Past Projects

I. Nuclear Fuel Technology

• • Design and analysis of nuclear fuel storage facilities
  • Thermophysical properties and swelling behavior of nitride and carbide fuels
  • Coated particle fuel compact (CPFC) for use in radioisotope heater units (RHUs) and general purpose heat sources (GPHSs)

• • Compatibility of hydrogen with carbide and structural materials at high temperatures

See publications on this topic

II .Nuclear Reactor Safety

• • Analysis of core meltdown accidents and molten fuel-coolant interaction phenomena
  • Nuclear fuel swelling and irradiation behavior during normal operation and severe accidents
  • Debris bed coolability with application to post-accident heat removal

III. Nuclear Reactor Thermal-Hydraulics

• • Flow visualization and modeling of transition from mixed convection to buoyancy-induced turbulence in vertical annuli
  • Pool boiling and critical heat flux from underside of flat and curved surfaces with application to reactor vessel cooling in severe accidents

• • Critical heat flux at low flow and low pressure
  • Natural and mixed convection of water in multi-rod bundles and vertical annuli

IV. Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion Systems

• • Design, optimization, modeling, and analysis of space power systems
  • SP-100

• • TOPAZ-II

• • Pellet Bed Reactor (PeBR) for thermal and electric propulsion missions

• • Bimodal systems for electric power and thermal propulsion

• • Heat Pipes - Segmented Thermoelectric Module Converters (HP-STMCs) space reactor power system

• • Scalable AMTEC Integrated Reactor Space Power System (SAIRS)

• • Design and analysis of SP-100 thermoelectric space power system
  • Studies of void formation during the freezing of alkali metal coolants
  • Design and analysis of TOPAZ-II thermionic space power systems
  • Design and analysis of radiation shield and nuclear reactors for space missions and surface power
  • Reactor design with high burnup capabilities

• • Design of heat pipes-cooled fast spectrum reactors
  • Design of heat pipes radiator for space reactor power systems
  • Materials studies for use in space nuclear power systems
  • i. Refractory metals
  • ii. Mechanically Alloyed-Oxide Dispersion Strengthened Steels

V. Planetary Surface Power Systems - Manned Rover and Surface Outpost

VI. Advanced Radioisotope Power Systems (ARPSs)

• • Coated particle fuel compact (CPFC) for use in radioisotope heater units (RHUs) and general purpose heat sources (GPHSs)

• • Vapor anode, multitube AMTEC cells for ARPSs

• • SiGe/Skutterudites cascaded thermoelectrics for ARPSs
  • Energy conversion options for ARPSs

VII. Terrestrial Nuclear Power

• • Nuclear power plant concepts with dynamic and static combined energy conversion

VIII. Alkali-Metal Thermal-to-Electric Conversion (AMTEC)

• • Design, analysis and testing of multi-tube AMTEC cells for space and terrestrial energy applications

• • Design and performance of high-power AMTEC units for space reactor power systems

IX. Thermoelectric Converters

• • High temperature Skutterudites thermoelectrics

• • Segmented thermoelectrics
  • SiGe/Skutterudites cascaded thermoelectrics for ARPSs
  • Performance tests of Skutterudite and Segmented thermoelectric converters

X. Thermionic Converters

• • Development of grooved thermionic electrodes for high power density

• • Experimental testing and modeling of the operation of low pressure Cs-Ba tacitron with application to temperature and nuclear radiation power conditioning

XI. Heat Pipe Technology and Thermosyphons

• • Experimental and modeling of the transient operation of heat pipes including the start-up from a frozen state

• • Design, performance and operation limits of heat pipes, including the start-up from frozen state
  • Design and testing of low temperature heat pipes

• • Design, performance and operation limits of thermosyphons

XII. Boiling Heat Transfer

• • Boiling heat transfer experiments and correlations

• • Microlayer evaporation and its effect on nucleate boiling heat transfer
  • Flow visualization and high-speed bubble motion studies near critical heat flux
  • Effect of material properties and curvature on pool boiling from downward-facing curved surfaces in saturated and subcooled water

• • Boiling of dielectric fluids for electronic microchips cooling

XIII. Immersion Cooling of High-Power Electronics

XIV. Convective Heat Transfer

• • Convection heat transfer experiments and correlations
  • Natural convection and application to electronics cooling

• Marangoni convection and phase-change in microgravity
• Heat transfer in porous media and thermal energy storage modules
• Application of laser interferometry to flow visualization and heat transfer in natural convection of air
• Enhanced cooling using impinging and swirl air jets
• Natural convection of air at high temperatures

XV. Radioactive and Mixed Waste Treatment

• • Interaction of colloids with gas/liquid interface

• • Chemical reversibility of chemical reaction between colloids and contaminants
  • Effect of pH and ionic strength on colloids stability
  • Plasma hearth process and application to the treatment of mixed, chemical and radioactive waste
  • Irreversibility of reactions between colloids and actinides at different cations concentrations
  • Effect of subsurface colloids on hydraulic characteristics of porous media
  • Applicability of filtration theory and correlations to shallow subsurface transport of colloids
  • Attachment kinetics of colloids to gas bubbles in subsurface environment
  • RF plasma for decontamination of transuranic elements

XVI. Dynamic Energy Conversion

XVII. Flow in Microchannels and Microtubes/Microfluidics

IVIII. Shielding Solar Energetic Particles

• • Interactions of High Energy Solar Protons with Potential Shielding Materials

• • Displacement Damage Dose in Silicon with Different Shielding Materials

XIX. Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) Plants

XX. Neutronics