During the summer of 2022, I undertook an 8-week research project at DAMTP, University of Cambridge, under the supervision of Dr. Catherine Kamal. The project, titled 'The Motion of Anisotropic Carbon Nanoparticles in Shear Flow: A Hydrodynamic Perspective,' involved computing the dynamics of a Navier-slip ellipsoid in a shear flow field. I presented my findings at the CMP open day. 

 

In November 2022, I began my PhD studies in fluid dynamics at the university of Bristol. My project focuses on the engineering challenge of the safe storage of nuclear waste. By radiation hydrolysis the waste produces hydrogen gas, which poses a significant safety risk as for concentrations as low as 4% to 75% hydrogen becomes combustible, and even explosive in the range 18%-59%. The radioactive waste will be stored in a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF), where it will be isolated in a vault deep inside suitable bedrock. The evolution of hydrogen concentration within the vault must be predicted. The key scientific challenge consists of estimating the rate of molecular mixing of the hydrogen release with ambient air, because over time the mixture may become density stratified, providing a potentially explosive fuel-air mixture at some heights within the vault. An important step towards addressing this risk is to make validated predictions of how a less dense fluid discharged into a more dense fluid modifies the conditions within the vault. In the experiment designed, the density is controlled by using salt as a solute in water and this approach enables a scaled representation of the buoyancy of hydrogen gas discharging from nuclear waste packages into air. An analytical model has been derived for the case where there is no ventilating crossflow, and a sequence of experiments are being conducted to validate the model. Experiments have been designed to provide a ventilating crossflow, by embedding an open return water tunnel in a larger container, for which data is also being collected.

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I have given the following talks about my research progress:

• 'Hydrogen ventilation in a geological disposal facility' - RSO annual conference 2023, Leeds

• 'Ventilation of Hydrogen in UILW Vaults' - Advanced manufacturing webinar 2023

• 'Mixing behaviour of laminar plumes with and without a Ventilating Crossflow' - RSO annual conference 2024, Sheffield 

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