EUROPEAN FEDERATION OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
Working Party of Multiphase Fluid Flow

Minutes of the Business Meeting

• Meeting
  The meeting took place on the occasion of the 4-th International Conference on Multiphase Flow (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, May 27 - June 1, 2001) with intention to discuss some relevant points scheduled for the forthcoming meeting in Nurnberg.

• Address
  The meeting took place on the occasion of the 4-th International Conference on Multiphase Flow (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, May 27 - June 1, 2001) with intention to discuss some relevant points scheduled for the forthcoming meeting in Nurnberg.

1. WP meeting in 2002
   Prof Drahos asked the participants for their opinions about the suggestion to held the next-year WP meeting in Prague on the occasion of the CHISA Congress, traditionally held biannually in the last week of August. Further, if WP should organize a special Symposium devoted to a current sub-field of multiphase research. The suggestion was generally supported. Prof Zun asked, if presentation at the Symposium implies the duty of delivering fulltexts of contributions. Prof Drahos made clear that no such duty would be imposed on the attendees, since the main purpose of such an event is getting researches together and disseminating new and even partial results of current research. He also mentioned that the material output of the Congress is a Proceeding of printed abstracts and a CD with extended abstract, synopsis or fulltext (not obligatory). Prof Azzopardi pointed out the advantage of joining WP Symposia to other bigger events in economizing organizational efforts. Prof Drahos prompted the participants to suggest the topic and name of the Symposium. It came out of a short discussion that "A Symposium on Transient Multiphase Flow" would be suitable. Prof Hewitt suggested having WP symposia at CHISA be a new tradition.

2. Relation EFCE and EMSI
   Prof Drahos raised the point about the relation of these two European bodies dealing with the same subject, multiphase flow. Multiphase chemical engineers gathered in EFCE would like to know the reason for founding a new organization by people close to mechanical and nuclear engineering as well as an outline of its future activity. Prof Hewitt explained the difference between these two: EFCE is a formally structured institution, while EMSI is designed as an informal organization providing a "common roof" for multiphase co-operation and information exchange.

3. Information exchange
   Prof Drahos opened the question about information exchange within EFCE. A discussion resulted in a suggestion to create a WP web page aimed at providing links to national home pages of people and institutions active in multiphase flow research. It will the duty of the national representatives, the WP members, to provide the list of the national web sites and keep it updated. Prof Drahos offered creating the WP web page in Prague and finding financial support for this activity. Also, the web page should contain John Hill's "Catalogue of Current Research" in the text form, which covers the multiphase arena till 1996. Besides, it may keep links to any other sources of useful multiphase information, if made accessible by the owners (e.g. the reference database at Imperial College London, Prof Hewitt).

4. Co-operation within the framework of EFCE
   Prof Drahos asked for suggestions how to employ the potential of mutual personal relationships developed during functioning in WP and EFCE and turn it into more specific forms. A discussion yielded some suggestions, e.g. visits, exchange of researchers and PhD students (including the support from M. Curie Fellowships) and join applications for EC research grants.

5. Information about ERCOFTAC
   Prof Drahos asked Prof Oliemans, the current chairman of ERCOFTAC, for basic information about activity of this organization. Prof Oliemans explained that the main goal is to link people from academia and industry to encourage technology transfer and enhance information exchange (www.ercoftac.doc.org). The money coming from the membership fee is used to reach the goal. Prof Oliemans highlighted the possibility of co-operation between ERCOFTAC and WP.

6. Sleeping members
   Prof Drahos announced his strong intention to contribute to solving the long-term problem of the presence of inactive national representatives in WP. These are only formal members of our WP, do not respond to the messages sent and do not display any activity. These can hardly contribute to the international collaboration scheme. Some consultations with EFCE have already been undertaken in this respect.