T. Knapp Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and a Space Flights Awareness Award from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Ichiro Ueno is a professor at Tokyo University of Science. His work focuses on interfacial thermal-fluid dynamics such as dynamic wetting processes, phase-change phenomena, and surface-tension-driven flows. He received his Doctor of Engineering from The University of Tokyo in 1999. He became an assistant professor and an associate professor in 2004 and 2009, respectively, and was promoted to his current position in 2015. He served at the International Centre of Heat and Mass Transfer as a council member. He was honored with awards for young researcher from the Heat Transfer Society of Japan and the Japan Society of Microgravity Application in 1999 and 2004, respectively; the Zel’dovich Medal from the Committee on Space Research and the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2006; and a fellowship from the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers in 2019.

Taishi Yano is an assistant professor at Kanagawa University (KU). His work is concerned with thermal and fluid engineering and flow visualization. He contributed to the microgravity experiment on thermocapillary convection from 2009 as a supporting student and received his Doctor of Engineering from Yokohama National University (YNU) in 2015. He joined YNU as an assistant professor in 2015 and became an assistant professor at KU in 2020. He contributed the Material Science Division of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) as a vice chair (2018-2022) and a deputy organizer (2020-current). He was honored with awards for research encouragement from the Japan Society of Microgravity Application in 2012 and the Zel’dovich Medal from the COSPAR and the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2018.

Table of Contents

Surface Tension Thermocapillary Flow And Microgravity.- Fundamental Concepts, Governing Equations And Non-Dimensional Numbers.- Thermocapillary Flow In A Thin Liquid Layer.- Thermocapillary Flow In A Liquid Bridge.- Microgravity Experiments in Kibo Aboard Iss.- Surface-Tension Related Flows In Microgravity and Microscale.- Development of Fluid Dynamics Experiments in Kibo aboard International Space Station.