Steven Dargaville

Predicting Active Material Utilization in LiFePO4 Electrodes Using a Multiscale Mathematical Model

A mathematical model is developed to simulate the discharge of a LiFePO 4 cathode. This model contains three size scales, which match with experimental observations present in the literature on the multiscale nature of LiFePO 4 material. A shrinking core is used on the smallest scale to represent the phase transition of LiFePO 4 during discharge. The model is then validated against existing experimental data and this validated model is then used to investigate parameters that influence active material utilization. Specifically, the size and composition of agglomerates of LiFePO 4 crystals is discussed, and we investigate and quantify the relative effects that the ionic and electronic conductivities within the oxide have on oxide utilization. We find that agglomerates of crystals can be tolerated under low discharge rates. The role of the electrolyte in limiting (cathodic) discharge is also discussed, and we show that electrolyte transport does limit performance at high discharge rates, confirming the conclusions of recent literature.

A POD reduced order model for resolving angular direction in neutron/photon transport problems

This article presents the first Reduced Order Model (ROM) that efficiently resolves the angular dimension of the time independent, mono-energetic Boltzmann Transport Equation (BTE). It is based on Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) and uses the method of snapshots to form optimal basis functions for resolving the direction of particle travel in neutron/photon transport problems. A unique element of this work is that the snapshots are formed from the vector of angular coefficients relating to a high resolution expansion of the BTEs angular dimension. In addition, the individual snapshots are not recorded through time, as in standard POD, but instead they are recorded through space. In essence this work swaps the roles of the dimensions space and time in standard POD methods, with angle and space respectively.It is shown here how the POD model can be formed from the POD basis functions in a highly efficient manner. The model is then applied to two radiation problems; one involving the transport of radiation through a shield and the other through an infinite array of pins. Both problems are selected for their complex angular flux solutions in order to provide an appropriate demonstration of the models capabilities. It is shown that the POD model can resolve these fluxes efficiently and accurately. In comparison to high resolution models this POD model can reduce the size of a problem by up to two orders of magnitude without compromising accuracy. Solving times are also reduced by similar factors.

Goal-based angular adaptivity applied to a wavelet-based discretisation of the neutral particle transport equation

A method for applying goal-based adaptive methods to the angular resolution of the neutral particle transport equation is presented. The methods are applied to an octahedral wavelet discretisation of the spherical angular domain which allows for anisotropic resolution. The angular resolution is adapted across both the spatial and energy dimensions. The spatial domain is discretised using an inner-element sub-grid scale finite element method. The goal-based adaptive methods optimise the angular discretisation to minimise the error in a specific functional of the solution. The goal-based error estimators require the solution of an adjoint system to determine the importance to the specified functional. The error estimators and the novel methods to calculate them are described. Several examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the methods. It is shown that the methods can significantly reduce the number of unknowns and computational time required to obtain a given error. The novelty of the work is the use of goal-based adaptive methods to obtain anisotropic resolution in the angular domain for solving the transport equation. Wavelet angular discretisation used to solve transport equation.Adaptive method developed for the wavelet discretisation.Anisotropic angular resolution demonstrated through the adaptive method.Adaptive method provides improvements in computational efficiency.

A least squares based finite volume method for the Cahn-Hilliard and Cahn-Hilliard-reaction equations

A vertex-centred finite volume method (FVM) for the Cahn-Hilliard (CH) and recently proposed Cahn-Hilliard-reaction (CHR) equations is presented. Information at control volume faces is computed using a high-order least-squares approach based on Taylor series approximations. This least-squares problem explicitly includes the variational boundary condition (VBC) that ensures that the discrete equations satisfy all of the boundary conditions. We use this approach to solve the CH and CHR equations in one and two dimensions and show that our scheme satisfies the VBC to at least second order. For the CH equation we show evidence of conservative, gradient stable solutions, however for the CHR equation, strict gradient-stability is more challenging to achieve.

Directions in Radiation Transport Modelling

Radiation transport modelling has come a long way in the last 50 years: 2D models have been replaced by 3D models; multi-group energy schemes have been replaced by continuous energy nuclear data representations in Monte Carlo models; accurate 3D geometrical representations are available, including import from CAD files. More exciting advances are on the horizon to increase the power of simulation tools. The advent of high performance computers is allowing bigger, higher fidelity models to be created, if the challenges of parallelization and memory management can be met. 3D whole core transport modelling is becoming possible. Uncertainty quantification is improving with large benefits to be gained from more accurate, less pessimistic estimates of uncertainty. Advanced graphical displays allow the user to assimilate and make sense of the vast amounts of data produced by modern modelling tools. Numerical solvers are being developed that use goal-based adaptivity to adjust the nodalisation of the system to provide the optimum scheme to achieve the user requested accuracy on the results, thus removing the need to perform costly convergence studies in space and angle etc. More use is being made of multi-physics methods in which radiation transport is coupled with other phenomena, such as thermal-hydraulics, structural response, fuel performance and/or chemistry in order to better understand their interplay in reactor cores.

A Mathematical Model of the Ripening of Cheddar Cheese

Cheddar cheese undergoes a number of biochemical changes during ripening. These processes were modelled with differential equations in a project at MISG2013 (the 2013 mathematics-in-industry study group) at Queensland University of Technology, Australia. Models could aid in the prediction of cheese quality from initial measurements. The model is presented and the effect of small changes in initial conditions is explored.