Wednesday, November 2, 2022 THIS TALK WILL BE RECORDED BUT THE VIDEO WILL ONLY BE ACCESSIBLE TO PPPL STAFF

4:00pm-5:15pm EDT - PPPL AUDITORIUM AND VIA ZOOM

Hosted by Michael Churchill

Professor Emilio Baglietto
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Associate Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering

Advancing High Fidelity CFD Methods for Extreme Heat Removal Applications

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has the recognized potential to transform the way we approach the design of more efficient and reliable energy systems. The effectiveness of its application relies however on the accuracy and predictive ability of the models, which must, at the same time, limit the computational cost and allow optimal scalability. Great progresses have been made on the aspect of computational methods, including their implementation and validation, and the set of tools being delivered is surely an impressive one. At the same time, the processes that need to be modeled are by nature inherently complex and present open challenges. Three fundamental aspects have to be addressed in order to provide predictive accuracy at extreme heat flux conditions: (1) the ability to effectively resolve complex unsteady turbulence (2) the improved understanding of the role and modeling of turbulent heat flux, in particular for non-unity Prandtl number fluids, and (3) the ability to quantify uncertainty in the turbulence modeling for large scale applications.This talk will present exciting advancements in all three fundamental areas, starting from the proposal of a self-adapting STRUCTure based turbulence closure (STRUCT), which triggers controlled resolution of turbulence inside selected flow regions. The resolution is controlled by a single-point parameter representing the turbulent timescale separation, which quantitatively identifies topological flow structures of interest. I will conclude making the point that the growing maturity of the CFD methods, coupled to a renewed understanding of the turbulent heat flux contribution and an innovative approach for uncertainty quantification represent the base for the advancement of a new generation of high-performance energy systems. Even more exciting is the prospect of training a new generation of thermal hydraulic engineers that will be able to consistently apply the computational methods and support them with high fidelity experimental campaigns.

To join via Zoom: 
https://pppl.zoom.us/j/361549769?pwd=R0d5d0hFUjZJNnBhRGR0RkszOGM1UT09
Meeting ID: 361 549 769
Passcode: colloquium