Creation of problem-dependent Doppler-broadened cross sections in the KENO Monte Carlo code

Shane W.D. Hart, Cihangir Celik, G. Ivan Maldonado, Luiz Leal

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper introduces a quick method for improving the accuracy of Monte Carlo simulations by generating one- and two-dimensional cross sections at a user-defined temperature before performing transport calculations. A finite difference method is used to Doppler-broaden cross sections to the desired temperature, and unit-base interpolation is done to generate the probability distributions for double differential two-dimensional thermal moderator cross sections at any arbitrarily user-defined temperature. The accuracy of these methods is tested using a variety of contrived problems. In addition, various benchmarks at elevated temperatures are modeled, and results are compared with benchmark results. The problem-dependent cross sections are observed to produce eigenvalue estimates that are closer to the benchmark results than those without the problem-dependent cross sections.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)49-56
Number of pages8
JournalAnnals of Nuclear Energy
Volume88
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 1 2016

Funding

The work documented in this paper was performed with support from the U.S. Department of Energy Nuclear Criticality Safety Program.

Keywords

  • Doppler broadening
  • KENO
  • Monte Carlo
  • SCALE
  • Thermal scattering

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