High resolution simulations of two-phase reactor-relevant flows

with Igor Bolotnov, North Carolina State University
Friday, November 11, 2022
10:10 am, Randolph 117A and virtual

Register for webinar link

This talk will highlight the significant progress in the last decade of the high-resolution single and two-phase flow simulations of reactor-relevant flows. Rapid development of high-performance computing capabilities creates exciting opportunities to study complex reactor thermal hydraulic phenomena. Today’s advances in thermal hydraulic analysis, interface capturing simulations and advanced data processing and analysis approaches will help pave the way to the next level of understanding of two-phase flow behavior in nuclear reactors. The presentation will focus on history and review of interface capturing simulations in recent years, capabilities development and validation as well as the applications to practical problems of interest. We will discuss typical computational methods used for those simulations, provide some examples of the past work, as well as computational cost estimates and affordability of such simulations for research and industrial applications. New generation methodologies are required in order to take full advantage of those capabilities to greatly enhance the scientific understanding of complex two-phase flow phenomena in various conditions relevant to industrial applications.

Igor Bolotnov is an expert in high-resolution simulation of single and two-phase flows for nuclear thermal hydraulics applications. He received his graduate degrees from RPI in ’03 (M.S.) and ’08 (Ph.D.) in engineering physics. He joined Nuclear Engineering Department at North Carolina State University in 2011. Professor Bolotnov’s research program is actively funded by government agencies and industry and focuses on two-phase flow modeling and simulation in complex geometries. He is active in thermal-hydraulics division of American Nuclear Society and serves as an Associate Editor for the Annals of Nuclear Energy.