Nam Dinh

Professor of Nuclear Engineering

Dr. Nam Dinh has over twenty years of R&D and engineering experience in areas of nuclear reactor thermal hydraulics and nuclear power safety. His research is focused on multiphase flow systems with phase change and their application in nuclear power plant safety analysis, and severe accident risk assessment and management. Dr. Dinh’s work led to advanced methods and tools for nuclear reactor safety experimentation, modeling, simulation, and analysis. Dr. Dinh’s research on severe accident phenomenology contributed to resolution of safety issues in existing LWR plants and severe accident treatment in Generation III+ ALWR designs.

Prior to his appointment at NCSU, Dr. Dinh worked at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) where he was a Laboratory Fellow, Director of the Center of Research and Education on Safety and Licensing at the INL’s Institute for Nuclear Energy Science and Technology, and Academic Dean for the Nuclear Engineering Summer School “Modeling, Experimentation, and Validation”. Prior to INL, Dr. Dinh was the Chair Professor of Nuclear Power Safety at the Sweden’s Royal Institute of Technology (RIT).  Prior to RIT, Dr. Dinh taught mechanical engineering and performed research at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Dr. Dinh is a faculty member of the U.S. Department of Energy-funded Consortium for Advanced Simulation of LWRs (CASL). Dr. Dinh holds a joint appointment with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

 

Education

D.Sc. 1994

Nuclear Engineering

Moscow Power Engineering Institute

Ph.D. 1991

Nuclear Engineering

Moscow Power Engineering Institute

M.S.

Thermal Physics/Nuclear Engineering

Moscow Power Engineering Institute

Research Description

Dr. Dinh's research is focused on modeling and analysis of multi-phase thermal-fluid phenomena of importance to nuclear reactor design and safety. Of particular interest are physics and prediction of boiling heart transfer, critical heat flux, and other intense multi-phase interactions that govern nuclear reactor safety margins. Dr. Dinh's group is developing a laboratory for Multiphase Multiphysics Validation Experiments that support research projects on micro-hydrodynamics in multi-phase systems with phase changes; two-phase thermal-hydraulics system modeling, simulation, model calibration and prediction’s uncertainty quantification; and severe accident risk assessment and management.

Grants

Pilot Study on Two-Phase Flow DNS Application to Heat Transfer Enhancement Pipe
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.(10/01/22 - 5/15/23)
Trustworthiness of Digital-Twin-based Automation Technology in Nuclear Power Plant Operation
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission(9/30/22 - 9/29/25)
Data Driven Analysis Tool for Predicting High-Speed Airbreathing Engine Performance (submitted to Topic 3 of the calls)
US Dept. of Defense (DOD)(1/10/23 - 9/07/25)
Two-Phase Flow DNS Phase 2 Project
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.(5/01/21 - 10/31/22)
Risk Assessment of Digital Human System Interface in Nuclear Power Plants
US Dept. of Energy (DOE)(12/15/20 - 9/30/23)
Multiple Bubble Boiling Simulation Scaling and Evaluation
US Dept. of Energy (DOE)(9/08/20 - 11/30/20)
Development and Assessment of Digital Twin for Advanced Reactors
US Dept. of Energy (DOE)(8/16/21 - 6/30/24)
Center for thermal-fluids application in nuclear energy: Establishing the knowledge base for thermal-hydraulic multiscale simulation to accelerate the deployment of advanced reactors.
US Dept. of Energy (DOE)(10/01/20 - 9/30/23)
Pilot Study on Two-Phase flow DNS Application to Heat Transfer Enhancement Pipe
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.(7/01/20 - 12/31/20)
DEVELOPMENT OF A NEARLY AUTONOMOUS MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL SYSTEM FOR ADVANCED REACTORS
US Dept. of Energy (DOE) - Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)(10/01/18 - 9/30/21)