A new paper has been published in Applied Thermal Engineering. We established a high-resolution 3D inverse heat conduction framework using infrared thermography to quantitatively determine the transient heat dissipation and evaporation efficiency of individual sub-millimeter droplets during successive train impacts.
A new paper has been published in Langmuir. Collaborating with Dr Zhenying Wang's group and Dr George Karapetsas, we demonstrate how solar radiation reverses Marangoni flows in drying plasmonic nanofluid droplets, offering new control for photofluidics and microfabrication.
We are recruiting for two fully-funded PhD studentships on 1) Organ Cooling (Deadline: 27 Feb 2026) and 2) Spray Cooling (Deadline: 27 Mar 2026).
Yutaku was featured in the Royal Academy of Engineering's Ingenia magazine article "How to engineer a perfect matcha"—a fun quick read!
Funded by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), the ThermEnTrans project has been officially launched, aiming to advance research in phase-change thermal management technologies via collaboration between 16 top universities from Europe, Asia, Africa, North America and South America, and 4 EU industries.
Dr Kazushi Miyata from Fukuoka University, currently Visiting Senior Lecturer at Thermofluid Physics Lab gave a seminar talk titled "Flow Measurement by Heater Method and Development of a Phase-Change Model for Use in CFD".
Yutaku visited Dr Okabe's BioHEAT LAB at Hirosaki University, Japan, and gave a seminar talk.
Dr Kizuku Kurose from Yokohama National University visited our group and gave a Seminar talk titled "Heat transport characteristics of flat plate heat pipe with meandering channel composed of porous sidewalls."
Dr Eita Shoji from Tohoku University visited our group and gave a Seminar talk titled "Droplet wetting dynamics through mesoscale optical measurement."
Dr Biao Shen from the University of Tsukuba visited our group and gave a Seminar talk titled "From Cooling to Boiling: Rethinking Heat Transfer in the Age of AI."
Yutaku attended MNF2025 Edinburgh and presented a talk titled "Influence of thermal history on wettability and the Leidenfrost phenomenon." He also chaired the session on Experimental Approaches.
Dr Kazushi Miyata joined our group as a visiting senior lecturer. He will be staying with us for a year, working on the Leidenfrost problem using computational approaches.
A new paper has been published in Applied Thermal Engineering, as the first product of the collaboration with Dr Arthur V.S. Oliveira and his group from Universidade de São Paulo. The USP graduate, Carlos E.B.M. Rocha, who spent 3 months with us at King's, made a significant contribution to this work.
Dr Takahiro Okabe and Mr Taku Sakurai from Hirosaki University visited our group. Dr Okabe gave a Seminar talk titled "Development of advanced measurement techniques for complex thermo-fluid phenomena with applications in medical technologies". Mr Sakurai presented his work at the Thermofluids Social Meeting.
Our new paper titled "Dynamic characteristics of thin vapor layers at substrate temperatures below the Leidenfrost point" has been published in International Journal of Multiphase Flow.
Yutaku attended Droplets 2025 in Liège as a co-author of a contribution titled "Metastable Vapor Layer At Surface Temperatures Below The Leidenfrost Point".
Yutaku was invited to present at the 21st International Symposium on Fluid Visualization in Tokyo. He gave a talk titled "Phase change heat transfer research using temperature sensitive paints".
Yutaku and Daniel visited Dr Mehdi Stiti at the Toulouse Institute of Fluid Mechanics (IMFT) to see their experimental labs and discuss collaboration opportunities.
Our new paper titled "Experimental investigation of spray cooling on steel plates with periodic micropillar structures: Two-stage quenching phenomenon" has been published in Applied Thermal Engineering.
Yutaku and Daniel attended the International Conference on Multiphase Flows (ICMF2025) in Toulouse! Yutaku gave a presentation titled "Effect of Thermal History on Wettability and the Leidenfrost Point".
Hosted by Dr Bo Li, Yutaku (PI) gave a seminar talk at the University of Bristol and discussed thermal challenges in advanced energy systems.
Supported by the NMES Research Culture Fund, Thermofluid Social Meeting Series has been launched to enhance the community of researchers working on thermofuids and related areas that are rapidly growing within Engineering Department since its relaunch in 2019.
Our new paper titled "Thermal hysteresis in wettability and the Leidenfrost phenomenon" has been published in Physical Review Research.
Dr Yoshiyasu Ichikawa from Tokyo University of Science visitied our group and gave a seminar talk titled "Optical flow diagnostics and their practical use on small-scale complex flow behavior".
Dr Shota Ueda from Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry visitied our group and gave a seminar talk titled "The Role of Nuclear Energy in Japan's Electric Power Landscape and the Cutting-Edge Research in Heat and Mass Transfer for Nuclear Safety".
Daniel Gibbons, our new PhD student, has joined Thermofluid Physics Group. Daniel will be working on projects related to spray cooling.
Our new paper titled "Flow stability in shallow droplets subject to localized heating of the bottom plate" has been published in Physical Review Fluids.
We are looking for a motivated PhD student to work on experiments and modelling of phase change heat trasnfer. Please see FindAPhD page. Also, we are now welcoming applications for the Faculty PhD studentship (by 22 Jan 2024) and K-CSC Programme (by 2 Jan 2024).
Yutaku Kita (PI) received the Young Scientist Award from the Asian Union of Thermal Science and Engineering (AUTSE) and gave a Plenary Award Lecture at the 17th International Heat Transfer Conference in Cape Town.
Hosted by Prof Yuying Yan, a ThermaSMART partner, Yutaku Kita (PI) gave a seminar talk at the University of Nottingham.
Yutaku Kita (PI) has joined Department of Engineering, King's College London as Lecturer and the PI of the Thermofluid Physics Laboratory
Yutaku Kita (PI) received the Outstanding Presentation Award from the 66th National Congress of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics.
Yutaku Kita (PI) received the Young Engineers Award from the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME).
Our new paper titled "Quenching mechanism of spray cooling and the effect of system pressure" has been published in International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer.
Our recent paper titled "On the onset of quench during spray cooling: The significant of oxide layers" has been selected as Editor's Choice of Applied Thermal Engineering. See the post.
Hosted by Prof Sung Jin Kim, Yutaku Kita (PI) gave a seminar talk at Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Korea.
Hosted by Prof Yoshiyuki Tagawa, Yutaku Kita (PI) gave a seminar talk at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo, Japan. See WEB.
Meeting on New Advances and Key Questions in Phase-Change Cooling was successfully organised by Yutaku Kita (PI) and Prof Takata at Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan, with ~80 experts from 10 countries (incl. Japan) and 5 continents.
Yutaku Kita has been appointed as Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kyushu Univeristy.