Blaž Mikuž

Research Associate

Jožef Stefan
Institute
Jamova cesta 39
SI-1000 Ljubljana
Slovenia

Phone: +386 1 5885 244
Fax: +386 1 5885 377
E-mail: blaz.mikuz@ijs.si

Research Interests

• Modeling of turbulent flow in a fuel bundle of pressurized nuclear reactor.
• Modeling of flow and heat transfer in reactors cooled with liquid metals, such as liquid sodium, liquid lead or lead-bismuth eutectic.
• Numerical simulations of two-phase flows with large curved interfaces.
• Experimental measurements of a Taylor bubble in turbulent flow.

Education

• Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, 2016.
• B.Sc. in Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, 2011.

Awards

• Award for the best contribution in the Special Contest for Young Authors at the conference "Nuclear Energy for New Europe 2015".

Professional Experience

• Research Fellow at Jozef Stefan Institute (Reactor Engineering Division), Ljubljana, Slovenia, January 2019 - present.
• Research Consultant at Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG), Petten, The Netherlands, February 2017 - December 2018. Working as a CFD specialist in R&I unit, designing new irradiation facilities for production  of  medical  isotopes  (e.g.  molybdenum-99)  in  the  High  Flux Reactor of NRG. My main research interests deal with simulations of fluid flow and  heat transfer using  different  approaches  in  various  fuel  designs,  e.g.  from RANS  in  a  complex  geometry  of  a  PWR  fuel  assembly  to  high-fidelity  LES  and DNS in a liquid lead cooled fast reactor.
• Research Assistant at Jozef Stefan Institute (Reactor Engineering Division), Ljubljana, Slovenia, August 2011 - January 2017. Working as a young researcher in the field of nuclear thermal hydraulics.  My main research topic is modelling  turbulent flow in a fuel assembly of pressurized water reactor (PWR) (my PhD dissertation work).
• Collaboration with Pipistrel's Research Team, 2010 - 2011, designing a Pitot tube for measuring airspeed and angle of attack (my Bachelor's thesis work).
• Member of ÄŒrni Vrh Observatory's  PIKA project observing team, developing cloud sensor and some other electronic devices. Since 2008 operator of 60 cm remote robotic telescope at ÄŒrni Vrh Observatory, performing astrometric and photometric measurements. Discoverer of five supernovae and the near-Earth asteroid 2015 SO2.

Professional Societies

• Member of Nuclear Society of Slovenia.

Selected Publications

Articles in SCI Journals

BIEDER, Ulrich, UITSLAG-DOOLAARD, Heleen, MIKUŽ, Blaž. Investigation of pressure loss and velocity distribution in fuel assemblies with wire-wrapped rods by using RANS and LES with wall functions. Annals of Nuclear Energy, ISSN 0306-4549, 2021, vol. 152, str. 108025-1-108025-15, doi: 10.1016/j.anucene.2020.108025. [COBISS.SI-ID 45607683]

FREDERIX, Edo, KOMEN, Ed, TISELJ, Iztok, MIKUŽ, Blaž. LES of turbulent co-current Taylor bubble flow. Flow, turbulence and combustion, ISSN 1386-6184, 2020, doi: 10.1007/s10494-020-00118-0. [COBISS.SI-ID 33273383]

MIKUŽ, Blaž, ROELOFS, Ferry. Low resolution modelling of mixing phenomena in PWR fuel assemblies. Nucl. Eng. Des. 2020, vol. 360, pp. 110504. doi: 10.1016/j.nucengdes.2019.110504. [COBISS.SI-ID 33010727]

DOVIZIO, Daniele, MIKUŽ, Blaž, SHAMS, Afaque, ROELOFS, Ferry. Validating RANS to predict the flow behavior in wire-wrapped fuel assemblies. Nucl. Eng. Des. 2020, vol. 356, pp. 110376. doi: 10.1016/j.nucengdes.2019.110376. [COBISS.SI-ID 32889895]

ROELOFS, Ferry, DOVIZIO, Daniele, UITSLAG-DOOLAARD, Heleen, DE SANTIS, Dante, MATHUR, Akshat, MIKUŽ, Blaž, SHAMS, Afaque. Core thermal hydraulic CFD support for liquid metal reactors. Nucl. Eng. Des. 2019, vol. 355, pp. 110322. doi: 10.1016/j.nucengdes.2019.110322. [COBISS.SI-ID 32652583]

ROELOFS, Ferry, UITSLAG-DOOLAARD, Heleen, DOVIZIO, Daniele, MIKUŽ, Blaž, SHAMS, Afaque, BERTOCCHI, Fulvio, ROHDE, Martin, PACIO, Julio, DI PIAZZA Ivan, KENNEDY Graham, VAN TICHELEN Katrien, OBABKO, Aleks, MERZARI, Elia. Towards validated prediction with RANS CFD of flow and heat transport in a wire-wrap fuel assembly. Nucl. Eng. Des. 2019, vol. 353, pp. 110273. doi: 10.1016/j.nucengdes.2019.110273. [COBISS.SI-ID 32652839]

MIKUŽ, Blaž, SHAMS, Afaque. Assessment of RANS models for flow in a loosely spaced bare rod bundle with heat transfer in low Prandtl number fluid. Ann. Nucl. Energy. 2019, vol. 124, pp. 441-459. doi: 10.1016/j.anucene.2018.10.017. [COBISS.SI-ID 31819559]

SHAMS, Afaque, MIKUŽ, Blaž, ROELOFS, Ferry. Numerical prediction of flow and heat transfer in a loosely spaced bare rod bundle. Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow. 2018, vol. 73, pp. 42-62. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheatfluidflow.2018.07.006. [COBISS.SI-ID 31606567]

MIKUŽ, Blaž, TISELJ, Iztok. URANS prediction of flow fluctuations in rod bundle with split-type spacer grid. Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow. 2017, vol. 64, pp. 10-22. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheatfluidflow.2017.01.008. [COBISS.SI-ID 30262055]

MIKUŽ, Blaž, TISELJ, Iztok. Wall-resolved Large Eddy Simulation in grid-free 5×5 rod bundle of MATiS-H experiment. Nucl. Eng. Des. 2016, vol. 298, pp. 64-77. doi: 10.1016/j.nucengdes.2015.12.021. [COBISS.SI-ID 29141543]

MIKUŽ, Blaž, TISELJ, Iztok, BEYER, Matthias, LUCAS, Dirk. Simulations of flashing experiments in TOPFLOW facility with TRACE code. Nucl. Eng. Des. 2015, vol. 283, pp. 60-70. doi: 10.1016/j.nucengdes.2014.09.043. [COBISS.SI-ID 28051239]

Published scientific conference contribution

MIKUŽ, Blaž, FREDERIX, Edo, KOMEN, Ed, TISELJ, Iztok. Taylor bubble behaviour in turbulent flow regime. Computational Fluid Dynamics for Nuclear Reactor Safety (CFD4NRS-8), Virtual workshop, 2020 November 25-27, Conference proceedings. [COBISS.SI-ID 39983619]

MIKUŽ, Blaž, KAMNIKAR, Jan, PROŠEK, Jakob, TISELJ, Iztok. Experimental observation of Taylor bubble disintegration in turbulent flow. 28th International Conference Nuclear Energy for New Europe, Portorož, Slovenia, 2019 September 9-12. Conference proceedings. [COBISS.SI-ID 33177127]

BASAVARAJ, Anil Kumar, MIKUŽ, Blaž, MATKOVIÄŒ, Marko. Flow and heat transfer CFD analysis in the section of THELMA for wall surface temperature determination. 28th International Conference Nuclear Energy for New Europe, Portorož, Slovenia, 2019 September 9-12. Conference proceedings. [COBISS.SI-ID 33176615]

MIKUŽ, Blaž, FREDERIX, Edo, M. A., TISELJ, Iztok, KOMEN, Ed. M. J. High-fidelity simulation of a Taylor bubble in co-current turbulent flow. V: 18th International Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-18), Portland, Oregon, US, August 18th-22nd 2019. [COBISS.SI-ID 32653095]

ROELOFS, F., UITSLAG-DOOLARD, H., MIKUŽ, B., DOVIZIO, D., DE SANTIS, D., SHAMS, A., BERTOCCHI, F., ROHDE, M., VAN TICHELEN, K., KEIJERS, S., KENNEDY, G., BATTA, A., PACIO, J., PLANQUART, P., OBABKO, A., BROCKMEYER, L., MERZARI, E., VAGHETTO, R., HASSAN, Y., LEONARD, D., MARTIN, M., JACKSON, B., STEER, M., DELCHINI, M., POINTER, D. CFD and Experiments for Wire-wrapped Fuel Assemblies. V: 18th International Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-18), Portland, Oregon, US, August 18th-22nd 2019. [COBISS.SI-ID 32796199]

FREDERIX, Edo, M. A., MIKUŽ, Blaž, KOMEN, Ed. M. J. LES of a taylor bubble in co-current turbulent pipe flow. V: DLES 12, Workshop Direct and Large Eddy Simulation, Madrid, Spain, June 5th-7th 2019. [Madrid: Universidad Carlos III]. [COBISS.SI-ID 32442663]

ROELOFS, Ferry, UITSLAG-DOOLAARD, Heleen, DOVIZIO Daniele, MIKUŽ, Blaž, SHAMS Afaque, BERTOCCHI Fulvio, ROHDE Martin, PACIO Julio, DI PIAZZA Ivan, KENNEDY Graham, VAN TICHELEN Katrien, OBABKO Alex, MERZARI Elia. Towards validated prediction with RANS CFD of flow and heat transport in a WIRE-wrap fuel assembly. V: SESAME thermal hydraulic 'Simulations and Experiments for the Safety Assessment of MEtal cooled reactors' International Workshop, Pettern, Netherlands, 19-21 Marc 2019. [COBISS.SI-ID 32226599]

DOVIZIO, Daniele, MIKUŽ, Blaž, SHAMS, Afaque, ROELOFS, Ferry. Validating RANS to predict the flow behavior in wire-wrapped fuel assemblies. V: SESAME thermal hydraulic 'Simulations and Experiments for the Safety Assessment of MEtal cooled reactors' International Workshop, Pettern, Netherlands, 19-21 Marc 2019. [COBISS.SI-ID 32227111] 

ROELOFS, Ferry, DOVIZIO, D., UITSLAG-DOOLAARD, H., MIKUŽ, Blaž, SHAMS, A. Validation of wire-wrapped fuel assembly CFD simulations. ANS 2018 Winter Meeting & Expo, Orlando, FL, 2018 November 11-15. [COBISS.SI-ID 31878183]

MATKOVIÄŒ, Marko, CIZELJ, Leon, KLJENAK, Ivo, KONÄŒAR, Boštjan, MIKUŽ, Blaž, SUŠNIK, Andrej, TISELJ, Iztok, ZAJEC, Boštjan. Building a unique test section for local critical heat flux studies in light water reactor : like accident conditions. 13th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics (HEFAT2017), Portorož, Slovenia, 2017 July 17-19, 2017. [COBISS.SI-ID 30698791]

STEMPNIEWICZ, M. M., GEUS, E. A. R. de, MIKUŽ, Blaž, ROELOFS, Ferry. New model to simulate molten fuel systems with the spectra code. 17th International Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-17), X'ian, China, 2017 September 3-8. [COBISS.SI-ID 31608615]

MIKUŽ, Blaž, TISELJ, Iztok. Wall-resolved Large Eddy Simulation of secondary flow in grid-free fuel assembly. Computational Fluid Dynamics for Nuclear Reactor Safety (CFD4NRS-6), Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, 2016 September 13-15. Conference proceedings. [COBISS.SI-ID 29775911]

MIKUŽ, Blaž, TISELJ, Iztok. Accurate Wall-Resolved Large Eddy Simulation of a Turbulent Flow in 5×5 Fuel Rod Bundle. 24th International Conference Nuclear Energy for New Europe, Portorož, Slovenia, 2015 September 14-17. Conference proceedings. [COBISS.SI-ID 29175591]

PROŠEK, Andrej, VOLKANOVSKI, Andrija, MIKUŽ, Blaž, TISELJ, Iztok. Status of CAMP activities in Slovenia. Fall 2014 CAMP Meeting, Bethesda, MD, USA, 2014 October 22-24. Conference proceedings. [COBISS.SI-ID 28066855]

MIKUŽ, Blaž, TISELJ, Iztok. Numerical simulations of a turbulent flow in a fuel assembly. 23rd International Conference Nuclear Energy for New Europe, Portorož, Slovenia, 2014 September 8-11. Conference proceedings. [COBISS.SI-ID 28325927]

MIKUŽ, Blaž, TISELJ, Iztok, BEYER Matthias. 1D Two-Fluid Model Simulations of Flashing Flows in TOPFLOW Facility. 22nd International Conference Nuclear Energy for New Europe, Bled, Slovenia, 2013 September 9-12. Conference proceedings. [COBISS.SI-ID 27357223]

MIKUŽ, Blaž, KOŠMRLJ, Samo, TISELJ, Iztok. OpenFOAM simulations of the turbulent flow in a rod bundle with mixing vanes. 21st International Conference Nuclear Energy for New Europe, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2012 September 5-7. Conference proceedings. [COBISS.SI-ID 26396455]

The full list of publications is maintained by COBISS.

Scopus Author ID: 56502174200

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-9632-3933