Abstract
VERA-CS is an advanced core simulator currently being developed by the Consortium for the Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL) that is used to perform reactor depletion calculations. The neutronics calculations are performed by the transport code MPACT to determine 3D pin-resolved power distributions. MPACT is coupled to the sub-channel thermal-hydraulic (TH) code CTF, which provides feedback to MPACT by way of fuel and moderator temperature and moderator density. In addition to the CTF coupling, a Simplified TH solver was also implemented in MPACT. This solver can use assembly, node (quarter-assembly), or channel sized meshes for ID coolant flow calculations. Steady-state simulations of Watts Bar Unit 1 were then conducted with each of the three Simplified TH models and compared with the coupled MPACT-CTF calculations. The boron concentration for each Simplified TH model was less than 2 ppm different from the MPACT-CTF result. All three meshing approaches gave an RMS pin power difference of 0.7% or less and RMS fuel temperature difference of 2.35 °C or less, but the channel model performed the best with pin power and fuel temperature RMS differences of 0.13% and 0.67 °C, respectively. Additionally, use of the Simplified TH models reduced runtime by more than a factor of 2 compared with the coupled MPACT-CTF solution.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Physics of Reactors 2016, PHYSOR 2016 |
Subtitle of host publication | Unifying Theory and Experiments in the 21st Century |
Publisher | American Nuclear Society |
Pages | 3616-3626 |
Number of pages | 11 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781510825734 |
State | Published - 2016 |
Event | Physics of Reactors 2016: Unifying Theory and Experiments in the 21st Century, PHYSOR 2016 - Sun Valley, United States Duration: May 1 2016 → May 5 2016 |
Publication series
Name | Physics of Reactors 2016, PHYSOR 2016: Unifying Theory and Experiments in the 21st Century |
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Volume | 6 |
Conference
Conference | Physics of Reactors 2016: Unifying Theory and Experiments in the 21st Century, PHYSOR 2016 |
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Country/Territory | United States |
City | Sun Valley |
Period | 05/1/16 → 05/5/16 |
Funding
This material is based upon work supported under an Integrated University Program Graduate Fellowship. This research was supported by the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (www.casl.gov), an Energy Innovation Hub (http://www.energy.gov/hubs) for Modeling and Simulation of Nuclear Reactors under U.S. Department of Energy Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725. This research made use of the resources of the High Performance Computing Center at Idaho National Laboratory, which is supported by the Office of Nuclear Energy of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC07-05ID14517.
Keywords
- CASL
- CTF
- MPACT
- Th feedback