Position: PhD Student

Supervisor: Dr. Ben McMillanLink opens in a new window

Final Thesis Title: Adapting Meshfree Galerkin Schemes for Representing Highly Anisotropic Fields

Funding: Chancellor's International ScholarshipLink opens in a new window

Teaching Assistant: PX425 High Performance Computing in PhysicsLink opens in a new window and PX390 Scientific ComputingLink opens in a new window (previously 1st year problems classes and electronics labs)

Previous Additional Role: Computing support helper for the CFSA

Education

MSc in Computational Science and Engineering, ETH ZürichLink opens in a new window, Switzerland, 2019
Thesis Title: Well-balanced methods for computation of the standing accretion shock instability (SASI)

BSc in Electrical Engineering, Nanoengineering Option - Cooperative Program, University of AlbertaLink opens in a new window, Canada, 2015

Research Interests

Computational methods for fusion plasmas; scientific and high-performance computing (HPC)

Project Overview

There are many phenomena in nature that are highly ‘directional’ because motion in the system is constrained in some way. If we imagine water flowing in a river, the riverbanks constrain the water to flow along the channel and gravity constrains it to flow in the downhill direction. Even if we wish to study the smaller scale currents and eddies it would still be beneficial to take account of this overarching flow pattern.

In our work we seek to simulate the flow of plasma within a nuclear fusion reactor. Plasma is essentially a gas that is so hot the atoms within it have split into positively charged ions and negatively charged electrons. This means that unlike in a standard, neutral gas, such as the air around us, the particles in a plasma will feel a force from magnetic fields they encounter. In a fusion reactor, this property can be used by applying strong magnetic fields to constrain the particles to move only along certain pathways, much like the flow of water in the river. These circular pathways loop back on themselves in a doughnut shape to contain the plasma, something that cannot be done with a simple physical container as the hot plasma would lose all its energy to the container walls and damage or destroy the material.

Therefore, when we simulate plasma in such reactors, we wish to take advantage of this directionality. Because the magnetic fields are applied in a carefully designed and controlled way, we know what pathways the particles will be directed along, although turbulence and other effects will result in plenty onormalf smaller scale motions as well, just like the eddies in a river. But by designing our simulations to use information about the large-scale flow direction, we can much more efficiently study these small details which, though small, are nonetheless integral to the success or failure of any reactor design.

Publications

A partially mesh-free scheme for representing anisotropic spatial variations along field lines: Conservation, quadrature, and the delta propertyLink opens in a new window
S. A. Maloney, B. F. McMillan
Computer Physics Communications, vol. 284, pp. 108629 (2023)

Spray coated high-conductivity PEDOT:PSS transparent electrodes for stretchable and mechanically-robust organic solar cellsLink opens in a new window
J. G. Tait, B. J. Worfolk, S. A. Maloney, T. C. Hauger, A. L. Elias, J. M. Buriak, K. D. Harris
Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, vol. 110, pp. 98–106 (2013)

Conference Presentations

Talk: Adapting Meshfree Galerkin Schemes for Representing Highly Anisotropic FieldsLink opens in a new window
SIAM Conference on Computational Science and Engineering, Amsterdam, NL, Feb. 26-Mar. 3, 2023

Poster: A partially meshfree Galerkin scheme for representing highly anisotropic fieldsLink opens in a new window
Platform for Advanced Scientific Computing (PASC) Conference, Basel, CH, Jun. 27-29, 2022
48th IOP Annual Plasma Physics Conference, Liverpool, UK, Apr. 11-14, 2022

Other

I have created a research poster template in the Overleaf galleryLink opens in a new window using the official University of Warwick brand colours and master logo.

I also produced a thesis template in the Overleaf galleryLink opens in a new window from the typesetting of my own thesis, with the hope it might be useful for future students.