Maximilian Kraus

PhD Student
Department of Engineering
University of Cambridge

Contact: mhgk4@cam.ac.uk

Sponsor: Harding Distinguished Postgraduate Scholars Programme

Development of time-dependent random ray methods for high-accuracy neutron flux simulations

My PhD focuses on developing a novel neutron transport method for transient neutron flux simulations. The neutron flux is the most essential quantity that characterises the behaviour of a nuclear reactor. Especially for the simulation of its time-dependent behaviour, which is crucial for safety assessment, significant simplifications are often applied to make the neutron transport equation accessible to numerical calculations at a reasonable computational cost.

While these methods are proven tools for conventional power reactor modelling, they might not be adequate for all future innovative reactor concepts, often smaller in size with a complex geometry and diverse materials. My work will introduce a time-dependent neutron transport solver based on the novel random ray method, which is able to deliver high-accuracy results for nuclear engineering problems of any complexity.

Achievements

Paper presentation at PHYSOR 2022

Paper submission for PHYSOR 2024