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Title: Generalized Subtraction Schemes for the Difference Formulation in Radiation Transport

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/945793· OSTI ID:945793

In the difference formulation for the transport of thermally emitted photons, the photon intensity is defined relative to a reference field, the black body at the local material temperature. This choice of reference field removes the cancellation between thermal emission and absorption that is responsible for noise in the Monte Carlo solution of thick systems, but introduces time and space derivative source terms that can not be determined until the end of the time step. It can also lead to noise induced crashes under certain conditions where the real physical photon intensity differs strongly from a black body at the local material temperature. In this report, we consider a difference formulation relative to the material temperature at the beginning of the time step, and in the situations where the radiation intensity more closely follows a temperature other than the local material temperature, that temperature. The result is a method where iterative solution of the material energy equation is efficient and noise induced crashes are avoided. To support our contention that the resulting generalized subtraction scheme is robust, and therefore suitable for practical use, we perform a stability analysis in the thick limit where instabilities usually occur.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
945793
Report Number(s):
LLNL-TR-408299; TRN: US0901241
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English