Research themes
The major research themes, with main contact person, include:
- Nuclear Graphite Technology (Marsden)
- Thermal-Hydraulics (Laurence)
- Nuclear Decommissioning Engineering (Thompson, Gale)
- Structural Integrity (Bailey)
Generic Capabilities
There are various underpinning generic capabilities where individuals have international presence, the main contacts are underlined:
- Finite element stress analysis - Constitutive Modelling (Marsden)
- Fracture mechanics (Marsden)
- Irradiation damage to graphite (Marsden)
- Graphite moderated reactor core mechanics (Marsden)
- Extreme loading (Bailey)
- Condition monitoring and signal processing (Ball)
- Design and reliability (Thompson)
- Project management (Gale)
- Energy transport from the reactor core to heat exchangers and turbines (Laurence)
- Fluid forces and vibrations of internal structures (Laurence)
- Natural convection (buoyancy) in particular for passive safety systems (Laurence)
- Turbulence modelling and multi-phase flows (Laurence, Turan)
Reactor Technology
Some of the above are quite mature and will be required as a basic tool for future analyses. Some are quite young requiring development for general application. At present there is ongoing research in the following specific applications with funders in parentheses:
- Development of a graphite stress analysis code, HSE(NSD)
- Development of irradiated graphite database and materials models, HSE(NSD)
- AGR core component stress analysis, HSE(NSD)
- Magnox core component stress analysis, HSE(NSD)
- Relationship between graphite microstructure and material properties, HSE(NSD)
- Thermal Shock/Notch Sensitivity/Fatigue/Impact resistance of nuclear graphite, HSE(NSD)
- Management of the Graphite Technical Advisory Group GTAC, HSE(NSD)
- Keeping the Nuclear options Open - Nuclear Graphite, EPSRC
- Reactor for Process Heat, Hydrogen and Electricity Generation RAPHAEL, European Commission, FP6
- Establishing the Relationships between Microstructural and Bulk Properties of Graphite through Comparative Modelling: Strength and Modulus, British Energy
- KNOO, EPSRC