• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제52권4호
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• pp.681-688
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• 2020

The telegrapher's theory was used to develop a new formulation for the neutron noise equation. Telegrapher's equation is supposed to demonstrate a more realistic approximation for neutron transport phenomena, especially in comparison to the diffusion theory. The physics behind such equation implies that the signal propagation speed is finite, instead of the infinite as in the case of ordinary diffusion. This paper presents the theory and results of the development of a new method for calculation of the neutron noise using the telegrapher's equation as its basis. In order to investigate the differences and strengths of the new method against the diffusion based neutron noise, a comparison was done between the behaviors of two methods. The neutron noise based on SN transport considered as a precision measuring point. The Green's function technique was used to calculate the neutron noise based on telegrapher's and diffusion methods as well as the transport. The amplitude and phase of Green's function associated with the properties of the medium and frequency of the noise source were obtained and their behavior was compared to the results of the transport. It was observed, the differences in some cases might be considerable. The effective speed of propagation for the noise perturbations were evaluated accordingly, resulting in considerable deviations in some cases.

• 에너지공학
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• 제17권4호
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• pp.233-240
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• 2008

최근 새로운 2계 자기 수반형(self-adjoint) 중성자 수송 방정식으로 기존의 우성 및 기성 수송 방정식 외에 SAAF(Self-Adjoint Angular Flux) 수송 방정식이 소개되어, 이에 대한 적절한 경계조건, 수치해법, 정확도 등에 관한 논의가 활발히 진행되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 SAAF 수송 방정식의 수학적, 물리적 의미를 고찰하고 기존의 우성 및 기성 수송 방정식과의 연관성을 명확히 하였으며, Boltzmann 수송 방정식의 1계 차분식에서 2계의 SAAF 수송 방정식의 차분식을 유도하는 방법을 확산 가속법(diffusion synthetic acceleration method)과 함께 소개하였다. 유도된 SAAF 차분법이 계산 효율성과 수송해의 정확도를 증가시킴을 수치결과로 확인하였다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권2호
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• pp.399-413
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• 2021

The solution of the time-dependent neutron diffusion equation can be approximated using quasi-static methods that factorise the neutronic flux as the product of a time dependent function times a shape function that depends both on space and time. A generalization of this technique is the updated modal method. This strategy assumes that the neutron flux can be decomposed into a sum of amplitudes multiplied by some shape functions. These functions, known as modes, come from the solution of the eigenvalue problems associated with the static neutron diffusion equation that are being updated along the transient. In previous works, the time step used to update the modes is set to a fixed value and this implies the need of using small time-steps to obtain accurate results and, consequently, a high computational cost. In this work, we propose the use of an adaptive control time-step that reduces automatically the time-step when the algorithm detects large errors and increases this value when it is not necessary to use small steps. Several strategies to compute the modes updating time step are proposed and their performance is tested for different transients in benchmark reactors with rectangular and hexagonal geometry.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제49권1호
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• pp.29-42
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• 2017

The purpose of the present study is the presentation of the appropriate element and shape function in the solution of the neutron diffusion equation in two-dimensional (2D) geometries. To this end, the multigroup neutron diffusion equation is solved using the Galerkin finite element method in both rectangular and hexagonal reactor cores. The spatial discretization of the equation is performed using unstructured triangular and quadrilateral finite elements. Calculations are performed using both linear and quadratic approximations of shape function in the Galerkin finite element method, based on which results are compared. Using the power iteration method, the neutron flux distributions with the corresponding eigenvalue are obtained. The results are then validated against the valid results for IAEA-2D and BIBLIS-2D benchmark problems. To investigate the dependency of the results to the type and number of the elements, and shape function order, a sensitivity analysis of the calculations to the mentioned parameters is performed. It is shown that the triangular elements and second order of the shape function in each element give the best results in comparison to the other states.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.211-221
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• 2018

중성자 확산방정식에 대해 개발된 노달 확산이론을 단순 우성 중성자 수송방정식에 적용할 수 있는 노달 수송이론을 제시한다. 노달이론으로 다항식전개 노달법과 해석함수전개 노달법을 채택하였고 단순 우성 수송방정식은 수송방정식에 대한 합리적 근사이며 기존의 노달해법이 방향 차분된 단순 우성 수송방정식에 정확히 적용될 수 있음을 수치적으로 확인하였다. 본 연구에서는 방법론 개발이 목적이므로 노드 당 최소한의 미지수를 정의하여 사용했지만 미지수를 추가함으로써 정확도를 증가시킬 수 있음은 기존의 노달 확산이론의 경우와 같다. 즉 중성자 수송방정식에 대해 노달이론을 적용하여 소격격자에 대해 계산 정확성이 확보되고 이는 결국 계산 효율성 증대로 나타난다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권6호
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• pp.2172-2194
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• 2023

A variational nodal method (VNM) with unstructured-mesh is presented for solving steady-state and dynamic neutron diffusion equations. Orthogonal polynomials are employed for spatial discretization, and the stiffness confinement method (SCM) is implemented for temporal discretization. Coordinate transformation relations are derived to map unstructured triangular nodes to a standard node. Methods for constructing triangular prism space trial functions and identifying unique nodes are elaborated. Additionally, the partitioned matrix (PM) and generalized partitioned matrix (GPM) methods are proposed to accelerate the within-group and power iterations. Neutron diffusion problems with different fuel assembly geometries validate the method. With less than 5 pcm eigenvalue (k_eff) error and 1% relative power error, the accuracy is comparable to reference methods. In addition, a test case based on the kilowatt heat pipe reactor, KRUSTY, is created, simulated, and evaluated to illustrate the method's precision and geometrical flexibility. The Dodds problem with a step transient perturbation proves that the SCM allows for sufficiently accurate power predictions even with a large time-step of approximately 0.1 s. In addition, combining the PM and GPM results in a speedup ratio of 2-3.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제32권6호
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• pp.605-617
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• 2000

Nodal transport methods are studied for the solution of two dimensional discrete-ordinates, simplified even-parity transport equation(SEP) which is known to be an approximation to the true transport equation. The polynomial expansion nodal method(PEN) and the analytic function expansion nodal method(AFEN）which have been developed for the diffusion theory are used for the solution of the discrete-ordinates form of SEP equation. Our study shows that while the PEN method in diffusion theory can directly be converted without complication, the AFEN method requires a theoretical modification due to the nonhomogeneous property of the transport equation. The numerical results show that the proposed two methods work well with the SEP transport equation with higher accuracies compared with the conventional finite difference method.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제51권5호
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• pp.1181-1194
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• 2019

A new moving-mesh Finite Volume Method (FVM) for the efficient solution of the two-dimensional neutron diffusion equation is introduced. Many other moving-mesh methods developed to solve the neutron diffusion problems use a relatively large number of sophisticated mathematical equations, and so suffer from a significant complexity of mathematical calculations. In this study, the proposed method is formulated based on simple mathematical algebraic equations that enable an efficient mesh movement and CV deformation for using in practical nuclear reactor applications. Accordingly, a computational framework relying on a new moving-mesh FVM is introduced to efficiently distribute the meshes and deform the CVs in regions with high gradient variations of reactor power. These regions of interest are very important in the neutronic assessment of the nuclear reactors and accordingly, a higher accuracy of the power densities is required to be obtained. The accuracy, execution time and finally visual comparison of the proposed method comprehensively investigated and discussed for three different benchmark problems. The results all indicated a higher accuracy of the proposed method in comparison with the conventional fixed-mesh FVM.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권5호
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• pp.1391-1402
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• 2021

The aim of this work is to prepare a neutron noise calculator based on the second order of average current nodal expansion method (ACNEM). Generally, nodal methods have the ability to fulfill the neutronic analysis with adequate precision using coarse meshes as large as a fuel assembly size. But, for the zeroth order of ACNEM, the accuracy of neutronic simulations may not be sufficient when coarse meshes are employed in the reactor core modeling. In this work, the capability of second order ACNEM is extended for solving the neutron diffusion equation in the frequency domain using coarse meshes. For this purpose, two problems are modeled and checked including a slab reactor and 2D BIBLIS PWR. For validating of results, a semi-analytical solution is utilized for 1D test case, and for 2D problem, the results of both forward and adjoint neutron noise calculations are exploited. Numerical results indicate that by increasing the order of method, the errors of frequency dependent coarse mesh solutions are considerably decreased in comparison to the reference. Accordingly, the accuracy of second order ACNEM can be acceptable for the neutron noise calculations by using coarse meshes in the nuclear reactor core.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제48권1호
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• pp.43-54
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• 2016

In the present paper, development of the three-dimensional (3D) computational code based on Galerkin finite element method (GFEM) for solving the multigroup forward/adjoint diffusion equation in both rectangular and hexagonal geometries is reported. Linear approximation of shape functions in the GFEM with unstructured tetrahedron elements is used in the calculation. Both criticality and fixed source calculations may be performed using the developed GFEM-3D computational code. An acceptable level of accuracy at a low computational cost is the main advantage of applying the unstructured tetrahedron elements. The unstructured tetrahedron elements generated with Gambit software are used in the GFEM-3D computational code through a developed interface. The forward/adjoint multiplication factor, forward/adjoint flux distribution, and power distribution in the reactor core are calculated using the power iteration method. Criticality calculations are benchmarked against the valid solution of the neutron diffusion equation for International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)-3D and Water-Water Energetic Reactor (VVER)-1000 reactor cores. In addition, validation of the calculations against the $P_1$ approximation of the transport theory is investigated in relation to the liquid metal fast breeder reactor benchmark problem. The neutron fixed source calculations are benchmarked through a comparison with the results obtained from similar computational codes. Finally, an analysis of the sensitivity of calculations to the number of elements is performed.