Vivek M. Rao

Vivek M. Rao Ph.D. is a Nuclear CFD Development Engineer in the Thermal Hydraulics Group. With specialized interest in applied fluid mechanics, he has participated in various programs of the U.S. Department of Energy to develop, extend and adapt computational tools on high-performance computing resources to challenges in energy engineering, materials interactions, and large-scale chemical manufacturing processes. Vivek brings 10+ years of inter-disciplinary experience in computational fluid dynamics for reacting flows (gasification, combustion), equipment design (pressure vessel, heat exchangers, turbomachinery), and process intensification. He has participated in experimental investigations relating to synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials for energy storage, surfactant-enhanced soil remediation, and flow visualization.

At ORNL, Vivek has supported mission-aligned research for the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), Building Technologies Research & Integration Center, and the Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment (MPEX). 

Certifications

Engineer Intern (EIT), State of Missouri

Technical Skills

Multiphysics simulation tools: Simcenter STAR-CCM+ | ANSYS Workbench | FLOWNEX

CAD tools: Simcenter NX, Solid Works, Space Claim, nTopology

Research Focus

• Pyrometallurgical process intensification
  • Melt-pool dynamics in reverberatory lead furnaces
  • Optimization of natural gas burner set points
  • Effect of addition of petrochemical reductants
• Modular nuclear energy
  • Light-water cooled reactors, pressure vessel design
  • High-temperature gas-cooled reactors, core design
• Decarbonization applications 
  • Direct air capture (equipment design, element cycles)
  • Waste heat recovery (multi-pass, phase-change systems)
• Design development for marine, hydro-kinetic energy 
  • Station-keeping, passive gliding, active propulsion
• Equipment design
  • Thermal design of vacuum/plasma-facing components
  • Advanced heat exchanger design with topology optimization
  • Annular multi-fluid heat exchangers
  • Two-fluid boilers

Funds Procured

• Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
  • HPC4 Energy Innovation (PI | $300,000 | FY22 | 12 months)
  • HPC4 Manufacturing (Co-I | $1,200,000 | FY19 – FY21 | 12-18 months)
• Water Power Technologies Office
  • TEAMER (PI | $75,000 | FY22 | 12 months)

Collaborators

• Industry
  • Gopher Resource
  • Gridtential Energy
  • Siemens
  • Pyro-E
  • Spar Energy
  • Alcoa USA
  • Linde Group
  • Brayton Energy
  • Eaton 

• University
  • Missouri University of Science & Technology (Chemical Engineering)
  • University of New Mexico (Chemical and Nuclear Engineering)
  • University of Toronto (Materials Science and Engineering)