MEMS Seminar Evolutionary Design with Freedom

Evolution is the defining phenomenon of nature. This lecture outlines the role played by freedom and evolution in physics (thermodynamics): given freedom, movement exhibits the tendency to evolve into configurations that provide greater access. The lecture traces the modern evolution of flow systems that morph with freedom toward greater flow access, in accord with the constructal law. For example, the evolution of volumetric cooling or heating is pointing toward greater heat transfer density, multiple scales and smaller dimensions. The progress is in two ways, incremental and with sudden step changes in flow configuration and performance. All this is predictable. The doctrine of evolutionary (constructal) design teaches how to predict evolution in general, and how to fast-forward technology evolution.