An assessment of coupling algorithms for nuclear reactor core physics simulations

Hamilton, Steven P.; Berrill, M.; Clarno, Kevin T.; Pawlowski, Roger P.; Toth, Alex; Kelley, C. T.; Evans, Thomas M.; Philip, Bobby

doi:10.1016/j.jcp.2016.02.012

Cited by 43 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…It is also called the operator splitting semi implicit (OSSI) method sometimes though it is actually an explicit method . There are also diverse varieties for the semi‐implicit and implicit coupling methods. Moreover, some other acceleration techniques are also massively developed and implemented to the codes temporal coupling .…”

Section: The Multiscale Thermal‐hydraulic Coupling Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The multiscale thermal‐hydraulic simulation for nuclear reactors: A classification of the coupling approaches and a review of the coupled codes

Zhang

2020

Int J Energy Res

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Summary Simulation is becoming increasingly important in the safety analysis of nuclear reactors nowadays. The physical phenomena in a nuclear power plant happen on three classified scales: system scale (phenomenon over the whole plant is concerned), component scale (phenomenon in specific component is concerned), and mesoscale (phenomenon in a small part of a component is concerned). Owing to the particular emphases, various codes are developed to simulate particular problems. System codes intend to predict the behavior of the whole power plant during normal or accidental phases (system scale). Subchannel codes are for core behavior predictions (component scale). CFD codes can simulate the thermal‐hydraulic in a fixed part of the plant (mesoscale). Those codes are coupled together to better predict the conditions in a nuclear reactor in last the two decades, which is the multiscale thermal‐hydraulic simulation approach for nuclear power systems. Diverse coupling approaches are developed and various coupling codes are implemented. This paper first proposes a classification of those approaches. It tells that a multiscale coupling is composed of five items: coupling architecture, operation mode, domain coupling, field mapping, and temporal coupling. Numbers of options are available for each item. For coupling architecture, it can be internal coupling, via‐IO coupling, server‐client, or serverless coupling. For operation mode, it can be either parallel or serial. For domain coupling, it can be either domain‐decomposition or domain‐overlapping coupling. For field mapping, it can be manual‐definition, processed by user‐developing toolkit, or handled by third‐party libraries. For temporal coupling, it can be explicit coupling, semi‐implicit coupling, or implicit coupling. An evaluation of the approaches is performed based on new‐proposed criterion. A general review of the multiscale thermal‐hydraulic coupled codes is made based on the classification. Especially, a review of the domain‐overlapping approach is present considering it is the most promising but challenging method for multiscale thermal‐hydraulic simulation.

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Section: The Multiscale Thermal‐hydraulic Coupling Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The multiscale thermal‐hydraulic simulation for nuclear reactors: A classification of the coupling approaches and a review of the coupled codes

Zhang

2020

Int J Energy Res

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“…Other applications are stiff dislocation dynamics (Gardner et al 2015), fluid-structure interactions (Ganine, Javiya, Hills and Chew 2012), hydrology (Lott, Walker, Woodward and Yang 2012), neutron transport (Willert, Taitano andKnoll 2014, Toth et al 2017), thermal radiation transport (An, Jia and Walker 2017), and multiphysics coupling (Toth 2016, Hamilton et al 2016.…”

Section: Anderson Accelerationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We remind the reader that Anderson acceleration was designed in a context where Newton's method was not practical because obtaining approximate Jacobians or Jacobian-vector products was (and still is) too costly. Comparisons indicate that Newton's method performs better when even moderately accurate derivative information can be had at reasonable cost (Hamilton et al 2016).…”

Section: Anderson Accelerationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical methods for nonlinear equations

Kelley

2018

Acta Numerica

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This article is about numerical methods for the solution of nonlinear equations. We consider both the fixed-point form $\mathbf{x}=\mathbf{G}(\mathbf{x})$ and the equations form $\mathbf{F}(\mathbf{x})=0$ and explain why both versions are necessary to understand the solvers. We include the classical methods to make the presentation complete and discuss less familiar topics such as Anderson acceleration, semi-smooth Newton’s method, and pseudo-arclength and pseudo-transient continuation methods.

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“…For more invasive couplings (JFNK) and acceleration techniques such as Anderson acceleration [40], PIKE can be used in conjunction with the Thyra abstraction layers and the NOX nonlinear solver packages in Trilinos. See the article in this special issue by Hamilton et al for detailed comparisons of solution techniques [41]. The principal differentiating features in PIKE are simplified interfaces, minimal upstream dependences, no system-level framework requirements, and an emphasis on user extensibility.…”

Section: Limementioning

confidence: 99%

The Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications (VERA): Design and architecture

Turner

Clarno

Sieger

et al. 2016

Journal of Computational Physics

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128

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VERA, the Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications, is the system of physics capabilities being developed and deployed by the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL). CASL was established for the modeling and simulation of commercial nuclear reactors. VERA consists of integrating and interfacing software together with a suite of physics components adapted and/or refactored to simulate relevant physical phenomena in a coupled manner. VERA also includes the software development environment and computational infrastructure needed for these components to be effectively used. We describe the architecture of VERA from both software and numerical perspectives, along with the goals and constraints that drove major design decisions, and their implications. We explain why VERA is an environment rather than a framework or toolkit, why these distinctions are relevant (particularly for coupled physics applications), and provide an overview of results that demonstrate the use of VERA tools for a variety of challenging applications within the nuclear industry.

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An assessment of coupling algorithms for nuclear reactor core physics simulations

Cited by 43 publications

References 37 publications

The multiscale thermal‐hydraulic simulation for nuclear reactors: A classification of the coupling approaches and a review of the coupled codes

The multiscale thermal‐hydraulic simulation for nuclear reactors: A classification of the coupling approaches and a review of the coupled codes

Numerical methods for nonlinear equations

The Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications (VERA): Design and architecture

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