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what kind of fund stuff do you get to do as a nuclear engineer?
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Fun stuff you get to do as a nuclear engineer?
- Thread starter Pythagorean
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SUMMARY
Nuclear engineers engage in complex thermo-mechanical analysis of nuclear fuel, utilizing finite element methods (FEM) and multiphysics models to simulate both normal and abnormal operating conditions. They develop specialized models to understand the physical and mechanical properties of fuel materials, conduct predictive analyses, and validate models through experiments. Additionally, they participate in seminars and conferences, sharing knowledge on nuclear technology, and are involved in the design and analysis of exotic nuclear systems, such as spacecraft propulsion systems. The role also includes monitoring fabrication processes and addressing unexpected failures through non-destructive testing (NDT) methods.
PREREQUISITES- Thermo-mechanical analysis techniques
- Finite Element Method (FEM) modeling
- Non-destructive testing (NDT) methods
- Numerical analysis in engineering
- Explore advanced FEM modeling techniques for nuclear applications
- Research non-destructive testing (NDT) methodologies in engineering
- Investigate the principles of multiphysics modeling in nuclear systems
- Learn about the design and analysis of spacecraft propulsion systems
Nuclear engineers, physics students, materials scientists, and professionals involved in energy systems and safety analysis will benefit from this discussion.
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Danger
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One of the first steps was learning to spell his name... 
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Danger said:One of the first steps was learning to spell his name...
doh! And I can't edit titles here can I?
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Doc Al
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But I can... 
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Doc Al said:But I can...
thanx kindly, Doc.
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Danger
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...[/color]- #7
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I feel like we just had Astronuc's birthday party without him or something.
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Astronuc
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Mostly thermo-mechanical (numerical and highly non-linear) analysis of nuclear fuel under the normal steady-state and transient operating conditions, and not so normal conditions that hopefully will never happen except in special experiments. This requires the development of special models of the physical and mechanical properties of the materials of the fuel and its environment. Then one has to model the power/irradiation history with reasonable spatial resolution. We use special FEM and multiphysics models. We then simulate separate-effects and integrated experiments to verify and validate particular models and the integrated codes, and then we perform predictive analysis.Similar work is done on core structures.
Way back when, in grad school, I did things like core/reactor design studies.
Then there are special areas in which I work, such as surveillance of fabrication processes and how they are applied to fuel and core components.
Then there is the really unusual stuff (design and analyses) with exotic nuclear systems like spacecraft propulsion systems (which is not in high demand these days
).And various insundry.
And participate in PF.
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Cyrus
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He also does weddings and bar-mitzvahs.
Ba-dump-tish.
Ba-dump-tish.
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Mallignamius
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Whew! I thought something happened to him. Don't do that!
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Astronuc
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Mallignamius said:
I thought something had happened to me too! Actually, I enjoy what I do, especially since two friends recently hired on, and there are four of us from the same grad program at the company.
I also do seminars and attend conferences. I used to travel to Europe twice a year and Japan/Asia at least once a year to give seminars on nuclear technology and related subjects. I hope to be doing more of that.
I also participate in a number of engineering and technical societies related to materials, energy and nuclear technology.
It keeps me busy.
Oh, and I need to find my replacement.
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Mallignamius
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Hah, I was about to post a reply asking what you just answered- enjoyment. I am looking at school this fall and a physics career is one of my choices. The other being programming. Physics I think I would love... Programming I think I could handle.
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Astronuc said:
Is this in any way related to chaos theory in plasmas? SOC systems and what not?
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Astronuc
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Well, it's not plasma. We like to keep our fuel solid and dimensionally stable, but there is bounded chaos in the sense that it is stochastic. This is particularly challenging when trying to define the technical limit(s) of operating fuel and then operating as close to the technical limit without failing.Pythagorean said:
I also get involved in why things fail when they were not expected to do so. So I have to know a little about methods of NDT and DT.
Or do both. There is a lot of numerical analysis in physics and engineering now, because we can't possible do experiments on all conceivable combinations of variables. So we build numerical models based on what limited experiments we can do, and then we try to predict/forecast what happens in a given situation. It's very satisfying to do a prediction beforehand and then have an experiment or actual situation do pretty much what the simulation predicted.Mallignamius said:
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Mallignamius
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Astronuc said:Or do both. There is a lot of numerical analysis in physics and engineering now, because we can't possible do experiments on all conceivable combinations of variables. So we build numerical models based on what limited experiments we can do, and then we try to predict/forecast what happens in a given situation. It's very satisfying to do a prediction beforehand and then have an experiment or actual situation do pretty much what the simulation predicted.
I like that! Now I actually have a direction to look into.