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Title: A New 2D-Transport, 1D-Diffusion Approximation of the Boltzmann Transport equation

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1087140· OSTI ID:1087140

The work performed in this project consisted of the derivation, implementation, and testing of a new, computationally advantageous approximation to the 3D Boltz- mann transport equation. The solution of the Boltzmann equation is the neutron flux in nuclear reactor cores and shields, but solving this equation is difficult and costly. The new “2D/1D” approximation takes advantage of a special geometric feature of typical 3D reactors to approximate the neutron transport physics in a specific (ax- ial) direction, but not in the other two (radial) directions. The resulting equation is much less expensive to solve computationally, and its solutions are expected to be sufficiently accurate for many practical problems. In this project we formulated the new equation, discretized it using standard methods, developed a stable itera- tion scheme for solving the equation, implemented the new numerical scheme in the MPACT code, and tested the method on several realistic problems. All the hoped- for features of this new approximation were seen. For large, difficult problems, the resulting 2D/1D solution is highly accurate, and is calculated about 100 times faster than a 3D discrete ordinates simulation.

Research Organization:
UT-Battelle LLC/ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC07-05ID14517
OSTI ID:
1087140
Report Number(s):
ID14517/09-815
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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