Development of a novel two-phase flow solver for nuclear reactor analysis: algorithms, verification and implementation in OpenFOAM

Radman, Stefan; Fiorina, Carlo; Pautz, Andreas

doi:10.1016/j.nucengdes.2021.111178

Cited by 13 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The resulting tool, called GeN-Foam, is a multiphysics solver for steady-state and transient nuclear reactor analysis [11]. It couples together a multiscale fine/coarse mesh subsolver for thermal hydraulics (one and two phases) [16,17], a subsolver for neutronics (point kinetics [18], diffusion [19], SP3 [20], and SN [21,22]), and a displacement-based subsolver for thermal-mechanics to allow deforming the neutronics mesh for an explicit modeling of the expansion reactivity feedback. The developed solver can easily be maintained and modified thanks to object-oriented programming.…”

Section: The Gen-foam Multiphysics Solvermentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation and Validation of Unstructured Mesh Methodologies for Modeling Experimental Reactors

et al. 2022

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This paper summarizes a methodology developed at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne for the neutronic modeling of the CROCUS experimental reactor and proposes solutions to the challenges one may face while modeling a research reactor with a complex geometry. Indeed, the double-lattice configuration of CROCUS makes it difficult to use codes for neutron diffusion and transport relying on a structured mesh description. For this reason, and based on the available in-house competences, we decided to make use of the neutronic capabilities of the GeN-Foam multiphysics solver, which takes advantage of general finite volume methodologies on unstructured meshes to provide sufficient flexibility for the study of unconventional reactor designs. In this work, GeN-Foam is used to build a first SP3 model of CROCUS based on an unstructured mesh to have an explicit modeling of the double lattice and the water gap between the two lattices. Form functions are then used to reconstruct the intra-pin fission rates for validation against measured distributions. We also discuss the limitations of the SP3 approximation of neutron transport in regions with steep neutron flux gradients and the planned future developments.

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Section: The Gen-foam Multiphysics Solvermentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation and Validation of Unstructured Mesh Methodologies for Modeling Experimental Reactors

et al. 2022

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“…In the context of OpenFOAM R , the MMS has been employed to assess different solvers, covering several areas, such as computational fluid dynamics [7][8][9][10], solid mechanics [11], fluid-structure interaction [12], heat transfer [13], nuclear engineering [14], reacting flows [15], among others. However, in all the referred works, the MMS is used to assess the developed solvers, but no details are provided to guide users interested in extending the approach to other cases.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Semi-Automatic Approach Based on the Method of Manufactured Solutions to Assess the Convergence Order in OpenFOAM

et al. 2022

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Code verification is an intricate and crucial part of code developed. Due to the nature of the partial differential equations being solved, an analytical solution might not exit. To prove that the code is solving the correct equations, the method of manufactured solutions (MMS) is the go to approach. In this method we create a forcing term to drive the solution to a predetermined function. By performing a mesh refinement study, we can verify if the code is solving correctly the governing equations. In this work, we present the procedure of MMS as well as a tool developed in an open-source software for symbolic computation of the forcing term, appropriate boundary conditions and error norm computation withing the OpenFOAM® framework.

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Review on Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Analysis of Fuel Element and Simulation Methods

Cárdenas R.,

Collazos Morales,

Amaya

et al. 2023

Computational Science and Its Applications – ICCSA 2023

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Development of a novel two-phase flow solver for nuclear reactor analysis: algorithms, verification and implementation in OpenFOAM

Cited by 13 publications

References 36 publications

Investigation and Validation of Unstructured Mesh Methodologies for Modeling Experimental Reactors

Investigation and Validation of Unstructured Mesh Methodologies for Modeling Experimental Reactors

A Semi-Automatic Approach Based on the Method of Manufactured Solutions to Assess the Convergence Order in OpenFOAM

Review on Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Analysis of Fuel Element and Simulation Methods

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