The Institute of Thermal-Fluid Dynamics is operating as a research and development unit working on heat and mass transfer aspects of interest for the energy and plant engineering and associated technologies. Research activities of the Institute are either applied research (industrial oriented research) or basic research (fundamental research).

Applied research may concern with either single components or energy plant systems, and normally, medium size experimental facilities are used. It spans from engineering (design, construction, start-up and management of medium scale thermo-fluid-dynamic experimental facilities), to the development of components and energy plant systems (process, thermo-fluid-dynamics and thermo mechanical aspects), the development of plant instrumentation and CAD systems applications. The Institute also acts as induatrial promoter for the absorption cycles technology: know-how transfer, component and machine qualification tests

Basic research is instead devoted to the study and the analysis of the phenomenological aspects of heat and mass transfer and of thermo-fluid-dynamics of two-phase systems. Its main objective is the physical understanding of the phenomenon under examination.

Competences are essentially in thermal-fluid dynamics, with special concern with the knowledge of heat and mass transfer in transport phenomena of single- and two-phase systems, including design, construction, start-up and management of experimental facilities and test sections, data analysis and modeling.