Large Eddy Simulation (LES) is gradually replacing traditional Reynolds-averaged-Navier-Stokes (RANS) modelling as the method of choice for predicting complex turbulent flows in research as well as industrial practice. This is especially so when unsteady phenomena are to be resolved (vibrations, acoustics, thermal striping, pressure peaks). However, the exploitation of LES for predicting practical wall-confined flows, particularly those involving separation from curved surfaces, is seriously inhibited by practically untenable resource requirements at high Reynolds numbers. Hybrid LES-RANS schemes, employing some form of RANS-like solution in the near-wall region, are generally regarded as a compromise strategy circumventing the resource obstacle. Existing schemes are based on the use of RANS models that operate in unsteady mode, as they are subjected to high amplitude, high-frequency fluctuations imposed on the layer by the outer LES solution. These models thus operate far outside their intended range of applicability. Moreover, in most approaches, the small-scale motions not resolved explicitly by the LES are represented by an ill-defined blend of subgrid-scale and RANS turbulence models - i.e. there is no clear dividing line between the LES and RANS components. Not surprisingly, such models display a whole range of disconcerting defects.This submission proposes a collaboration between two groups who have been at the forefront of developing RANS-LES schemes in the UK. Indeed, the two groups are the only UK academic partners who have participated in the four-year EU FP6 project DESider, specifically devoted to RANS-LES modelling for industrial applications, and in the follow-up 22-partner FP7 project ATAAC (Advanced Turbulence Simulation for Aerodynamic Application Challenges). Electricite de France (EDF) will support the programme to the level of one man-year of PDRA.The proposed project aims specifically at LES-RANS hybrids that distinguish carefully between the LES and RANS elements, each applied subject to appropriate, well-established constrains and coupled rationally. The project involves two major strands: (i) the development of a novel zonal (two-layer) scheme, which entails the solution of steady, parabolized RANS equations, subject to on-the-fly time-averaged constraints derived from the LES solution, and the use of an anisotropy-resolving turbulence model over a thin near-wall layer superimposed onto the LES domain; (ii) the integration and validation of (i), as well as an extended version of a newly-developed RANS-LES hybrid (Uribe et al [2007]), which shares some basic concepts with proposed model under (i), into a state-of-the-art numerical framework (Saturne), which is promoted by EPSRC's CCP12 as a general prediction tool for computing turbulent flows in very complex geometries on HPCx and HECTOR. A key characteristic of Uribe et al's model is that it respects the need to separate the RANS-derived Reynolds stresses from the inherently unsteady LES, and to desensitize the resolved perturbations and the subgrids-scale stresses from the RANS model. To that extent, the model is based on the same philosophy underpinning the zonal scheme to be developed, although the two models differ radically in respect of their design.

Large Eddy Simulation (LES) is gradually replacing traditional Reynolds-averaged-Navier-Stokes (RANS) modelling as the method of choice for predicting complex turbulent flows in research as well as industrial practice. This is especially so when unsteady phenomena are to be resolved (vibrations, acoustics, thermal striping, pressure peaks). However, the exploitation of LES for predicting practical wall-confined flows, particularly those involving separation from curved surfaces, is seriously inhibited by practically untenable resource requirements at high Reynolds numbers. Hybrid LES-RANS schemes, employing some form of RANS-like solution in the near-wall region, are generally regarded as a compromise strategy circumventing the resource obstacle. Existing schemes are based on the use of RANS models that operate in unsteady mode, as they are subjected to high amplitude, high-frequency fluctuations imposed on the layer by the outer LES solution. These models thus operate far outside their intended range of applicability. Moreover, in most approaches, the small-scale motions not resolved explicitly by the LES are represented by an ill-defined blend of subgrid-scale and RANS turbulence models - i.e. there is no clear dividing line between the LES and RANS components. Not surprisingly, such models display a whole range of disconcerting defects.This submission proposes a collaboration between two groups who have been at the forefront of developing RANS-LES schemes in the UK. Indeed, the two groups are the only UK academic partners who have participated in the four-year EU FP6 project DESider, specifically devoted to RANS-LES modelling for industrial applications, and in the follow-up 22-partner FP7 project ATAAC (Advanced Turbulence Simulation for Aerodynamic Application Challenges). Electricite de France (EDF) will support the programme to the level of one man-year of PDRA.The proposed project aims specifically at LES-RANS hybrids that distinguish carefully between the LES and RANS elements, each applied subject to appropriate, well-established constrains and coupled rationally. The project involves two major strands: (i) the development of a novel zonal (two-layer) scheme, which entails the solution of steady, parabolized RANS equations, subject to on-the-fly time-averaged constraints derived from the LES solution, and the use of an anisotropy-resolving turbulence model over a thin near-wall layer superimposed onto the LES domain; (ii) the integration and validation of (i), as well as an extended version of a newly-developed RANS-LES hybrid (Uribe et al [2007]), which shares some basic concepts with proposed model under (i), into a state-of-the-art numerical framework (Saturne), which is promoted by EPSRC's CCP12 as a general prediction tool for computing turbulent flows in very complex geometries on HPCx and HECTOR. A key characteristic of Uribe et al's model is that it respects the need to separate the RANS-derived Reynolds stresses from the inherently unsteady LES, and to desensitize the resolved perturbations and the subgrids-scale stresses from the RANS model. To that extent, the model is based on the same philosophy underpinning the zonal scheme to be developed, although the two models differ radically in respect of their design.

The UK currently operates a civil nuclear fleet consisting primarily of advanced gas reactors (AGRs), a pressurized water reactor (PWR) and a nuclear-energy powered submarine fleet of PWRs. Any new nuclear build in the foreseeable future will likely be a new PWR European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) by EDF/Areva and/or an ABWR by Hitachi. The nuclear industry has one of the highest commitments to safety in terms of investment in R&D and both the Universities of Oxford (UoO) and Manchester (UoM) have played a vital role in the past decades by collaborating with almost every nuclear player in the world. In particular, we have dedicated a great effort to understand and predict stress corrosion cracking (SCC), which is one of the most serious concerns for the industry and will be the main focus of this project. SCC is a progressive failure mode which requires a specific environment (cooling water), stress (applied or residual) and a susceptible material (stainless steels or nickel base alloys). Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain its occurrence in nuclear reactors but, unfortunately, none has been capable of explaining or predicting it fully for the materials of interest. Some of the most accepted mechanisms involve preferential intergranular oxidation, local deformation around the crack tip or hydrogen embrittlement [1]. Over 50 years ago, Henri Coriou [2] identified a "safer" range of compositions with Ni wt% between 20 and 60 where alloys would be less susceptible to SCC. Initially, this study did not receive much attention, but it was later known as the "Coriou effect" and most recently it has been the subject of a comprehensive review [3]. The validity of this effect has been extensively investigated by Arioka (INSS), who autoclave-tested a series of samples with varying Ni, Fe and Cr levels at different temperatures. His work led to the conclusion that crack growth rates (CGRs) are indeed strongly affected by these parameters (chemical composition and/or temperature) [4] and thus validated the existence of the "Coriou effect". A mechanistic explanation for this observed behaviour has yet to be realised, however we believe we are now in a position to formulate it. If we are successful, we believe we can unveal most opearting SCC mechanisms and their interplay. Our approach involves isolating the effects of single variables in SCC crack initiation or propagation, which has been instrumental in revealing the effect of cold-work, water temperature, alloy composition and stress level on SCC and the controlling mechanisms under low-potential conditions (PWR and ABWR) [5]. We plan to use a multi-technique characterization approach, involving state-of-the-art equipment and the combined expertise from the universities of Oxford and Manchester, to better understand the "Coriou effect" and whether H plays an important role or not. The proposed project will make use of one of the most ambitious and comprehensive set of samples ever tested, provided in kind by INSS. 1. Lozano-Perez, S., Dohr, J., Meisnar, M. & Kruska, K. SCC in PWRs: Learning from a Bottom-Up Approach. Metallurgical and Materials Transactions E 1, 194-210 (2014) 2. Coriou, H., Grall, L., Mahieu, C. & Pelas, M. Sensitivity to Stress Corrosion and Intergranular Attack of High-Nickel Austenitic Alloys. Corrosion 22, 280-290 (1966). 3. Feron, D. & Staehle, R. W. Stress Corrosion Cracking of Nickel Based Alloys in Water-Cooled Nuclear Reactors. , 384 (2016). 4. Arioka, K., Yamada, T., Miyamoto, T. & Aoki, M. Intergranular stress corrosion cracking growth behavior of Ni-Cr-Fe alloys in pressurized water reactor primary water. Corrosion 70, 695-707 (2014). 5. Meisnar, M., Vilalta-Clemente, A., Moody, M., Arioka, K. & Lozano-Perez, S. A mechanistic study of the temperature dependence of the stress corrosion crack growth rate in SUS316 stainless steels exposed to PWR primary water. Acta Materialia 114, 15-24 (2016).

This feasibility study concerns improving the efficiency of steam cycles used in nuclear and fossil fuel energy generation. Currently steam is transported using steel pipes which limit the temperature of the steam to no more than 640 degress C. To improve efficiency, power plants are proposed that will operate with steam temperatures possibly up to 760 degrees C. Using conventional steam cycle design, such temperatures will require the use of nickel-based alloys. These alloys are more costly than steels and are in scarce supply, considering the quantity required for new power plants worldwide. An alternative plant design is proposed in this feasibility study that will allow steam pipes made of steel to be operated at much higher temperatures than at present. The proposed design is of a pipe with a ceramic thermal insulation coating (TIC) on its internal surface and cooling on its outer surface provided by exhaust steam from the high pressure turbine. Three institutions will collaborate in this study: the University of Bristol, Cranfield University and the University of Nottingham. Each institution will investigate a central technical challenge that must be overcome before the alternative plant design can be considered viable. Bristol will develop thermodynamic models of the proposed steam cycle. The model will calculate the rate of transfer of heat from the superheated steam through the TIC into the steel pipe, and then the rate of heat transfer to the reheat steam returning to the boiler being used to cool the steam pipe. The model will predict the maximum temperatures within the steam pipe and the efficiency of the plant, compared to that of a conventional design. Cranfield will carry out corrosion testing of candidate TIC materials in steam at ultra-supercritical temperatures. The results of this corrosion testing will be used to provide estimates of the lifetime of the TIC in a power generation environment. Nottingham will investigate the structural integrity of the coating and the steel pipe. Stresses will be generated in the TIC and steel during start-ups, shut downs and steady state operation. These stresses will be very different in character from those in conventional steam transport. Nottingham will use existing computational models of the properties of TIC and steel to predict their lifetime under realistic operation conditions. The outcome of this feasibility study will be an assessment of the opportunity for the development of an alternative to the use of nickel-based alloys for pipework in advanced power plant.

Model based simulation of complex processes is an efficient approach to explore and study systems whose experimental analysis is costly or time-consuming. Modern mathematical models of real systems often have high complexity with hundreds of variables. Straightforward modelling using such models can be computationally costly or even intractable. Good modelling practice requires sensitivity analysis (SA) to ensure the model quality by analysing the model structure, selecting the best type of model and effectively identifying the important model parameters. Global SA is superior to other SA methods. It can be applied to any type of model for quantifying and reducing problem complexity without sacrificing accuracy and it is not dependent on a nominal point like local SA methods. We propose the development of a number of advanced model analysis and complexity reduction techniques based on global SA and efficient high dimensional Monte Carlo (MC) and Quasi MC methods. In particular, we will develop high dimensional Sobol' sequence generators with improved uniformity properties. It will allow increasing the efficiency of global SA and Quasi MC methods in general. The Sobol' method of global sensitivity indices is superior to other global SA methods. However, it has been applied only to low scale models because of the computational limitations of the existing technique. We propose a number of techniques which will improve the efficiency of the Sobol' method. We also propose a set of new global SA measures which are much less computationally demanding than variance based methods. By combining approaches based on the Fisher information matrix and GSA, we will develop a new technique for parameter estimation and optimal experimental design for model validation which would dramatically reduce experimental cost. One of the very promising developments of model analysis is the replacement of complex models and models which need to be run repeatedly on-line with equivalent operational meta models. Sampling efforts of the existing approaches grow exponentially with the number of input variables which makes them impractical in high dimensional cases. We will develop a novel approach to metamodelling using quasi random sampling - high dimensional model representation method (QRS-HDMR) which renders the original exponential difficulty to a problem of only polynomial complexity. We propose to solve optimization problems with high dimensional and computationally expensive objective functions by building QRS-HDMR meta models for the objective functions and set of constraints. Such meta models based optimization problems can be orders of magnitude cheaper to solve compared to the original models. The application of these methods to bioprocessing will involve the development of high-fidelity models for mammalian cell cultures, which produce high-value biological drugs, such as monoclonal antibodies. High-profile examples include the breast cancer drug Herceptin and blockbuster cancer drug Avastin. However, the production of such drugs often relies on manual control and optimisation, which increase cost and time-to-market. On the other hand, the implementation of modern model-based methodologies for optimisation and control necessitates predictive, computationally tractable models, which usually involve numerous parameters and require a high volume of expensive measurements for their validation. In order to address these issues and minimise the cost and time of experimentation, GSA and optimal experimental design will be used to formulate a state-of-the art model of mammalian cell cultures for in silico experimentation, system analysis and derivation of a metamodel for online applications. The validity of this approach will be demonstrated through a case study on antibody-producing CHO cells supplied by Lonza Biologics.