Automatic mesh adaptivity for hybrid Monte Carlo/deterministic neutronics modeling of difficult shielding problems
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
The CADIS and FW-CADIS hybrid Monte Carlo/deterministic techniques dramatically increase the efficiency of neutronics modeling, but their use in the accurate design analysis of very large and geometrically complex nuclear systems has been limited by the large number of processors and memory requirements for their preliminary deterministic calculations and final Monte Carlo calculation. Three mesh adaptivity algorithms were developed to reduce the memory requirements of CADIS and FW-CADIS without sacrificing their efficiency improvement. First, a macromaterial approach enhances the fidelity of the deterministic models without changing the mesh. Second, a deterministic mesh refinement algorithm generates meshes that capture as much geometric detail as possible without exceeding a specified maximum number of mesh elements. Finally, a weight window coarsening algorithm decouples the weight window mesh and energy bins from the mesh and energy group structure of the deterministic calculations in order to remove the memory constraint of the weight window map from the deterministic mesh resolution. The three algorithms were used to enhance an FW-CADIS calculation of the prompt dose rate throughout the ITER experimental facility. Using these algorithms resulted in a 23.3% increase in the number of mesh tally elements in which the dose rates were calculated in a 10-day Monte Carlo calculation and, additionally, increased the efficiency of the Monte Carlo simulation by a factor of at least 3.4. The three algorithms enabled this difficult calculation to be accurately solved using an FW-CADIS simulation on a regular computer cluster, eliminating the need for a world-class super computer.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 1213307
- Journal Information:
- Nuclear Science and Engineering, Vol. 181, Issue 1; ISSN 0029-5639
- Publisher:
- American Nuclear SocietyCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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AUTOMATIC MESH ADAPTIVITY FOR CADIS AND FW-CADIS NEUTRONICS MODELING OF DIFFICULT SHIELDING PROBLEMS
Automatic mesh adaptivity for CADIS and FW-CADIS neutronics modeling of difficult shielding problems