Comparison of multimesh hp-FEM to interpolation and projection methods for spatial coupling of reactor thermal and neutron diffusion calculations

Journal Article · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2011 · Electrochimica Acta

OSTI ID:1010690

Dubcova, Lenka; Solin, Pavel; Hansen, Glen; Park, HyeongKae

Multiphysics solution challenges are legion within the ?eld of nuclear reactor design and analysis. One major issue concerns the coupling between heat and neutron ?ow (neutronics) within the reactor assembly. These phenomena are usually very tightly interdependent, as large amounts of heat are quickly produced with an increase in ?ssion events within the fuel, which raises the temperature that a?ects the neutron cross section of the fuel. Furthermore, there typically is a large diversity of time and spatial scales between mathematical models of heat and neutronics. Indeed, the di?erent spatial resolution requirements often lead to the use of very di?erent meshes for the two phenomena. As the equations are coupled, one must take care in exchanging solution data between them, or signi?cant error can be introduced into the coupled problem. We propose a novel approach to the discretization of the coupled problem on di?erent meshes based on an adaptive multimesh higher-order ?nite element method (hp-FEM), and compare it to popular interpolation and projection methods. We show that the multimesh hp-FEM method is signi?cantly more accurate than the interpolation and projection approaches considered in this study.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (INL)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE - NE
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 1010690
• Report Number(s): INL/JOU-10-18340
• Journal Information: Electrochimica Acta, Journal Name: Electrochimica Acta Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 56; ISSN 0013-4686; ISSN ELCAAV
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
CROSS SECTIONS
DESIGN
DIFFUSION
FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
FISSION
INTERPOLATION
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NEUTRONS
REACTORS
SPATIAL RESOLUTION
coupled diffusion
multiphysics error
reactor multiphysics simulation