Chris Hardie
Associate Researcher
Project Title: Crystal plasticity simulations of strain localisation in irradiated zirconium alloys
Chris Hardie completed his PhD at Oxford in 2013, which was focused on experimental research on irradiated steels. He has since been employed at UKAEA developing the Materials Research Facility and managing the Authority’s experimental materials research strategy and now leads a programme dedicated to the “Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production” (STEP) UK prototype fusion power plant project. Chris has recently completed an Advanced Mechanical Engineering MSc at Imperial College, in order to expand his skills in the field of modelling and simulations dedicated to engineering requirements. His final year project developed crystal plasticity simulations of strain localisation in irradiated zirconium alloys, and was supported by experimental data produced at Manchester University.
Chris continues to enjoy participation within the MIDAS programme and hopes to further develop crystal plasticity modelling with the aim of supporting engineering of zirconium components in a nuclear environment.