Speaker: Dr. April Novak, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Title: Fusion Neutronics and CFD Methods for Fusion Blanket and Fuel Cycles
Abstract:
Radiation transport and thermal-fluids analyses are crucial to the design of the blanket and fuel cycle systems at the heart of the commercialization of fusion energy. This talk will describe research at the University of Illinois in computational methods for neutron-photon transport and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for fusion energy applications. Fusion neutronics, or the evaluation of neutron and photon fluxes and the corresponding heating, material damage, activation, and transmutation, drives many aspects of blanket and shielding design. This talk will describe methods to quickly evaluate candidate fusion materials for their neutronics performance, and how adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) can be used to automatically refine Monte Carlo radiation transport solutions in regions of highest engineering importance. The second half of the talk will describe a new implementation of immersed boundary techniques for spectral element CFD to aid in the fast design and scoping of reticulated foams for tritium extraction. The talk will conclude with the cross-connections between fission and fusion nuclear engineering research and how these disciplines can benefit one another.
Bio: April Novak is an Assistant Professor in the Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering (NPRE) Department at the University of Illinois, where she leads research programs in computational methods for fusion and fission applications. Prior to joining NPRE, she was a Fellow in the Computational Sciences Division at Argonne National Laboratory. Her PhD is in Nuclear Engineering from the University of California-Berkeley. She is a winner of the 2023 R&D 100 Award for exascale multiphysics simulation, a recipient of the DOE-Nuclear Energy Early Career Research Award, and a winner of the inaugural “40 Under 40” Award of Nuclear News. She is a member of the executive committees of the University Fusion Association and the Mathematics & Computation Division of the American Nuclear Society.
Seminar Access: In-person seminars are only available to CU ID holders. At this time, Non-Columbia affiliates and the general public are only invited to participate remotely. Contact [email protected] if you would like the Zoom link for this seminar.