A neutron noise solver based on a discrete ordinates method
Licentiate thesis, 2020

A neutron noise transport modelling tool is presented in this thesis. The simulator allows to determine the static solution of a critical system and the neutron noise induced by a prescribed perturbation of the critical system. The simulator is based on the neutron balance equations in the frequency domain and for two-dimensional systems. The discrete ordinates method is used for the angular discretization and the diamond finite difference method for the treatment of the spatial variable. The energy dependence is modelled with two neutron energy groups. The conventional inner-outer iterative scheme is employed for solving the discretized neutron transport equations. For the acceleration of the iterative scheme, the diffusion synthetic acceleration is implemented.

The convergence rate of the accelerated and unaccelerated versions of the simulator is studied for the case of a perturbed infinite homogeneous system. The theoretical behavior predicted by the Fourier convergence analysis agrees well with the numerical performance of the simulator. The diffusion synthetic acceleration decreases significantly the number of numerical iterations, but its convergence rate is still slow, especially for perturbations at low frequencies.

The simulator is further tested on neutron noise problems in more realistic, heterogeneous systems and compared with the diffusion-based solver. The diffusion synthetic acceleration leads to a reduction of the computational burden by a factor of 20. In addition, the simulator shows results that are consistent with the diffusion-based approximation. However, discrepancies are found because of the local effects of the neutron noise source and the strong variations of material properties in the system, which are expected to be better reproduced by a higher-order transport method such as the one used in the new solver.

diffusion synthetic acceleration

nuclear reactor modelling

deterministic neutron transport methods

neutron noise

convergence analysis

discrete ordinates

PJ Lecture room, Fysik Origo, Fysikgården 2B, Chalmers University of Technology
Opponent: Dr. Vasily Arzhanov, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

Author

Huaiqian Yi

Chalmers, Physics, Subatomic, High Energy and Plasma Physics

A discrete ordinates solver with diffusion synthetic acceleration for simulations of 2-D and 2-energy group neutron noise problems

International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering - M&C 2019,; (2019)p. 2023-2032

Paper in proceeding

Neutron noise simulations in a heterogeneous system: A comparison between a diffusion-based and a discrete ordinates solver

International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering - M&C 2019,; (2019)p. 439-448

Paper in proceeding

Core monitoring techniques and experimental validation and demonstration (CORTEX)

European Commission (EC) (EC/H2020/754316), 2017-09-01 -- 2021-08-31.

Subject Categories

Other Engineering and Technologies not elsewhere specified

Other Physics Topics

CTH-NT - Chalmers University of Technology, Nuclear Engineering: 341

Publisher

Chalmers

PJ Lecture room, Fysik Origo, Fysikgården 2B, Chalmers University of Technology

Opponent: Dr. Vasily Arzhanov, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

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Latest update

3/2/2022 1