Nuclear Engineering Program collaborating in Energy Frontier Research Center

The Ohio State University is a key collaborator in a new Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC). The U.S. Department of Energy announced a cohort of 42 new and renewed centers to accelerate the scientific breakthroughs needed to strengthen economic leadership and energy security.

The EFRC is led by Idaho National Laboratory's Center for Thermal Energy Transport under Irradiation (TETI), which will investigate ways to improve conduction of heat through materials in extreme irradiation environments.

As a collaborator, Ohio State is studying the impact of radiation-induced microstructure on the ability of materials to transport heat. Funding of $400,000 over four years will support Ohio State’s work as part of the EFRC.

Leading those efforts is Marat Khafizov, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering’s Nuclear Engineering Program. He is using a laser-based experimental method—called modulated thermoreflectance—to measure thermal transport in metal oxides with tailored microstructure. The results will serve to validate advanced models of heat transport in actinides, certain radioactive metallic elements.

“This will have an impact on thermal management in a range of applications, including nuclear power and high-power electronics,” said Khafizov.

Other project partners include Columbia University, Purdue University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, University of Central Florida and Air Force Research Laboratory. Funding for all partners will total $11.5 million over four years.

Established by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science in 2009, the EFRC program brings together researchers from multiple disciplines and institutions to accelerate transformative discovery at the frontiers of science. The centers conduct fundamental research focusing on one or more “grand challenges” identified in major strategic planning efforts by the scientific community.

edited version of original article by Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering