The University of Osaka · Engineering
Professor Yoshitaka Ueki's research lab specializes in advanced thermal-fluid dynamics and materials science, with a strong focus on high-temperature fluid systems for nuclear energy applications. The lab investigates heat transfer enhancement in molten salts and liquid metal coolants—particularly lead-lithium eutectic alloys—using innovative diagnostic techniques such as high-temperature ultrasonic Doppler velocimetry (HT-UDV). Their work also extends to the development of functional nanofluids and the application of deep learning for biological image analysis, particularly in marine species identification. The lab bridges fundamental fluid dynamics with practical energy system challenges, especially in fusion energy and advanced reactor technologies.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Nanoparticle dispersed fluids, nanofluids, have been widely investigated. However, thermal conductivity of molten salt-based nanofluid had never been measured and investigated yet. Since molten salts are high Prandtl number fluids, it is necessary to enhance heat transfer of the molten salts when they are employed as coolants. Therefore, in the present study we produced a molten salt-based nanofluid, and measured its thermal conductivity to demonstrate the molten salt-based nanofluid was able to
In a lead-lithium (Pb-17Li) liquid metal blanket concept, Pb-17Li eutectic alloy circulates both as breeder and coolant under a strong plasma-confining magnetic field, experiencing magneto-hydro-dynamic (MHD) force: Lorentz force. An important aspect of the bilateral US/Japan collaboration on Tritium, Irradiations, and Thermofluid for America and Nippon (TITAN) is to investigate tritium behavior and thermal control in the Pb-17Li eutectic alloy, flow and heat transfer characterizations, and miti
This paper describes a high-temperature ultrasonic Doppler Velocimetry (HT-UDV) technique that has been successfully applied to measure velocity profiles of the lead-lithium eutectic alloy (PbLi) flows. The impact of tracer particles is investigated to determine requirements for HT-UDV measurement of PbLi flows. The HT-UDV system is tested on a PbLi flow driven by a rotating-disk in an inert atmosphere. We find that a sufficient amount of particles contained in the molten PbLi are required to su
Appearance-based gender identification of the horsehair crab [Erimacrus isenbeckii (Brandt, 1848)] is important for preventing indiscriminate fishing of female crabs. Although their gender is easily identified by visual observation of their abdomen because of a difference in the forms of their sex organs, most of the crabs settle with their shell side upward when placed on a floor, making visual gender identification difficult. Our objective is to use deep learning to identify the gender of the
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