• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.772-784
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• 2024

The hexagonal nodal code RENUS has been enhanced to handle irregularly deformed hexagonal assemblies. The underlying RENUS methods involving triangle-based polynomial expansion nodal (T-PEN) and corner point balance (CPB) were extended in a way to use line and surface integrals of polynomials in a deformed hexagonal geometry. The nodal calculation is accelerated by the coarse mesh finite difference (CMFD) formulation extended to unstructured geometry. The accuracy of the unstructured nodal solution was evaluated for a group of 2D SFR core problems in which the assembly corner points are arbitrarily displaced. The RENUS results for the change in nuclear characteristics resulting from fuel deformation were compared with those of the reference McCARD Monte Carlo code. It turned out that the two solutions agree within 18 pcm in reactivity change and 0.46% in assembly power distribution change. These results demonstrate that the proposed unstructured nodal method can accurately model heterogeneous thermal expansion in hexagonal fueled cores.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.8
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• pp.3059-3072
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• 2022

A Jacobian-Free Newton Krylov Two-Nodal Coarse Mesh Finite Difference algorithm based on Nodal Expansion Method (NEM_TNCMFD_JFNK) is successfully developed and proposed to solve the three-dimensional (3D) and multi-group reactor physics models. In the NEM_TNCMFD_JFNK method, the efficient JFNK method with the Modified Incomplete LU (MILU) preconditioner is integrated and applied into the discrete systems of the NEM-based two-node CMFD method by constructing the residual functions of only the nodal average fluxes and the eigenvalue. All the nonlinear corrective nodal coupling coefficients are updated on the basis of two-nodal NEM formulation including the discontinuity factor in every few newton steps. All the expansion coefficients and interface currents of the two-node NEM need not be chosen as the solution variables to evaluate the residual functions of the NEM_TNCMFD_JFNK method, therefore, the NEM_TNCMFD_JFNK method can greatly reduce the number of solution variables and the computational cost compared with the JFNK based on the conventional NEM. Finally the NEM_TNCMFD_JFNK code is developed and then analyzed by simulating the representative PWR MOX/UO₂ core benchmark, the popular NEACRP 3D core benchmark and the complicated full-core pin-by-pin homogenous core model. Numerical solutions show that the proposed NEM_TNCMFD_JFNK method with the MILU preconditioner has the good numerical accuracy and can obtain higher computational efficiency than the NEM-based two-node CMFD algorithm with the power method in the outer iteration and the Krylov method using the MILU preconditioner in the inner iteration, which indicates the NEM_TNCMFD_JFNK method can serve as a potential and efficient numerical tool for reactor neutron diffusion analysis module in the JFNK-based multiphysics coupling application.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1995.10a
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• pp.29-34
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• 1995

The good features of the analytic function expansion nodal (AFEN) method are utilized to develop a practical scheme jot the multigroup diffusion problems, in combination with the polynomial expansion nodal (PEN) method. The thermal group fluxes exhibiting strong gradients are solved by the AFEN method[1-6], while the fast group fluxes that are smoother than the thermal group fuzes are solved by the PEN method[7-9]. The scheme is applied to a MOX-fuel loaded core with good results.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.32 no.6
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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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1996.05a
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• pp.131-136
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• 1996

An analytic nodal expansion method has been derived for the multigroup neutron diffusion equation in 2-D cylindrical(R-Z) coordinate. In this method we used the second order Legendre polynomials for source, and transverse leakage, and then the diffusion eqaution was solved analytically. This formalism has been applied to 2-D LWR model. $textsc{k}$$_{eff}$, power distribution, and computing time have been compared with those of ADEP code(finite difference method). The benchmark showed that the analytic nodal expansion method in R-Z coordinate has good accuracy and quite faster than the finite difference method. This is another merit of using R-Z coordinate in that the transverse integration over surfaces is better than the linear integration over length. This makes the discontinuity factor useless.s.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.85.2-85
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• 2001

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2007.07a
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• pp.574-575
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• 2007

This paper proposes a method for choosing the best transmission system expansion plan using nodal/bus delivery marginal rate criterion ($BMR_k$) defined newly in this paper. The objective method minimizes a total cost which is an investment budget for constructing new transmission lines subject to the $BMR_k$ which means a nodal deterministic reliability level requirement at specified load point. The proposed method models the transmission system expansion problem as an integer programming problem. It solves for the optimal strategy using a branch and bound method that utilizes a network flow approach and the maximum flow-minimum cut set theorem. Test results on an existing 21-bus system are included in the paper. It demonstrated the suitability of the proposed method for solving the transmission system expansion planning problem in competitive electricity market environment.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.5
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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.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society for Energy Engineering kosee Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.115-120
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• 2000

The analysis of flux distribution under stead-state in large power reactors with assymetry reactivity insertions requires the use of three-dimensional diffusion calculations. For the purpose, consistently formulated modern nodal methods based on higher order interface techniques have become popular tools for flux distributions in large commercial nuclear reactors. Among the earlier developments, the nodal Green's function method obtains its nodal interface equation from the transverse-integrated integral diffusion equation using a finite-medium Green's function. In this method, the outgoing current from a node surface is formulated as a response of the incoming currents and the spatially integrated neutron source within the same node. The well-known nodal expansion method is also based on an interface partial current formulation. Nodal methods high-level interface variables, i.e., interface net current and flux, may be more computationally efficient than the nodal Green's function method because they have one fewer unknown per interface. The Analytic Nodal Method(ANM), which can be classified as an interface net current technique and, was faster in solving some standard benchmark problems than the other two methods.(omitted)

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1996.05a
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• pp.34-39
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• 1996

A consistent general order nodal method for solving the 3-D neutron diffusion equation in (x-y-z) geometry has ben derived by using a weighted integral technique and expanding the spatial variables by the Legendre orthogonal series function. The equation set derived can be converted into any order nodal schemes. It forms a compact system for general order of nodal moments. The method utilizes the analytic solutions of the transverse-integrated quasi -one dimensional equations and a consistent expansion for the spatial variables so that it renders the use of an approximation for the transverse leakages no necessary. Thus, we can expect extremely accurate solutions and the solution would converge exactly when the mesh width is decreased or the approximation order is increased since the equation set is consistent mathematically.