Stefano Riva, a student in the Energy and Nuclear Sciences and Technologies (STEN) doctoral programme at Politecnico di Milano, has won the prize for the best student paper at the NUTHOS14 – International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal-Hydraulics, Operation, and Safety international conference. The conference was held from 25 to 28 August in Vancouver, Canada. The award was for his paper entitled ‘A Novel Approach for Parametric Dynamic Mode Decomposition: Application to the DYNASTY Experimental Facility’.

This research introduces a new approach for developing surrogate linear models capable of describing the behaviour of dynamic systems under different operating conditions. Stefano applied this method to the DYNASTY Experimental Facility, which is located at the Department of Energy and aims to study the natural circulation for Generation IV nuclear reactors, and demonstrated that it is possible to obtain sufficiently accurate models using simulation data and comparing them with real measurements.

Stefano Riva commented:

I would like to thank the organisers of the conference for the prize I have received; I am also grateful for the support I have received from my colleagues, supervisors and the whole Department, which has made it possible to apply new surrogate modelling techniques to real systems such as the DYNASTY plant.

The other authors of the article are Andrea Missaglia, Carolina Introini, In Cheol Bang and Antonio Cammi.