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Implementation of high-fidelity neutronics and thermal–hydraulic coupling calculations in HNET

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Abstract

To perform nuclear reactor simulations in a more realistic manner, the coupling scheme between neutronics and thermal-hydraulics was implemented in the HNET program for both steady-state and transient conditions. For simplicity, efficiency, and robustness, the matrix-free Newton/Krylov (MFNK) method was applied to the steady-state coupling calculation. In addition, the optimal perturbation size was adopted to further improve the convergence behavior of the MFNK. For the transient coupling simulation, the operator splitting method with a staggered time mesh was utilized to balance the computational cost and accuracy. Finally, VERA Problem 6 with power and boron perturbation and the NEACRP transient benchmark were simulated for analysis. The numerical results show that the MFNK method can outperform Picard iteration in terms of both efficiency and robustness for a wide range of problems. Furthermore, the reasonable agreement between the simulation results and the reference results for the NEACRP transient benchmark verifies the capability of predicting the behavior of the nuclear reactor.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fundamental Science on Nuclear Safety and Simulation Technology Laboratory, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, 150001, China

    Yan-Ling Zhu, **ng-Wu Chen & Chen Hao

  2. Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology (INET), Tsinghua University, Bei**g, 100084, China

    Yi-Zhen Wang

  3. Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

    Yun-Lin Xu

Authors
  1. Yan-Ling Zhu
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  2. **ng-Wu Chen
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  3. Chen Hao
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  4. Yi-Zhen Wang
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  5. Yun-Lin Xu
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Yan-Ling Zhu, **ng-Wu Chen, Chen Hao, Yi-Zhen Wang, and Yun-Lin Xu. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Yan-Ling Zhu, Chen Hao, and Yi-Zhen Wang, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chen Hao.

Additional information

This study was supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2021M703045), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 12075067), and the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2018YFE0180900).

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Zhu, YL., Chen, XW., Hao, C. et al. Implementation of high-fidelity neutronics and thermal–hydraulic coupling calculations in HNET. NUCL SCI TECH 33, 146 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-022-01120-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-022-01120-z

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