Spectral element applications in complex nuclear reactor geometries: Tet-to-hex meshing

Yuan, Hongyong; Yildiz, Mustafa Alper; Merzari, Elia; Yu, Yang; Obabko, Aleksandr; Botha, Gerrit; Busco, Giacomo; Hassan, Yassin A.; Nguyen, Diep Thi Ngoc

doi:10.1016/j.nucengdes.2019.110422

Cited by 21 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…The momentum sources have been developed and calibrated using Large Eddy Simulation in a 5x5 assembly with the spacers and the vanes explicitly modeled. We note that there is considerable literature already on the validation of Nek5000 for spacer grids [8,12]. This report presents the first set of simulations in which a momentum source approach has been applied to a full core.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Initial full core SMR simulations with NekRS

Merzari

Fang

Shaver

et al. 2020

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Initial full core SMR simulations with NekRS

Merzari

Fang

Shaver

et al. 2020

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“…We have developed a tetrahedral-to-hexahedral (tet-to-hex) technique that enables the use of Nek5000 on complex geometries and that produces remarkably well-conditioned meshes. 27 Our early trials for the pebble bed are based on this approach. To scale to very large pebble counts, however, we are developing a tailored approach to the generation of all-hexahedral meshes in the pebble void regions that is based on a tessellation of the Voronoi cells defined by the pebble centers.…”

Section: The Configuration Information Discovered Bymentioning

confidence: 99%

Cardinal: A Lower-Length-Scale Multiphysics Simulator for Pebble-Bed Reactors

et al. 2021

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This paper demonstrates a multiphysics solver for pebble-bed reactors, in particular, for Berkeley's pebble-bed -fluoride-salt-cooled high-temperature reactor (PB-FHR) (Mark I design). The FHR is a class of advanced nuclear reactors that combines the robust coated particle fuel form from high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, the direct reactor auxiliary cooling system passive decay removal of liquid-metal fast reactors, and the transparent, high-volumetric heat capacitance liquid-fluoride salt working fluids (e.g., FLiBe) from molten salt reactors. This fuel and coolant combination enables FHRs to operate in a high-temperature, low-pressure design space that has beneficial safety and economic implications. The PB-FHR relies on a pebblebed approach, and pebble-bed reactors are, in a sense, the poster child for multiscale analysis.Relying heavily on the MultiApp capability of the Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE), we have developed Cardinal, a new platform for lower-length-scale simulation of pebble-bed cores. The lower-length-scale simulator comprises three physics: neutronics (OpenMC), thermal fluids (Nek5000/ NekRS), and fuel performance (BISON). Cardinal tightly couples all three physics and leverages advances in MOOSE, such as the MultiApp system and the concept of MOOSE-wrapped applications. Moreover, Cardinal can utilize graphics processing units for accelerating solutions. In this paper, we discuss the development of Cardinal and the verification and validation and demonstration simulations.

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“…In the design of advanced nuclear energy technologies , components are adopting complicated designs, such as fuel assemblies with spacer grids [24], [25], helical coil steam generators [26], [27], random pebble beds [28], printed circuit heat exchangers [29], etc. For Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations, it is essential to generate quality meshes for these complex designs.…”

Section: Quadratic Tet-to-hexmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To address these issues, we proposed a tet-to-hex meshing method in our previous paper [25]. The tet-to-hex meshing method can utilize the high flexibility of a pure tetrahedral mesh to conform to the geometry, but it can still maintain the higher-order accuracy of Nek5000.…”

Section: Quadratic Tet-to-hexmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nek5000: improvements in the available RANS models, meshing, tutorials, and training

Shaver¹,

Obabko²,

Tomboulides³

et al. 2021

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is a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC under contract DE-AC02-06CH11357. The Laboratory's main facility is outside Chicago, at 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439. For information about Argonne and its pioneering science and technology programs, see www.anl.gov. DOCUMENT AVAILABLITYOnline Access: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reports produced after 1991 and a growing number of pre-1991 documents are available free at OSTI.GOV (http://www.osti.gov/), a service of the US Dept. of Energy's Office of Scientific and Technical Information.

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Spectral element applications in complex nuclear reactor geometries: Tet-to-hex meshing

Cited by 21 publications

References 21 publications

Initial full core SMR simulations with NekRS

Initial full core SMR simulations with NekRS

Cardinal: A Lower-Length-Scale Multiphysics Simulator for Pebble-Bed Reactors

Nek5000: improvements in the available RANS models, meshing, tutorials, and training

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