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Projects

MPhys Project in Aerosol-Cloud Interactions

Getting to spend time focussing on different aspects of this project, receiving excellent support from my supervisors, and bringing it altogether in my report was an incredible experience, and definitely the highlight of my undergraduate (integrated masters) degree. I look forward to writing about my project at some point in the future.

Analytical Modelling of Borehole Heat Exchangers (Geothermal Energy) – HUST, Wuhan

The borehole heat exchanger is an important component in the ground coupled heat pump. The borehole heat exchanger is used to transfer heat to or from the ground, which allows the heat pump system to efficiently cool or heat a building.

My project involved creating an improved analytical model for predicting heat transfer. An analytical model is one represented by a clean mathematical equation, and may be faster and provide better physical understanding over a simulation model.

The model I implemented is a full time-scale composite medium line source model for predicting heat transfer including the effects of horizontal groundwater flow around the borehole, and axial conduction through 2D structure within the borehole. This means that the model is accurate at modelling short time-scale effects taking place over minutes/hours, such as the heat transfer inside the pipe, as well long time-scale effects lasting years, predominantly the long term heat saturation of the soil surrounding a borehole.

The results of my model have been used in a paper submitted for publication in Elsevier’s Energy and Buildings journal.

Merlin

In between my 2nd and 3rd year of undergraduate studies, I was given the fantastic opportunity of working on particle tracking code at the International Institute of Accelerator Applications (IIAA).

MERLIN is a particle tracking code used to model beam dynamics, collimation, and other features of a particle accelerator. Initially developed for linear accelerators, it has been adapted for use primarily with CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. In such high energy colliders, it is important to ensure that adequate protection systems are in place. Simulations help ensure that these systems have a low risk of failure.

During my time at the IIAA, I worked on:

  • Version control, portability, and deployment of MERLIN to different software platforms.
  • Profiling tests investigating potential time savings through optimisations including for-loop unrolling.
  • Edited code comments for doxygen documentation compatibility