Faculty Candidate Seminar

Title:

Turning Up the Heat

Speaker:

Dr. Guanyu Su

Affiliation:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

When:

Wednesday, March 2, 2022 at 2:00:00 PM   

Where:

MRDC Building, Room 4211

Host:

Dr. Steven Biegalski
steven.biegalski@me.gatech.edu

Abstract

As a researcher in thermal-hydraulics, I always endeavor to enhance the power density and the energy conversion efficiency of nuclear power systems. To realize a power upgrade, one can either extend the operating limit of the commercial reactor fleet, comprised of mostly light water reactors, or develop advanced reactors with intrinsic advantages, such as molten salt reactors. Advanced diagnostics are the key players in turning up the heat on the campaign for the above goals. In this talk, I will discuss how to leverage advanced measurements and multi-physics simulation to explore the fundamentals of thermal-hydraulic phenomena in existing and advanced nuclear reactors. In particular, I will present experimental and analytical investigations of novel flow boiling heat transfer and boiling crisis models, as well as the heat-mass coupled tritium transport in neutron-irradiated FLiBe salt. Better understanding and more accurate prediction models should bring about valuable power uprates and life extensions of current LWRs, and pave the way towards the deployment of MSRs. Additionally, broader applications in fusion systems, for example, tritium-breeding liquid blankets, and electronic cooling should also benefit from my study.


Biography

Guanyu Su is a postdoctoral associate, in transition process to a research scientist, in the Nuclear Reactor Lab at MIT. He received his MSc and PhD in Nuclear Science and Engineering from MIT. He has been devoting himself to answering critical scientific questions in nuclear reactor thermal-hydraulics. His research experience covers various interdisciplinary topics in the broad area of diagnostics development, molten salt technologies, two-phase flow heat transfer, and nano/micro engineering for energy systems. In recognition of his research and supervision work, he won the 2019-2020 Outstanding Postdoctoral Research Award in NSE at MIT. He also won the 2016 American Nuclear Society Young Professional Thermal Hydraulics Research Competition, and the 2016 MIT/NSE Manson Benedict award for the most impactful PhD research. Guanyu is an enthusiastic teacher. He likes to try innovative approaches in his teaching. He always discusses with students their ideas and questions. His lectures are highly rated by graduate students, 6.5 to 6.7 out of 7. He believes research and teaching are the two indispensable parts of his career.

Notes

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