Research Fellow in Thermal Hydraulics for Boiling and Passive Systems

Job Summary

(Full-time, Fixed term for 24 months)

This new post doctoral research position is being funded by the EPSRC following their recent UK-India Civil Nuclear Collaboration call. You will work in the School of Process, Environmental and Materials Engineering at the University of Leeds as part of a multidisciplinary team involved in nuclear engineering research investigating the use of modern computational methods in assessing the thermal hydraulic behaviour of boiling and passive systems for use in nuclear power stations. The project forms part of an international collaboration between scientists at the Bhaba Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in India and groups at three UK universities; Imperial College London, and the Universities of Leeds and Sheffield.

The post at Leeds will focus on the development of computational fluid dynamic (CFD) approaches to predicting the two-phase flow and heat transfer behaviour in boiling water reactor fuel bundles under various operating conditions. Improvements in the thermal-hydraulic design of the fuel assemblies used in these reactors currently rely on such predictive tools which are frequently employed to assess the effectiveness of design variants. Of particular importance in relation to their predictive ability is the accuracy with which they are able to determine the critical heat flux which represents an operating limit for any fuel assembly. Modelling of these flows for reactor application is most frequently undertaken using Eulerian Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) approaches where the liquid and vapour phases are treated as interpenetrating continua. The objectives of the work at Leeds are to use data generated at BARC to improve the sub-modelling approaches employed in an existing RANS model, and to further develop this model by replacing the RANS turbulent flow component of the overall model with a large eddy simulation (LES). Additionally, you will assist in the design and analysis of experiments carried out using the boiling heat transfer flow loop at BARC to produce new data of value in the design of improved wall boiling and bubble size distribution models, and for overall model validation.

Overall, the project as a whole across the three Universities will use quality benchmark data and, through modelling improvements, increase our understanding of and ability to predict critical heat flux, boiling heat transfer and the behaviour of “boiling” water in supercritical conditions, as needed in support of the development of advanced nuclear reactors and in the evaluation of passive reactor systems.

You will have a PhD in a relevant engineering or physical science subject, as well as experience of RANS and LES-based CFD techniques, including the modelling of two-phase flows and heat transfer. You will also have experience of project leadership, and working both independently and as part of a team.

University Grade 7 (£30,424 - £36,298 p.a)

Informal enquires to Professor Michael Fairweather, tel +44 (0)11334 32419, email m.fairweather@leeds.ac.uk

Closing Date: 30 May 2013