nuclearengineering
Still under construction
Computational Plasma Dynamics
The Flowfield -Dependent Variation (FDV) method was first invented by Professor T.J. Chung in 1999. This method is based on the Finite Element Method (FEM). The theory behind the FDV method is to relate each flow variable to the other variables in a problem through the Jacobbian. i.e. the partial derivative of the variable with respect to each of the other variables in the problem being solved. This powerful method allows us to compute the numerical solutions of very complex problems in fluid dynamics that involve very high mach numbers. Studies are being performed on this technique by Dr. Chung to be used for solving nuclear fusion problems. It is well-known that electric energy cannot be generated from nuclear fusion due to the very high instabilities associated with nuclear fusion.
Dr. T. Chung is the author of two of the best books in their fields: Computational Fluid Dynamics (2010), General Continuum Mechanics, and Applied Continuum Mechanics all published by Cambridge University Press.
Why Nuclear Fusion Would be A Clean Energy Source?
Nuclear engineering is best described in Figure 1. The plot shown in the figure is called the Binding Energy per nucleon plot. This plot is very descriptive of what nuclear engineering is all about. At the top of the curve is iron, indicating that iron has the most stable nuclii, to the extreme right is Uranium, indicating that in order to achieve maximum stability (i.e. maximum binding energy per nucleon) the uranium nucleous has to lose weight in order to be closer to the stable iron nucleous. That is the concept of nuclear fission, some of the lost weight is radiated as high energy gamma rays. This radioactivity is a major drawback of nuclear fission. On the other extreme of the curve, are the light mass elements, with Hydrogen nucleus at the bottom tip of the curve. The nuclii of these light elements need to gain weight in order to be closer to the iron nucleus. This is the concept of nuclear fusion. Notice that the energy released from the fusion of Hydrogen to Helium is much greater than the energy released from a nuclear fission of Uranium 238 to U 232.
This is one advantage of nuclear fusion over nuclear fission. However, the main advantage of nuclear fusion is that no radiation is released as a result of the reaction, since the nuclii in a nuclear fusion try to gain mass.
Figure 1. the Binding energy per nucleon curve
Governing Equations of the Flowfield Dependent Variable Method [1-2]:
According to Dr. Chung, the governing equations are written in the 'conservation form' to allow for the possibility to relate the variables to each other. A corner stone that current techniques in studying plasma dynamics severely lack. Another reason for utilizing the conservation form is to easily get the Neumann boundary conditions explicitely by simply integrating the equations [].