Modelling surface effects in two-phase fluid processes across scales

我的奖学金旨在通过开发新的分析和计算技术，生成新的实验数据及其应用于模拟工业系统中沸腾流体的行为，来发展沸腾和核热工水力学研究领域的专业知识。工业过程和发电中使用的水等流体的行为在很大程度上是由气泡和液滴与固体表面的相互作用决定的。它们存在于热交换器、锅炉和冷凝器中，是核反应堆运行的组成部分，核反应堆依赖于固体表面的水沸腾。改变工业表面的物理和化学性质可以控制流体过程中的传热和传质，如沸腾流动，大大增加了它们作为冷却剂的潜力。然后，表面改性可用于开发定制表面，以增强堆芯和核反应堆冷却系统中的传热。开发这种技术需要通过理论分析和数值模拟对流体中的表面效应有良好的物理理解。在我的研究期间，我将开发基本的建模技术来研究核热工应用中流体过程的表面依赖行为。实现这一技术创新步骤所需的全新方法将通过与伦敦帝国理工学院机械工程系热流体、摩擦学和核工程小组的世界领先专家和最先进的设施合作开发，丰富流体过程计算模型的发展，并从分子尺度上的新实验和模拟中获得洞察力。与项目合作伙伴Rolls-Royce和Hexxcell的合作将确保我在研究期间产生的方法和能力的直接工业应用（见随附的项目合作伙伴支持声明）。深入了解表面效应对核反应堆热工力学的影响对于当前水冷反应堆的运行至关重要，对于计划在英国建造的新“第三代+”核电站的设计和安全认证以及对未来反应堆概念的评估都是必需的。其中一些，如先进模块化反应堆，是政府范围研究的核心。该奖学金产生的知识和能力将为英国民用核能政策提供坚实的科学基础，例如能源与气候变化部（DECC），现在是商业、能源与工业战略部（BEIS）的一部分。在核部门之外，利益相关者将受益于我在研究期间提出的新的、更有能力的建模技术的工业开发。这项工作将广泛应用于工业过程的设计，例如使用锅炉、冷凝器、热管和冷却系统。它们的设计越来越依赖于计算流体动力学模拟（CFD）的使用。CFD软件的开发人员将受益于我的奖学金提供的新开发的物理建模功能，并将能够在他们的商业软件包中实现新的模拟方法。

My fellowship aims to develop expertise in the area of boiling and nuclear thermal hydraulics research via the development of novel analytical and computational techniques, the generation of new experimental data and their application to model the behaviour of boiling fluids in industrial systems.The behaviour of fluids, such as water, used in industrial processes and power generation, is to a large extent governed by the interaction of bubbles and droplets with solid surfaces. These are found in heat exchangers, boilers and condensers and are integral part of the operation of nuclear reactors, which relies on the boiling of water at solid surfaces. Altering the physical and chemical properties of industrial surfaces enables controlling heat and mass transfer in fluid processes such as boiling flows, greatly increasing their potential as coolants. Surface modification could then be used to develop bespoke surfaces to enhance heat transfer in the core and in cooling systems of nuclear reactors. Development of such a technology requires a sound physical understanding of surface effects in fluids through theoretical analysis and numerical modelling. During my fellowship I will develop fundamental modelling techniques to study the surface-dependent behaviour of fluid processes found in nuclear thermal hydraulics applications. The radically new methodologies required to enable this technological inventive step will be developed via collaboration with world leading experts and state-of-the-art facilities found within the Thermofluids, Tribology and Nuclear Engineering Groups of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Imperial College London, enriching the development of computational models of fluid processes with insight from new experiments and simulation at the molecular scale. Collaboration with project partners Rolls-Royce and Hexxcell will ensure direct industrial application of methods and capabilities generated during my fellowship (see the accompanying Project Partner Statements of Support).In-depth knowledge of the influence of surface effects on nuclear reactor thermal hydraulics is crucial to the operation of the current fleet of water-cooled reactors and is required for the design and safety certification of new' Generation III+' plants planned to be constructed in the UK, as well as for the assessment of future reactor concepts. Some of these, such as the Advanced Modular Reactor, are at the core of scoping studies by the government. The knowledge and capabilities generated by this fellowship will provide the civil service, such as the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC), now part of the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), with a solid scientific foundation for the UK civil nuclear energy policy.Outside of the nuclear sector, stakeholders will benefit from industrial exploitation of the new, more capable modelling techniques proposed in the course of my fellowship. The work will have wide application to the design of industrial processes that use, for example, boilers, condensers, heat pipes and cooling systems. These are increasingly relying on the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation (CFD) for their design. Developers of CFD software will benefit from the newly developed physical modelling capabilities delivered by my fellowship and will be able to implement the new simulation approaches into their commercial software packages.