One of the issues that this column has addressed is the need for an interface between designers, practitioners, product manufacturers, code and governmental organizations, end users and research organizations.
Issue: 3/03
One of the issues that this column has addressed many times has been the need for an interface between the various strands of our community, to bring together designers, practitioners, product manufacturers, code and governmental organizations, end users and research organizations. There is a need to ensure that product development is innovative, that codes are not prescribed by pressure groups, and that there is an understanding that the laws of physics remain the same whichever code body you subscribe to. Inherent in these objectives must be the need for institutions and groups to exist who have the ability to provide independent comment based on an understanding of the fundamental physics of fluid flow and system operation. The reduction in governmental spending on national research laboratories has inevitably seen a reduction in that sector, both in Europe and the U.S. A tightening of research funding to academic establishments has inevitably led to concentration on research where funding might be more easily obtained, such as climate change in the U.K. While the number of independent academic groups active internationally was always small, this community within a community has been severely diminished by the death in December 2002 of Tom Konen, who for so many years led the research effort at Stevens Institute.