Dr Stephen Millmore
Assistant Teaching Professor
Stephen Millmore studied a BSc in Mathematics with Astronomy, and subsequently received a PhD on "Interfaces in Numerical Relativistic Hydrodynamics" under the supervision of Dr Ian Hawke from the University of Southampton.
He then joined the Laboratory for Scientific Computing at the Cavendish Laboratory in 2012 as a postdoc, working on the numerical simulation of ultrasonically excited water droplets, investigating anti-icing technologies for aircraft. He then expanded his research interests into a variety of multiphysics scenarios for aerospace and clean energy simulation. His work has included simulating lightning strike on aircraft, additive manufacturing processes, tokamak fusion reactors and millimetre wave drilling for deep geothermal energy.
In 2023 he was appointed an assistant teaching professor in the Laboratory for Scientific Computing, where he coordinates the continuum stream of the MPhil in Scientific Computing, and also lectures and supervises research projects.
Research
Stephen's research interests are in the development and application of numerical algorithms and simulation techniques for complex multiphysics interaction of all four states of matter. Beginning with applications to relativistic astrophysics, simulating interfaces in the interior of a neutron star, he has since expanded his interests to cover a wide range of terrestrial problems too, with particular interest in matter under extreme conditions.
This work has been carried out in collaboration with industrial partners including Boeing, Tokamak Energy and Quaise Energy.
For Boeing, Stephen has developed numerical tools to simulate cavitation in water droplets impacting an ultrasonically excited metal substrate, extreme lightning strike conditions on a range of aeronautical materials, and efficient additive manufacturing processes.
For Tokamak Energy, he has worked on simulation and optimisation of equilibrium solutions for tokamak plasma, as well as supervision of MPhil students, and co-supervision of PhD students into a wide range of tokamak behaviour, from stable configurations to extreme disruption events.
For Quaise Energy, he has developed a model which can efficiently simulate the evaporation of rock under a millimetre wave beam, allowing for the investigation of a novel, efficient drilling technique capable of ensuring geothermal energy is available throughout the world.
Teaching
Stephen is a lecturer in the MPhil in Scientific Computing, for the courses:
- Multiphysics Modelling for Four States of Matter
- Numerical Methods for Compressible Fluid Dynamics
- Simulation of Matter under Extreme Conditions
- Data Visualisation Techniques
He also supervises MPhil students for their research projects, for all of the research interests mentioned above, as well as co-supervising six PhD students.
Key publications:
- Zhang, A.Z., Millmore, S.T. and Nikiforakis, N. (2023). “Thermal simulation of millimetre wave ablation of geological materials”, Computers and Geotechnics, Volume 161,105571 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2023.105571
- M. Apsley, S. T. Millmore, and N. Nikiforakis (2022), Equation of state-driven radiative models for simulation of lightning strikes, Physics of Fluids 34, 016103 (2022) Featured article, Press Release https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0074430
- Träuble, F., Millmore, S. and Nikiforakis, N. (2021) An improved equation of state for air plasma simulations. Physics of Fluids 33, 036112 (2021) Editor’s Pick https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0044008
- Millmore, S.T. and Nikiforakis N. (2020). Multi-physics simulations of lightning strike on elastoplastic substrates. Journal of Computational Physics, 405, 109142 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcp.2019.109142
- Michael, L., Millmore, S.T. and Nikiforakis N. (2020). A multi-physics methodology for four-states of matter. Communications on Applied Mathematics and Computation, 2, pages 487–514 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1007/s42967-019-00047-4