Low-order multiphysics coupling techniques for nuclear reactor applications

Walker, Erik D.; Collins, Benjamin; Gehin, Jess C.

doi:10.1016/j.anucene.2019.04.022

Low-order multiphysics coupling techniques for nuclear reactor applications

Journal Article · Mon May 06 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Annals of Nuclear Energy (Oxford)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2019.04.022· OSTI ID:1785622

Walker, Erik D. ^[1]; ^[2]; Gehin, Jess C. ^[3]

Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

The accurate modeling and simulation of nuclear reactor designs depends greatly on the ability to couple differing sets of physics together. Current coupling techniques most often use a fixed-point, or Picard, iteration scheme in which each set of physics is solved separately, and the resulting solutions are passed between each solver. In the work presented here, two different coupling techniques are investigated: a Jacobian-Free Newton-Krylov (JFNK) approach and a new methodology called Coarse Mesh Finite Difference Coupling (CMFD-Coupling). In this work, both techniques were applied to the low-order CMFD system of equations. This allows for the multiphysics feedback effects to be captured on the low-order system without having to perform a neutron transport solve. The JFNK and CMFD-Coupling approaches were implemented in the MPACT neutron transport code, which is being developed for the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL). These methods were tested on a wide range of practical reactor physics problems, from a single 3D fuel pin to a massively parallel 3D full core problem. When coupled neutronics-thermal hydraulics problems were investigated with both JFNK and CMFD-Coupling, it was concluded that CMFD-Coupling outperformed JFNK in terms of both accuracy and runtime for every problem. When applied to large full core problems with multiple sources of strong feedback enabled, CMFD-Coupling reduced the overall number of transport sweeps required for convergence.

Research Organization:: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1785622

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1564426
OSTI ID: 22846389

Journal Information:: Annals of Nuclear Energy (Oxford), Journal Name: Annals of Nuclear Energy (Oxford) Vol. 132; ISSN 0306-4549

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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