Thermal feedback coupling in a transient Monte Carlo high-order/low-order scheme

Abstract

Transient simulations of nuclear systems face the computational challenge of resolving both space and time during reactivity changes. A common strategy for tackling this issue is to split the neutron flux into shape and amplitude functions. This split can be solved with high- order/low-order methods. While this multi-fidelity approach has traditionally been reserved for deterministic methods, it is also possible to implement in Monte Carlo as an efficient alternative to Dynamic Monte Carlo. This work implements the frequency transform method with thermal feedback in high-order/low-order Monte Carlo by blending static coupling methods such as single-batch Monte Carlo, with a simple thermal-fluids calculation. While previous work focused solely on prescribed transients, the addition of time-dependent thermal-fluids allows transients to be self-propagating. Tests were run in a fluids-initiated transient to showcase the basic functionalities of this methodology. Preliminary results behave as expected, paving the way for studying more sophisticated thermal-fluids coupling methods. (authors)