OECD/NRC PWR MOX/UO2 core transient benchmark pin-by-pin solutions using Serpent/SUBCHANFLOW

Ferraro, Diego; Valtavirta, Ville; García, Manuel; Imke, Uwe; Tuominen, Riku; Leppänen, Jaakko; Sánchez-Espinoza, Víctor Hugo

doi:10.1016/j.anucene.2020.107745

Cited by 12 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The master-slave internal coupling of Serpent v2.1.3.1 (Master) and Subchanflow v3.7 (Slave) has been used for the neutronic and thermal-hydraulic analysis of the IAEA-10 MW core. The version of Subchanflow used by [8] was extended with models relevant for MTR cores as described in [9,10]. The updated coupled Serpent2/Subchanflow version makes use of the simple fixed-point iteration known as the Picard method for the iteration between the N-TH [8,11,12].…”

Section: Coupled Neutronic/thermal-hydraulic Calculation Scheme Based...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The version of Subchanflow used by [8] was extended with models relevant for MTR cores as described in [9,10]. The updated coupled Serpent2/Subchanflow version makes use of the simple fixed-point iteration known as the Picard method for the iteration between the N-TH [8,11,12]. Pure neutron transport simulations are considered in this work.…”

Section: Coupled Neutronic/thermal-hydraulic Calculation Scheme Based...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Energies 2022, 15, 1554 2 of 20 Efforts have been made towards safety analysis in research reactors, such as the use of Technique for systems with limited data [5], the description of small cores with thermohydraulic codes of systems/subchannels coupled with neutron diffusion codes [6], and more recently, in 2016 and 2021, some authors started to study the application of Monte Carlo codes coupled with thermohydraulic codes to investigate individual MTR fuel assemblies or representative MTR channel geometries [4,7]. At KIT, investigations are underway to modify the high-fidelity multi-physics coupled codes, e.g., Serpent2/Subchanflow, developed for power reactors within the European H2020 McSAFE project [8], for safety evaluations of research reactors. It is worth mentioning that Subchanflow was previously extended, adapted and validated to describe the conduction and heat transfer of plate-type fuel assemblies, including downflow [9,10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The updated coupled version Serpent2/Subchanflow, like its predecessor versions, makes use of the simple fixed-point iteration known as the Picard method for the iteration between the N-TH [8,11,12]. In addition, the relaxation of the exchanged TH fields is usually applied to improve the stability of the convergence; as a result, it is capable of static, depletion and transient simulations [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

High-Fidelity Steady-State and Transient Simulations of an MTR Research Reactor Using Serpent2/Subchanflow

2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In order to join efforts to develop high-fidelity multi-physics tools for research reactor analysis, the KIT is conducting studies to modify the coupled multi-physics codes developed for power reactors. The coupled system uses the Monte Carlo Serpent 2 code for neutron analysis and the Subchanflow code for thermo-hydraulic analysis. Serpent treats temperature dependence using the target motion sampling method and Subchanflow was previously extended and validated with experimental data for plate-type reactor analysis. This work present for the first time the steady-state and transient neutron and thermo-hydraulic analysis of an MTR core defined in the IAEA 10 MW benchmark using Serpent2/Subchanflow. Important global and local parameters for nominal steady-state conditions were obtained, e.g., the lowest and highest core plate/channel power/temperature, the radial and axial core power profile at the plate level, and the core coolant temperature distribution at the subchannel level. The capabilities of serpent2/Subchanflow to perform transient analysis with on-the-fly motion of the control plates were tested, namely with fast and slow reactivity insertion. Based on the unique results obtained for the first time at the subchannel and plate level, it can be stated that the coupled Serpent2/Subchanflow code is a very promising tool for research reactor safety-related investigations.

show abstract

Section: Coupled Neutronic/thermal-hydraulic Calculation Scheme Based...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Coupled Neutronic/thermal-hydraulic Calculation Scheme Based...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

High-Fidelity Steady-State and Transient Simulations of an MTR Research Reactor Using Serpent2/Subchanflow

2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Comparisons to measurements for small or heavily subcritical reactors has been published using GUARDYAN [1] and very recently dynamic Serpent [12] for a somewhat larger scale 65 MW assembly [13]. Report on upscaling to NPP size for a benchmark scenario with Serpent-2 can be found in Reference [14]. Experiences gathered when simulating a fast absorber insertion and subsequent withdrawal experiment at the BME Training Reactor using GUARDYAN [1] led us to believe that computer resource demand is not directly proportional to reactor power as for small reactor cores high leakage heavily increases the sample variance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Full Core Pin-Level VVER-440 Simulation of a Rod Drop Experiment with the GPU-Based Monte Carlo Code GUARDYAN

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Targeting ultimate fidelity reactor physics calculations the Dynamic Monte Carlo (DMC) method simulates reactor transients without resorting to static or quasistatic approximations. Due to the capability to harness the computing power of Graphics Processing Units, the GUARDYAN (GpU Assisted Reactor DYnamic ANalysis) code has been recently upscaled to perform pin-by-pin simulations of power plant scale systems as demonstrated in this paper. A recent rod drop experiment at a VVER-440/213 (vodo-vodyanoi enyergeticheskiy reaktor) type power plant at Paks NPP, Hungary, was considered and signals of ex-core detectors placed at three different positions were simulated successfully by GUARDYAN taking realistic fuel loading, including burn-up data into account. Results were also compared to the time-dependent Paks NPP in-house nodal diffusion code VERETINA (VERONA: VVER Online Analysis and RETINA: Reactor Thermo-hydraulics Interactive). Analysis is given of the temporal and spatial variance distribution of GUARDYAN fuel pin node-wise power estimates. We can conclude that full core, pin-wise DMC power plant simulations using realistic isotope concentrations are feasible in reasonable computing times down to 1–2% error of ex-core detector signals using current GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) High Performance Computing architectures, thereby demonstrating a technological breakthrough.

show abstract

Year 2019 ForHLR II HPC Experience Under the Project “High-Performance Monte Carlo Methods for SAFETY Demonstration-From Proof of Concept to Realistic Safety Analysis and Industry Applications (McSAFE)”

García

Ferraro

Mercatali

et al. 2021

High Performance Computing in Science and Engineering '20

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

OECD/NRC PWR MOX/UO2 core transient benchmark pin-by-pin solutions using Serpent/SUBCHANFLOW

Cited by 12 publications

References 9 publications

High-Fidelity Steady-State and Transient Simulations of an MTR Research Reactor Using Serpent2/Subchanflow

High-Fidelity Steady-State and Transient Simulations of an MTR Research Reactor Using Serpent2/Subchanflow

Full Core Pin-Level VVER-440 Simulation of a Rod Drop Experiment with the GPU-Based Monte Carlo Code GUARDYAN

Year 2019 ForHLR II HPC Experience Under the Project “High-Performance Monte Carlo Methods for SAFETY Demonstration-From Proof of Concept to Realistic Safety Analysis and Industry Applications (McSAFE)”

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About