Ewan Ferdinandi

My current research focuses on multi-shell inertial confinement targets for inertial fusion energy. Using the in-house radiation-magnetohydrodynamics code Chimera, I am investigating their performance in achieving energy gain and assessing their vulnerability to Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities.

For my final year degree project, I assessed the feasibility of using a sheared flow to stabilise a Z-pinch against the formation of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) instabilities and its validity as a fusion pathway. I concluded that this provides insufficient stabilisation and cast doubt on its feasibility as a fusion pathway. This was achieved by performing computational simulations using the Gorgon MHD code developed at Imperial College London.

As part of this project, I gained valuable experience in using the Python language to plot and analyse simulation data. I was also able to enhance my communication skills by creating a research poster and producing a presentation to effectively communicate my results. The project also demanded effective time management skills and also allowed me to hone my problem-solving abilities throughout.