Experimental and Numerical Analysis of a PCM-Supported ...

Preface
First and foremost I thank the Greatest Creator for his countless blessings and neat
creation: “He sends down rain from the sky and with it gives life to the earth after it
is dead: Verily in that are signs for those who are wise.” [Al- Qur’aan 30:24]. “It is He
Who has let free the two bodies of flowing water: one palatable and sweet, and the
other salty and bitter; yet has He made a barrier between them, and a partition that
is forbidden to be passed.” [Al-Qur’aan 25:53]. “It is He Who created The Night and
the Day, and the sun and the moon: All (the celestial bodies) Swim along, each in its
rounded course.” [Al-Qur’aan 21:33]. “It is not permitted to the Sun to catch up the
Moon, nor can the Night outstrip the Day: Each (just) swims along in (its own) orbit
(According to Law).” [Al-Qur’aan 36:40].
I would like to express my deep appreciation and gratitude to my advisors: Prof.
Wolfgang Polifke, Dr-Eng. Markus Spinnler, Lehrstul für Thermodynamik,
Technische Universität München (TUM), Germany, and Prof. Abdalla Hanafi, Faculty
of Engineering Cairo University, for their continuous guidance, support, advices, and
valuable time. I thank Allah for blessing me with such great advisors.
I’m deeply grateful to Prof. Polifke for his brilliant insights and many inspiring ideas
which helped me to develop better understanding and careful numerical and
theoretical analysis. I have learned a great deal from him how to buildup
argumentations and maintain a clear sense of purpose. My appreciation for him as a
scientist and as a person outpaces the limits of acknowledgement words. I would
like to thank prof. Hanafi for his support and encouragement to apply for the Ph.D.
scholarship and conduct my research abroad. I appreciate the time, guidance, and
efforts Prof. Hanafi provided to my research from preliminary stages to the
conclusion. I also thank Prof. Hanafi for teaching me the Computational and
Numerical Methods in Heat Transfer and Fluid Mechanics in my post graduate
studies.
A very special word of thanks goes to Dr. Markus Spinnler; Head of the Solar
Research Center at TUM for making my research as smooth as possible. His early
and continued technical and administrative supports were invaluable. He formulated
the research proposal of my Ph.D. study and was leading the technical and
administrative correspondences of my scholarship for securing the financial means
and laboratory facilities. He also was very helpful in advising and discussing lab
problems and experimental analysis as well proof reading of the dissertation and
providing many valuable comments in concluding the study. His sense of humour
and friendliness hospitality for me and my family in Germany were enjoyable and will
never be forgotten.
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