ADAPTIVE TIME-STEP CONTROL FOR THE MODAL METHOD TO INTEGRATE THE MULTIGROUP NEUTRON DIFFUSION EQUATION

The distribution of the power inside a reactor core can be described by the time dependent multigroup neutron diffusion equation. One of the approaches to integrate this time-dependent equation is the modal method, that assumes that the solution can be described by the sum of amplitude function multiplied by shape functions of modes. These shape functions can be computed by solving a _-modes problems. The modal method has a great interest when the distribution of the power cannot be well approximated by only one shape function, mainly, when local perturbations are applied during the transient. Usually, the shape functions of the modal methods are updated for the time-dependent equations with a constant time-step size to obtain accurate results. In this work, we propose a modal methodology with an adaptive control time-step to update the eigenfunctions associated with the modes. This algorithm improves efficiency because of time is not spent solving the systems to a level of accuracy beyond relevance and reduces the step size if they detect a numerical instability. Step size controllers require an error estimation. Different error estimations are considered and analyzed in a benchmark problem with a out of phase local perturbation.

COMPARISONS AMONG THREE COUPLING FORMS OF CYLINDRICAL NODAL EXPANSION METHODS

Nodal expansion method (NEM) is a typical nodal method in solving neutron diffusion equation in coarse mesh spatial discretization. NEM has been extended to cylindrical geometry in previous studies. Cylindrical NEM can be realized by different forms, where the variables in the nodal coupling equations are classified as net current, flux or partial current at the nodal surface, respectively. The three types of coupling forms of NEM have been implemented in PANGU code for the high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) physics analysis. This paper derives the three types of coupling forms of NEM, and analyzes their performance in solving the HTGR model containing void region.