Pronghorn: A Multidimensional Coarse Mesh Application for Advanced Reactor Thermal-Hydraulics

Novak, April; Carlsen, Robert W; Schunert, Sebastian; Balestra, Paolo; Martineau, Richard; Slaybaugh, Rachel

doi:10.1080/00295450.2020.1825307

Pronghorn: A Multidimensional Coarse Mesh Application for Advanced Reactor Thermal-Hydraulics

Journal Article · Thu Feb 11 23:00:00 EST 2021 · Nuclear Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2020.1825307· OSTI ID:2006641

Novak, April ^[1]; ^[2]; ^[2]; Balestra, Paolo ^[2]; Martineau, Richard ^[3]; Slaybaugh, Rachel ^[1]

University of California, Berkeley
Idaho National Laboratory
Richard Martineau

This paper presents an overview of Pronghorn, a multiscale thermal-hydraulic (T/H) application developed by Idaho National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley. Pronghorn, built on the open-source finite element Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE), leverages state-of-the-art physical models, numerical methods, and nonlinear solvers to deliver fast-running advanced reactor T/H simulation capabilities within a modern software engineering environment. This work summarizes the physical models, multiphysics and multiscale coupling, and numerical discretization in Pronghorn with emphasis on our initial target application to pebble bed reactors (PBRs). A diverse set of applications are shown to depressurized natural circulation in the SANA experiments, forced convection in the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor, three-dimensional (3-D)/one-dimensional coupling of Pronghorn and RELAP-7 systems T/H for loop analysis in the High Temperature Reactor Power Module, and forced convection in the Mark-1 Pebble Bed Fluoride-Salt-Cooled High-Temperature Reactor. A multiphysics coupling of Pronghorn, RELAP-7, and Griffin deterministic neutronics for a gas-cooled PBR demonstrates the capability of the MOOSE framework for reactor design calculations. These applications highlight the verification and validation underlying Pronghorn’s software development while emphasizing features that improve upon capabilities offered by legacy tools in areas such as 3-D unstructured meshing, physics modeling, and multiphysics coupling.

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Research Organization:: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: 58

DOE Contract Number:: AC07-05ID14517

OSTI ID:: 2006641

Report Number(s):: INL/JOU-20-58261-Rev000

Journal Information:: Nuclear Technology, Journal Name: Nuclear Technology Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 207

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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