Jorge's Research Plan - ondrejch/Molten_salt_chemistry GitHub Wiki
Work Scope
Jorge will be supporting the development and testing of a simulation surrogacy tool which will be used to model the redox control of a molten salt fuel at various points throughout the life of the salt. His work will be an adaptation of the work done by Loc Duong in his unpublished paper Thermodynamic Calculations and Chemical Control in Molten LiF-BeF2 Salt Reactors. The research will be completed in three phases as outlined in the Research Description below. Jorge will work closely with myself and Sophie and will be expected to attend regular group meetings where we can share our progress and determine together the next steps forward. Deliverables, as described in the Research Description, will be used to motivate the work and to gauge progress.
Research Description
Phase 1 - Getting Started
Description: In this phase of research Jorge will familiarize himself with the field of molten salt chemistry and the tools we will be using in later phases of research. He will be expected to complete each of the deliverables below. These deliverables are intended to help him gain a deeper understanding of current developments related to his research, develop the technical writing skills he will need to present his work, and practice the collection and interpretation of data using thermochemical modeling tools such as thermochimica.
Deliverables:
- 2 Lit. Research Summaries (~2 pages each): Jorge will be given two research topics (one at a time) relating to our work. He will be expected to perform a deep dive on the subject, compile a library using ResearchRabbit and Zotero, create an annotated bibliography explaining each entry in the library, and then distill what he has learned on the subject into a 2-page summary.
- 2 Lit. Research Presentations (5-10 slides each): In conjunction with each research summary, Jorge will put together a small set of slides to present the material to our group. These slides will also serve as a resource while preparing for future presentations.
- 1 Technical Presentation (10 min): During this phase Jorge will be working to familiarize himself with Thermochimica. He will complete simple training tasks and practice submitting simulations and interpreting the outputs. In this technical presentation he will explain the work he has done, why it is significant and demonstrate a clear understanding of the results of his simulations. This presentation will be given to the group once it is complete.
Timeline: Each Research Summary and Presentation is expected to take between 5-7 weeks (at 7-8 hours a week). The Technical Presentation should be prepared over the course of the semester with the final presentation being made towards the end of this semester or early in the next.
Phase 2 - Demonstration and Development of Simulation Surrogacy Tool
Description: The Molten Salt Thermochemical Database has a large amount of data for a fair selection of important chemicals. However, the database is not entirely complete and there remain some chemicals which are not represented. To overcome this challenge we intend to group chemically similar elements and represent them in the simulation with a single "simulation surrogate". We will develop and eventually publish a method for these groupings which will reduce the error introduced to the simulation. In this phase, Jorge will be responsible for testing the limitations of various grouping methodologies and helping determine the optimal system.
Deliverables:
- Technical Presentations (10 min): Jorge will prepare brief presentations highlighting his work on each methodology he works with.
- Conference Presentation or Journal Paper: Once we have optimized our Methodology we plan to present the work either in a conference or journal. The specific conference or journal will be dependent on the uniqueness and value of our work.
Timeline: This Phase will begin with the completion of Phase 1 (Sometime around the beginning of the next semester).
Note: At this point it is hard to say where the research will have taken us. Near the end of Phase 2, we will have a more complete picture of where we need to go. For now, I share two possibilities for Phase 3.
Phase 3a - Demonstration of 1-D Metal-Salt Model for the MIT Loop
Description: Once a 1-D Model of the MIT Salt chemistry has been constructed, Jorge may be responsible for performing a variety of simulations with the model to determine its limitations.
Deliverables: TBD
Phase 3b - Integration of OpenMC and/or SCALE with the Simulation Surrogacy Tool for the simulation of Real-time Redox Control for a Molten Salt Reactor
Description: One of the unique aspects of Loc's work was his use of SCALE's depletion capabilities to simulate the condition of a fuel salt at various points throughout its use. In this phase, Jorge will learn to integrate either SCALE or OpenMC with the Simulation Surrogacy tool and then explore possible redox control methods for an MSRR-like system.
Deliverables: TBD