Fluid Flow and Phase Change of a Solid by Michael Berhanu

Fluid Flow and Phase Change of a Solid by Michael Berhanu

Phase transitions play a fundamental role in natural and industrial processes, yet predicting how phase boundaries evolve over time remains difficult. While thermodynamics captures equilibrium states, the transport of heat and chemical species, often amplified by fluid motion, governs the progression of phase change. Consequently, the book centers on the interaction between fluid flow and solid phase transitions, including melting, solidification, and chemical reactions such as dissolution and precipitation, each presenting unique challenges.

From the melting of ice and glacier evolution to the formation of karst landscapes by rock dissolution, the coupling of flow, topography, and phase change drives pattern formation across diverse natural systems. These processes also shape groundwater dynamics and mineralization in porous media. Beyond environmental and geophysical settings, similar mechanisms underpin applications in hydrology, thermal sciences, and metallurgy.

Bridging theoretical foundations, experiments, and numerical methods, this volume provides a comprehensive framework for understanding phase transitions in flowing systems for researchers, engineers, and graduate students.

Michael Berhanu is a physicist interested in fundamental considerations in non-linear physics and out of equilibrium systems. He is a permanent CNRS researcher at MSC (Complex Matter and Systems) at University Paris Cité, France. Currently, he works mainly on fluid mechanics problems related to environmental and natural situations at different scales, granular gases as model systems to study out-of-equilibrium statistical physics, and the morphogenesis through erosion by dissolution, from the point of view of fluid mechanics. 

Piotr Szymczak is a professor at the Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw, Poland. His research bridges physics, geology, and biology, concentrating on self-organization processes that shape the complex systems, from the formation of cave and river networks to vascular system and leaf venation. He enjoys linking theory with experiments and field observations.