Dr. Troy Munro
Assistant Professor
Mechanical Engineering
Brigham Young University

Abstract

The role of a nuclear power plant is to convert heat to electricity efficiently, but the ability to transfer heat from the core is limited by the thermal properties of the fuel system and the coolant. With the development of new nuclear fuels and new reactor designs, there is a need to measure the thermal properties of these materials in extreme environments. Unfortunately, our standard measurement techniques cannot be applied in these circumstances, so we must development new novel methods to accomplish this. This presentation will focus on how the use of complementary measurement techniques for both solid fuels and molten salts can improve the uncertainty of these new measurement, resulting in more efficient designs and safer operation of nuclear power plants.

Biography

Dr. Troy Munro is an assistant professor at BYU since 2016.  He received a concurrent BS/MS from Utah State University in 2012 and a dual PhD from Utah State University and KU Leuven in 2016 in both Mechanical Engineering and Physics. His background is in thermal property measurement technique development, optical fiber-based laser furnace for high temperature thermal property measurements, and molten salts. His research is focused on in situ thermal property measurements, high-throughput materials characterization, thermal behavior of biomolecules such as DNA and proteins, temperature control in 3D printed microfluidics, thermal neutron detector, heat transfer in manufacturing process, and thermal transport in molten salts.