EDITORIAL

Abstract

The present issue of Engenharia Térmica debuts a new numeration system that includes year, volume and number. It is one step forward for improving registry efficiency and knowledge dissemination, fostering interaction between faculty and industry, one of the original editorial objectives of Engenharia Térmica, established in 2001.
A considerable amount of resources has been directed to research, aiming at the scientific and technological development of nations. When accounting for the granted funds, the researcher should go beyond the simple technical reporting, ensuring that the produced knowledge should be available to society in its most broad and disseminated way. This is only possible with the publication of the results of his/her work on a periodical of archival value, made available to the public in libraries or in the internet. Engenharia Térmica contributes to this effort by allowing for publication of scientific and technological work in the area of Thermal Sciences, which will find application in key areas to the world, such as Energy and Environment.
Also, submission of work derived from the cooperation between university and industry, or originated directly from the industry’s own research and development department, is strongly encouraged.
The present issue further contains expanded and revised papers that have originally been presented at ENCIT 2002 (9th Brazilian Congress of Thermal Engineering and Sciences). This has been a successful policy of Engenharia Térmica, which should be extended to other ABCM (Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences) national conferences, COBEM and CONEM,
and to thematic events, such as, for example, Mercofrio and Conbrava, from Refrigeration.
As in the past issues of Engenharia Térmica, two main sections classify the papers. Science contains papers related to the advancements of Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics and Heat and Mass Transfer, and to novel theories or advanced numerical and experimental methods. Technology is directed to technological contributions in Thermal Engineering, including the presentation of papers featuring technological innovations.