Abstract

Advanced reactor concepts span the spectrum from heat pipe–cooled microreactors, through thermal and fast molten-salt reactors, to gas- and salt-cooled pebble bed reactors. The modeling and simulation of each of these reactor types comes with their own geometrical complexities and multiphysics challenges. However, the common theme for all nuclear reactors is the necessity to be able to accurately predict neutron distribution in the presence of multiphysics feedback. We argue that the current standards of modeling and simulation, which couple single-physics, single-reactor-focused codes via ad hoc methods, are not sufficiently flexible to address the challenges of modeling and simulation for advanced reactors. In this work, we present the Multiphysics Object Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE)–based radiation transport application Rattlesnake. The use of Rattlesnake for the modeling and simulation of nuclear reactors represents a paradigm shift away from makeshift data exchange methods, as it is developed based on the MOOSE platform with its very natural form of shared data distribution. Rattlesnake is well equipped for addressing the geometric and multiphysics challenges of advanced reactor concepts because it is a flexible finite element tool that leverages the multiphysics capabilities inherent in MOOSE. This paper focuses on the concept and design of Rattlesnake. We also demonstrate the capabilities and performance of Rattlesnake with a set of problems including a microreactor, a molten-salt reactor, a pebble bed reactor, the Advanced Test Reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory, and two benchmarks: a multiphysics version of the C5G7 benchmark and the LRA benchmark.

摘要

先进的反应堆概念涵盖了从热管冷却微反应器到热和快速熔盐反应堆，再到气冷和盐冷球床反应堆的范围。每种反应堆类型的建模和仿真都有其自身的几何复杂性和多物理场挑战。然而，所有核反应堆的共同主题是必须能够在存在多物理场反馈的情况下准确预测中子分布。我们认为，当前的建模和仿真标准，通过特殊方法将单一物理、以单一反应堆为重点的代码结合起来，不够灵活，无法解决先进反应堆建模和仿真的挑战。在这项工作中，我们展示了基于多物理场面向对象仿真环境 (MOOSE) 的辐射传输应用程序 Rattlesnake。使用响尾蛇进行核反应堆建模和仿真代表了一种范式转变，从临时数据交换方法开始，因为它是基于 MOOSE 平台开发的，具有非常自然的共享数据分布形式。Rattlesnake 非常适合应对先进反应堆概念的几何和多物理场挑战，因为它是一种灵活的有限元工具，利用了 MOOSE 固有的多物理场功能。本文重点介绍响尾蛇的概念和设计。我们还通过一系列问题展示了响尾蛇的能力和性能，包括微反应器、熔盐反应器、球床反应器、爱达荷国家实验室的高级测试反应器和两个基准：C5G7 基准的多物理场版本和 LRA 基准。