Mathematicians of Tomsk State University, with the support of the Russian Science Foundation, are creating energy-efficient solutions for the construction industry and energy. The project is dedicated to passive material-based climate control systems that store heat when melted and release it when solidified. The integration of such materials into the design of buildings will regulate the temperature – absorb excess heat during the day and release it at night, without energy costs. The staff of the TSU Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics develop digital models and calculation methods for the design of energy-efficient buildings of the future, as well as the cooling systems for modern electronics. This direction corresponds to the Strategy of Scientific and Technological Development of the Russian Federation as part of the transition to resource-saving energy and the formation of new methods of energy transportation and storage.
The automation of various technical processes and the increase in computing capacity leads to a continuous increase in power consumption. This, in turn, is one of the reasons for the planet’s heat pollution and global warming. The Energy Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences forecasts a global increase in energy consumption by an additional 1.1% per year until 2040. Given this trend, the development of breakthrough energy-saving technologies, including those using renewable energy sources, is becoming a strategic priority.
Maintaining thermal comfort in buildings where climate control systems operate almost continuously is especially resource-intensive. This creates a demand for fundamentally new, “passive” thermal control technologies. The solution may be materials with a phase transition, for example, special waxes or salts. They actively absorb heat during melting and release it during solidification without changing their temperature. This research trend is actively developed by research groups in the USA, India, China, Iran, Australia. However, the behavior of phase-changing materials in real conditions – under the combined influence of solar radiation, air currents, daily temperature changes and other factors – has not yet been sufficiently studied.
Hence, the scientists at the TSU Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics (FMM) study the processes of melting and crystallization of phase-changing materials. This work will become the basis for the creation of highly efficient heat storage systems. The peculiarity of the study is its complexity and focus on complex and most realistic scenarios. TSU mathematicians create their own computing complex. It will allow detailed numerical modeling where experiments are difficult or do not give a complete picture of the processes inside the material.
Since 2022, the TSU research team has created a number of specialized computational models that have become a digital laboratory. These models describe with high accuracy how heat is transferred in smart walls, windows and energy storage units. The materials used in the study have a variable phase state based on the characteristics of the use and functioning of systems, climatic conditions and the optimal temperature in the room. The study is performed with the support of the Russian Science Foundation (agreement No. 22-79-10341, project manager – Nadezhda Bondareva, senior researcher of the Research Laboratory for Modeling the Processes of Convective Heat and Mass Transfer of FMM).
– During the project, we developed new computational models to solve a number of interfacing problems of complex heat and mass transfer in building elements and energy storage systems. In the future, these and other results of the project can be used in the design and creation of passive air conditioning systems to smooth out temperature drops, as well as the cooling systems for photovoltaic elements, – says Nadezhda Bondareva.
At the next stage of the project, until mid-2027, the research team of TSU will create and test digital prototypes of complete thermal control systems – from compact heat accumulators to cooling systems for servers and power equipment.
The progress and results of the study are published in the Mathematics, International Journal of Thermofluids, Energy, and Numerical Heat Transfer. The technical novelty of the developed solutions is confirmed by eight certificates of state registration of computer programs. The fundamental results of the project were presented at international and all-Russian conferences, including the Siberian Thermophysical Workshop (Novosibirsk), 11th International Symposium on Radiative Transfer (RAD-25, Kushadasy, Turkey), International Conference on Heat and Mass Transfer in Porous Media: Fundamentals and Applications (HMT-PM 2024, Sian, China), Alternative energy sources, materials and technologies» (AESMT’25, Sofia, Bulgaria), and 10th Asian Symposium on Computational Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow (ASCHT 2025, Wuhan, China).