Education

B.S. Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1946
M.S. Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Masison, 1948
M.S. Mechanical Engineer, University of California, Berkeley, 1952

Major awards

ASEE Glen Murphy Award

Field of specialization and areas of interest

Thermal hydraulics of nuclear power plants; boiling heat transfer and two-phase flow, inertial confinement fusion reactor design.

Teaching and Research

Since retiring in 1991 Professor Schrock has continued to carry out research, guide graduate student research and serve on examination and dissertation committees. He also collaborates with Professor P.F. Peterson in the Thermal Hydraulics Research Seminar and has supervised post doctoral researchers. He taught the undergraduate course on Nuclear Reactor Engineering in the Fall 1993.

Thermal Hydraulics Problems in Inertial Confinement Fusion Power Plants

Professor Schrock initiated the Berkeley research program on ICF power plant design in which research has been carried out on a number of thermofluid problems associated with the design of the reaction chamber and energy recovery system, specifically for the HYLIFE design conceived at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. X-ray and neutron energies are absorbed in an array of liquid jets to protect the vessel. Analyses have been performed on the chamber gas dynamics, relaxation of isochoric heating induced pressure in the liquid jets, stability of the jet surfaces, and condensation of vapor formed by X-ray ablation of the exposed jet surfaces. Experiments and analysis have been performed on the blast attenuation and venting through the jet array. The computer code TSUNAMI developed in this program is finding application both in reactor design and in the development of the National Ignition Facility. Further research is needed to improve the capability of the TSUNAMI code.

Condensation from Gas-Vapor Mixtures and Binary Vapor Mixtures

Recent experimental and analytical research has been carried out, partly in collaboration with Professor Peterson, on condensation from gas-vapor mixtures flowing downward inside a cooled pipe. The results have direct application to the Passive Containment Cooling System condensers of the SBWR nuclear power plant. Further work is in progress on the numerical simulation of this process. Additional related work is planned for binary vapor condensers for advanced energy applications.

Selected Recent Publications

V.E. Schrock, P.F. Peterson and R.Y. Bai, "A Gas-Dynamic Choking Phenomenon in Early Time Intense Transient Condensation," Nuclear Engineering and Design, Vol. 139, pp. 127-140, 1993.

P.F. Peterson, V.E. Schrock and R. Grief, "Scaling of Integral Simulation of Mixing in Large Stratified Volumes," Proc. 6th Int'l Conf. on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics, M. Courtand and J.M. Delhaye Ed., Grenoble, France, Vol. 1. pp. 202-211, 1993.

P.F. Peterson, V.E. Schrock and T. Kageyama, "Diffusion Layer Theory for Turbulent Vapor Condensation with Non-condensable Gases," Journal of Heat Transfer, Vol. 115, pp. 998-103, 1993.

X.M. Chen, V.E. Schrock and P.F. Peterson, "Coupling of Radiation Transport with the Gas Dynamics for HYLIFE-II Analysis," Fusion Technology, Vol. 26, No. 3, pp. 912-916, 1994.

With R. Moir et al., "HYLIFE-II: A Molten Salt Inertial Confinement Fusion Energy Power Plant Design," Fusion Technology, Vol. 25, pp. 5-25, 1994.

Recent consulting, industrial employment or other non-university activity

Registered Professional Engineer, California Nucl. #1231 & Mech. #11164

General Electric, San Jose: Consultant on (1) Helium Bubble Generation, Growth and Transport in SP-100 Reactor, (2) Steam Injector, (3) SBWR design, 1988 - present

USNRC/Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards Consultant 1978 - present

INEL/USDOE Working Group for SRL Restart Power 1988-89

Chairman, USDOE, Thermal Hydraulics Technical Working Group for New Production Reactor, 1990 - 91

Member DOE Review Team, Assessment of Computer Codes for Design of MHTGR - NPR 1990-91

INEL/EG&G Idaho, Review of Scaling Study for Savannah River Integral Test Facility 1990

INEL/EG&G Idaho, Review of Phenomena in Natural Circulation Systems, 1991

Member, ANS Thermal Hydraulics Division Honors & Awards Committee

Editor, Proc. Japan-US Seminar on Two-Phase Flow Dynamics, Berkeley, CA, July 1992

Guest Editor, Nuclear Eng. & Design, Topical Issue, June 1993
LLNL Consultant on Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactors 1992 - present

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