Engineering topics

Yu, Ganglin

Publications and source records attributed to Yu, Ganglin.

3 records

DOE OSTI2017

Calculating Control Rod Differential Worth Using Adjoint-Weighted Method

Recently, there are more and more research on using Monte Carlo method to calculate reactor important parameters. Control rod worth is one of the important parameters as it can determine the critical control rod position. There are two presentations of the control rod worth for utilization purpose, integral and differential. The former is the total reactivity change, while the latter is the reactivity change caused by per unit movement. In Monte Carlo calculation, differential control rod worth of a particular position is estimated by finite difference of reactivity between a small gap divided by gap distance. Though easy to implemented, the problem of this approach lies in that too large gap will enlarge error between 'differential' and 'difference', while too small gap will be disturbed by error caused by random fluctuation. Monte Carlo perturbation theory has been used to calculate the k{sub eff} sensitivity to certain parameters for a long time. By calculating the differential coefficient along with the k{sub eff}, this method is quite time-consuming and relatively accurate compared to finite difference method. Nevertheless, most of perturbation research focus on the perturbation of nuclide density or nuclear data. For geometrical perturbation, limited research was done before. Takahashi estimated the k{sub eff} sensitivity to reflector movement of pulsed fast reactor. MCNP6 used adjoint-weighted method for Godiva, Zeus and uranium oxyfluoride solution container benchmarks. This paper tries to apply the perturbation method to the determination of control rod differential worth. In this paper, based on RMC, a continuous-energy Reactor Monte Carlo transport code, Iterated Fission Probability method (IFP) is researched to calculate control rod differential worth on assembly level. IFP was originally developed by Hurwitz, and has been adopted by most of Monte Carlo code to compute adjoint-weighted parameters. This paper is organized with four parts. The first is introduction. Adjoint-weighted method is introduced in the second part. Problem 4 of benchmark from CASL is built to verify the method. Conclusion is given in final part.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI2016

Statistical Study of Primary Knock-on Atoms under Neutron Irradiation in RMC Code

Materials in high flux neutron condition will suffer from an evolution of damage which ultimately restricts the lifetime of the fuel clad and reactor pressure vessel. Atoms in irradiated material transform to primary knock-on atoms (PKAs) by absorbing the kinetic energy transferred from neutrons, and the energy released from nuclear reactions. The secondary collision cascades which are induced by PKAs create point defects within the material, with residual vacancies and interstitials eventually causing swelling and embrittlement that degrades mechanical behavior. For a long time, Displacements per Atom (DPA) index has been identified as a measure of radiation damage in material. Nowadays, several advanced methods, such as Molecular Dynamics (MD) and Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations, have been developed for more accurately simulating the evolution of the damage. However, all of these techniques need more comprehensive information of PKA, such as the type, energy, direction and spatial distribution. The limitations of DPA emerge and a method should be provided to simulate the generative process of PKAs. Recently, a deterministic analysis code SPECTRA-PKA has been developed by Gilbert to calculate the energy spectra of almost all types PKAs by solving the group-to-group cross-section matrices equation which includes neutron scattering, light charged particles, and recoils of the residual nuclei. But this deterministic analysis code could not give the direction, spatial and time distribution of PKAs. Based on the Geant4 program, Cui Zhenguo has simulated the irradiation by neutrons with 1 MeV energy in zirconium, while only the two adjacent elastic collisions between injected neutron and target atoms are taken into consideration. In this paper, Monte Carlo method to calculate PKAs information during neutron transport in RMC code is introduced. RMC is a continuous-energy Reactor Monte Carlo neutron and photon transport code being developed by Department of Engineering Physics at Tsinghua University, Beijing. PKAs in zirconium are calculated in fixed neutron source mode. Statistical information of PKAs in PWR fuel cell and SFR fuel cell is shown and compared. The results show that Monte Carlo method can provide more comprehensive information of PKAs. (authors)

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2016

Implementation of Material and Geometry Criticality Search in RMC Code

RMC is a continuous-energy Reactor Monte Carlo neutron and photon transport code being developed by Department of Engineering Physics at Tsinghua University, Beijing. For the use of simulation of reactor control or design of reactor with unknown material and geometry parameters, an accurate and efficient method of eigenvalue search is implemented in RMC code. The eigenvalue search focuses on two types of parameters. One is nuclide atom density, called material search, which includes the fuel density, enrichment or boron concentration. Perturbation theory of Monte Carlo Code, like differential operator method and adjoint-weighted perturbation method has been widely researched in sensitivity and uncertainty study. For material search, the perturbation algorithm needs to coupled with flexible material control block and optimized strategy. The other type of parameter is surface position, called geometry search, which includes fuel rod diameter, pitch and control rod position. MC21 iterated on surface position based on bisection method or regula-falsi method, and directly recalculated k-eff until it converged to target error interval. In this paper, the differential operator method, improved Newton-Raphson method is introduced. Based on these methods, the global material search is implemented. Then based on material search and finite method, global geometry search is implement. Finally, fuel enrichment, boron concentration and control rod position in normal PWR assembly are searched. The results show that RMC can search material and geometry parameters accurately and efficiently. In this paper, global eigenvalue search of material and geometry parameters have been implemented in RMC code. They are based on the differential operator method in Monte Carlo perturbation theory. The differential operator method samples δk/δρ{sub r}, δ{sup 2}k/δρ{sub r}{sup 2} along with k-eff estimator. Therefore it won't take up too much additional computational resource. For homogeneous material search, fission source effect has little effect of accuracy and can be ignored. The results of fuel enrichment and boron concentration searches in assembly show that improved Newton-Raphson method can iterate efficiently until k-eff is in the error interval. Based on material search and finite difference formula, the geometry parameter, like control rod axial position, can iterate until k-eff is in the error interval. However, the tiny perturbed region may not contain enough tracks to simulate. Besides, the large number density's relative change up to -1 may cause underestimation of Δk-eff, and then slope of k-x curve. This will cause non-convergence for Newton- Raphson method. (authors)

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗