Bio
Mr. Kevin M. Stewart is a Hydraulics and Water Resources Engineer with the Water Resource Science and Engineering Group within the Environmental Sciences Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. His experience and areas of interests include computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modeling, environmental fluid mechanics, hydrodynamics and hydraulics as applied to natural and constructed energy-water systems. This knowledge coupled with attention to river system and hydropower operations, innovative approaches for water-energy infrastructure design and technologies, and novel strategies for environmental compatibility support forward-moving solutions for the natural and engineered world where water and energy meet.
At ORNL, Kevin is involved in a broad variety of research projects for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) including Standard Modular Hydropower (SMH) technologies, model and field testing strategies for innovative closed-loop pumped storage hydropower (PSH) reservoir membrane technology, application of CFD modeling to investigate hydropower tailrace flows and fish attraction for passage modules, SMH facility and module level analysis and performance, hydropower diversion and headwater benefits analysis. Kevin also serves as forum lead for Advanced Technology for Reimagining the Hydropower Vision Roadmap (https://hydropowervision.pnnl.gov/).
Prior to joining ORNL, Kevin worked several years in the energy utility industry investigating effects of hydropower system operation on the hydrodynamics and thermal behavior of waste heat from nuclear and fossil facilities within rivers and reservoirs, assessing withdrawal and mixing zones at hydropower facilities, and forecasting hydrothermal conditions in rivers using CFD, in-house models and multi-scale field testing.
Kevin received a Master of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Water Resources Department at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta, GA in 2002. Kevin studied fluid mechanics and his research focused on CFD model development for simulating selective withdrawal for stably stratified flows.
Awards
Third Place Paper Award - “Total Dissolved Gas Prediction and Implementation within Optimization Scheduling Model for the Mid-Columbia River System” in the Environmental and Social category – July 2015, HydroVision 2015 sponsored by National Hydropower Association.
Significant Event Award – “National Hydropower Asset Assessment Program (NHAAP)” – April 2014, Oak Ridge National Laboratory.