1st European Conference on Gas Micro Flows (GasMems 2012)

PREFACE The aim of the 1st European Conference on Gas Micro Flows is to advance research in Europe and worldwide in the field of gas micro flows as well as to improve global fundamental knowledge and to enable technological applications. Gas flows in microsystems are of great importance and touch almost every industrial field (e.g. fluidic microactuators for active control of aerodynamic flows, vacuum generators for extracting biological samples, mass flow and temperature micro-sensors, pressure gauges, micro heat-exchangers for the cooling of electronic components or for chemical applications, and micro gas analyzers or separators). The main characteristic of gas microflows is their rarefaction, which for device design often requires modelling and simulation both by continuous and molecular approaches. In such flows various non-equilibrium transport phenomena appear, while the role played by the interaction between the gas and the solid device surfaces becomes essential. The proposed models of boundary conditions often need an empirical adjustment strongly dependent on the micro manufacturing technique. The 1st European Conference on Gas Micro Flows is organized under the umbrella of the recently established GASMEMS network (www.gasmems.eu/) consisting of 13 participants and six associate members. The main objectives of the network are to structure research and train researchers in the fields of micro gas dynamics, measurement techniques for gaseous flows in micro experimental setups, microstructure design and micro manufacturing with applications in lab and industry. The conference takes place on June 6–8 2012, at the Skiathos Palace Hotel, on the beautiful island of Skiathos, Greece. The conference has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007–2013 under grant agreement ITN GASMEMS no. 215504. It owes its success to many people. We would like to acknowledge the support of all members of the Scientific Committee and of all referees for their thorough reviews and evaluation of the full papers. Above all, we would like to sincerely thank all authors for their valuable contributions to these proceedings as well as all the participants for creating a stimulating atmosphere through their presentations and discussions and making this conference a great success. Dr Arjan Frijns Editor and Event Coordinator Prof. Dimitris Valougeorgis Local Organizer Prof. Stéphane Colin Network Coordinator Dr Lucien Baldas Assistant Network Coordinator