Multiphysics simulations for LWR analysis Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • Accurate prediction of the neutron and temperature distributions within an operating nuclear reactor requires the solution of multiple coupled physics equations. In a light water reactor (LWR), there is a very strong coupling between the power distribution (described by the radiation transport equation) and the temperature and density distributions (described by a thermal diffusion equation in combination with a fluid flow model). This study aims to begin to quantify the impact of such feedback mechanisms as well as identify numerical difficulties associated with such multiphysics problems. A description of the multiphysics model and current solution strategy within the Exnihilo code package for coupling between 3-D radiation transport and 3-D heat transfer is given. Numerical results detailing the effects of varying the nature of the coupling and the impact of mesh refinement for a representative 33 pressurized water reactor (PWR) "mini-assembly" are presented.

published proceedings

  • International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering, M and C 2013

author list (cited authors)

  • Hamilton, S., Clarno, K., Berrill, M., Evans, T., Davidson, G., Lefebvre, R., ... Josey, C.

complete list of authors

  • Hamilton, S||Clarno, K||Berrill, M||Evans, T||Davidson, G||Lefebvre, R||Sampath, R||Hansel, J||Ragusa, J||Josey, C

publication date

  • September 2013