Dr. A.A. Harms

Professor Emeritus
Department of Engineering Physics

McMaster University
1280 Main Street West, Hamilton
Ontario, Canada  L8S 4L7


office: BSB/B106
email:  harmsa@mcmaster.ca
voice:  (905) 525-9140 x 24927
fax:    (905) 527-8409

B.Sc. (British Columbia), M.Sc.Eng., Ph.D. (Washington)

Research Interests

Nuclear Energy Synergetics

The fundamental characteristics of nuclear energy systems based on the selective integrations of complementary nuclear processes (fission, fusion, spallation, transmutation and catalysis) are investigated. Our objective is to assess the general fitness of emerging energy systems for the long term. In this regard, a number of nuclear reactions hold considerable promises for advanced nuclear energy systems. Among these are D-3He, µDT, and Cf-251/252 reactions together with their concurrent progeny burn processes. Our research suggests that the domain of catalyzed and self- propagating reactions point to some appealing alternatives for nuclear energy systems.

Fission Reactor Safety

Selected paradigm-shift considerations have identified deterministically safe fission reactor concepts. This has established a new domain of research involving several new areas of inquiry including micro-pellet suspension dynamics and heterogeneous packed-bed heat transfer.

Nuclear Self-Organization

Nuclear self-organization has in recent years emerged as a multi-faceted domain of research activity (bifurcations, chaos, catastrophes, attractors, etc.) This new perspective is proving to be important in our analysis of nuclear reaction dynamics associated with fission and fusion phenomena. The formulation of tractable characterizations and determination of phase-space trajectories and time series constitute an important focus of our investigation.

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Publications

A.N. Kornilovsky and A.A. Harms, "Pellet Dynamics in a Gas-Filled Vertical Column", Int', J. Multiphase Flow 33(1), 183 (1997).

D.R. Kingdon and A.A. Harms, "Pellet Power Ratio in a Pellet Fission Core", Nuclear Technology 116, 1 (1996).

A.A. Harms, B.W. Augenstein, and N.S. Rabotnov, "Nuclear Energy: In Search of a Paradigm Shift", Annals of Nuclear Energy 22, 291 (1995).