Multiphysics simulations for LWR analysis
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 (United States)
- Department of Nuclear Engineering, Texas A and M University (United States)
- Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, University of New Mexico (United States)
Accurate prediction of the neutron and temperature distributions within an operating nuclear reactor requires the solution of multiple coupled physics equations. In a light water reactor (LWR), there is a very strong coupling between the power distribution (described by the radiation transport equation) and the temperature and density distributions (described by a thermal diffusion equation in combination with a fluid flow model). This study aims to begin to quantify the impact of such feedback mechanisms as well as identify numerical difficulties associated with such multiphysics problems. A description of the multiphysics model and current solution strategy within the Exnihilo code package for coupling between 3-D radiation transport and 3-D heat transfer is given. Numerical results detailing the effects of varying the nature of the coupling and the impact of mesh refinement for a representative 3x3 pressurized water reactor (PWR) 'mini-assembly' are presented. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22212837
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: M and C 2013: 2013 International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering, Sun Valley, ID (United States), 5-9 May 2013; Other Information: Country of input: France; 14 refs.; Related Information: In: Proceedings of the 2013 International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering - M and C 2013| 3016 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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