NPC 7

Meeting report

This is a report from the seventh annual meeting of the Nordic ERCOFTAC Pilot Center held in August 28-30, 2002 in Gustavelund, Tuusula some 30 kilometres north from Helsinki. Tuusula is best known for its rich cultural history. Many of the great artists of the turn of the 19th and 20th century used to live around Tuusulanja"rvi (lake Tuusula). For instance, the world famous composer Jean Sibelius, the painters Eero Jarnefelt and Pekka Halonen, the authors Aleksis Kivi and Juhani Aho to just mention a few. As part of the social programme, a visit was made to the museum at Pekka Halonen's Atelier home, see the above picture.

The meeting was well attended by the Swedish and Finnish participants. In addition, we this year had also Estonian participants for the first time. Unfortunately, the participation from Norway and Denmark was quite lean.

Information about ERCOFTAC activities during the past year was given by the national representatives (except from Norway). A total of 26 presentations were made, the largest number representing turbulence research and CFD, but also with combustion and experimental work.

The future activities of the Nordic PC were discussed, in particular if the annual meeting needs to be given another format, in view of the poor representation this year. Possible ideas are to organize the NPC meeting in connection with some other suitable event, such as the ETC, or the SMD (Svenska Mekanik Dagar),when possible. Another is to invite guests to give presentations on adjoining fields, that would be of interest to the participants. It was however decided that next year the NPC annual meeting will be held in Goteborg, at Chalmers. The question of another form for the annual meeting should be discussed further.

Several of the other Pilot Centers in ERCOFTAC have recently changed their names, for instance the Reynolds Center (UK), Burgers Center (NL) or Euler Center (CH). This prompted a discussion of whether the Nordic Pilot Center should rename itself after a (nordic)fluid dynamical celebrity. This discussion was not conclusive, but the overall impression is that the participants are rather happy with the 'nordic pilot center'.

By: Antti Hellsten, Gustav Amberg