Nuclear reactor multi-physics simulations with coupled MCNP5 and STAR-CCM+

Cardoni, Jeffrey N.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/24160 Copy

Description

Title

Nuclear reactor multi-physics simulations with coupled MCNP5 and STAR-CCM+

Author(s)

Cardoni, Jeffrey N.

Issue Date

2011-05-25T15:06:17Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Uddin, Rizwan

Department of Study

Nuclear, Plasma, & Rad Engr

Discipline

Nuclear, Plasma, Radiolgc Engr

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Monte Carlo neutronics
• Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
• nuclear reactor multi-physics
• Monte Carlo N-Particle Version 5, A Monte Carlo Particle Transport Code (MCNP5)
• A Computational Fluid Dynamics Code developed by CD-adapco (STAR-CCM+)

Abstract

The MCNP5 Monte Carlo particle transport code has been coupled to the computational fluid dynamics code, STAR-CCM+, to provide a high fidelity multi-physics simulation tool for analyzing the steady state properties of a PWR core. The codes are executed separately and coupled externally through a Perl script. The Perl script automates the exchange of temperature, density, and volumetric heating information between the codes using ASCII text data files. Fortran90 and Java utility programs the assist job automation with data post-processing and file management. The MCNP5 utility code, MAKXSF, pre-generates temperature dependent cross section libraries for the thermal feedback calculations. The MCNP5–STAR-CCM+ coupled simulation tool, dubbed MULTINUKE, is applied to two steady state, PWR models to demonstrate its usage and capabilities. The first demonstration model, a single fuel element surrounded by water, consists of 9,984 CFD cells and 7,489 neutronic cells. The second model is a 3 x 3 PWR lattice model, consisting of 89,856 CFD cells and 67,401 neutronic cells. Fission energy deposition (fission and prompt gamma heating) is tallied over all UO2 cells in the models using the F7:N tally in MCNP5. The demonstration calculations show reasonable results that agree with PWR values typically reported in literature. Temperature and fission reaction rate distributions are realistic and intuitive. Reactivity coefficients are also deemed reasonable in comparison to historically reported data. Mesh count is held to a minimum in both models to expedite computation time on a 2.8 GHz quad core machine with 1 GB RAM. The simulations on a quad core machine indicate that a massively parallelized implementation of MULTINUKE could be used to assess larger multi-million cell models with more complicated, time-dependent neutronic and thermal-hydraulic feedback effects.

Graduation Semester

2011-05

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/24160

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2011 Jeffrey N. Cardoni

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