Alexander Lindsay’s research while affiliated with Idaho National Laboratory and other places

... Another study investigating a 300 MWt space reactor for nuclear thermal propulsion was unique in that it did not use point kinetics [8]. In comparing a hybrid PID controller that accounts for both power and reactivity in light of period-generated control [9], the present work uses a much higher-fidelity MOOSE [10] model that couples full dimensional neutronics and thermal hydraulics models of the reactor. In regard to optimization of control drum configurations in the HOLOS-Quad microreactor design, moth-flame optimization was shown to be a good real-time control strategy in comparison to five other optimization algorithms that were also studied [11]. ...

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Nuclear Microreactor Control with Deep Reinforcement Learning

... The MOOSE repository hosts modules which serve as building blocks to many downstream applications. New modules were created for electromagnetics [9], transport of scalar quantities, optimization, and solid properties. The heat conduction module has been renamed as the heat transfer module to better describe its capabilities. ...

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3.0 - MOOSE: Enabling massively parallel multiphysics simulations

... The basic multidimensional flow model in SAM was merged into the MOOSE Navier-Stokes module. [29] A multiscale model has been developed to include an explicit pebble temperature model nested in the porous media model for pebble bed reactor applications. This model can predict the macroscopic (pebble bed) and microscopic (pebble) temperature distributions under both steady-state and transient conditions. ...

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SAM: A Modern System Code for Advanced Non-LWR Safety Analysis

... In addition to a FE discretization, a finite volume discretization of the classical Euler equations has recently been added to Pronghorn in order to increase convective stability and improve solver performance for high-speed flows. 40 Ongoing efforts are focused on extending this implementation to include Pronghorn's Navier-Stokes and frictiondominated models, and as such, all simulations performed in this work are based on the FEM. Finally, time integration with a wide variety of implicit and explicit schemes is available. ...

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Pronghorn: A Multidimensional Coarse-Mesh Application for Advanced Reactor Thermal Hydraulics

... The solution to the set of rate equations dictated by equation (2) is accomplished using the open-source code network solver Chemical ReAction NEtworks (CRANE) [36]. CRANE has previously been through a verification and validation process when coupled to fluid codes for low to atmospheric pressure plasma discharges [37][38][39][40]. CRANE uses tabulated energy dependent reaction rates calculated from BOLSIG+ [41]. ...

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Estimation of mean electron energy in helium surface ionization waves on dielectric substrates

... Recently, a CCP test case for hybrid fluid-PIC simulations has also been proposed [16]. Other benchmark studies include PIC simulations of axial-azimuthal [17] and radial-axial [18] kinetic instabilities in partially magnetized plasmas, fluid simulations of atmospheric-pressure streamers [19], and method of manufactured solutions for DD models [20]. ...

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Electron inertial effects in the rarefied regime of a direct-current (DC) breakdown

... Similarly, Abbasi et al. 26 recently utilized microscopic solvers in a novel multiscale framework to predict different transport phenomena throughout the entire length of a fuel cell. Despite the large volume of research that has been performed on microscale physical modelling of SOFCs, [22][23][24][25][27][28][29][30] it is mostly focused on conventional microstructure designs whose 3D reconstructions are acquired with tomography methods (FIB-SEM in particular). The potential for more ordered microstructure configurations, distinct from conventional structures typically produced through tape casting, 31 or screen printing 32 remains largely unexplored in this context. ...

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A Pore-Scale Computational Framework for Enhancing Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Performance through the Design of Anode Porous Configurations

... The third challenge relates to tritium extraction from the ceramic materials invessel, which is comprised of complex, multi-physics interactions due to a variety of factors including steep temperature gradients, radiation-induced defects that can act as traps, and complex chemistry of the system due to lithium burn-up and/or residual impurities in the sweep gas. Understanding and appropriately accounting for this tritium release is critical both from a safety and fuel cycle viability perspective (van der Laan et al. 2016;Simon et al. 2022;Cristescu & Draghia 2020). Lastly, the relatively large volume of ceramic breeder and multiplier required for breeding blankets in future power systems and the need for regular refueling in order to maintain breeding performance will necessitate safe and economical solutions for reprocessing and recycling, thus minimizing cost and waste (Leys et al. 2021 (Hernández & Pereslavtsev 2018;Gaisin et al. 2020;Zhou et al. 2019), and designs/design methodology (Shimwell et al. 2016;Sharafat et al. 2016;V. ...

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Breeder blanket and tritium fuel cycle feasibility of the Infinity Two Fusion Pilot Plant

... The software used for the FEA was the Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) developed by Idaho National Labs 47 . MOOSE has seen use in nuclear reactor safety studies 73,74 . It can solve FE problems in parallel, scalable up to 30,000 cores. ...

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Harnessing 3D microarchitecture of pterosaur bone using multi-scale X-ray CT for aerospace material design

... A mortar finite element framework was added to MOOSE and verified. Its usage on contact mechanics and gap heat transfer modeling has improved solver convergence and result quality in practical nuclear reactor simulations [3]. ...

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2.0 - MOOSE: Enabling massively parallel multiphysics simulation