TOM Haynes

• Postdoctoral Research Associate

• Area of Specialisation: Peridynamic Modelling

• Working across Key Challenge 2, Key Challenge 3, Key Challenge 4.

Tom Haynes completed his PhD, ‘Finite Element Modelling of Nuclear Fuel Performance in Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactors’, with Mark Wenman at Imperial College London in 2018. Following this, we worked as a research associate on the the modelling of SiC/SiC composite claddings, a proposed accident-tolerant cladding material for light-water reactor applications.

Tom now applies peridynamic modelling techniques to studying the oxidation of Zirconium alloys. Peridynamics is a developing non-local technique able to predict cracking in both brittle and ductile materials with no need for the a priori introduction of crack patterns. This work, as well as contributing to the overall research of the MIDAS programme, builds upon the Imperial group’s previous work modelling the fracture of nuclear fuel pellets and SiC/SiC composite claddings.

Tom’s Imperial College webpage

Next Steps: Following his time with MIDAS, Tom gained a Lectureship in Nuclear Engineering at the University of East Anglia. He continues to collaborate closely with Mark Wenman, and remains actively involved in the supervision of MIDAS projects, including that of Susannah Lea..