基于弹簧法的热膨胀反馈计算方法在确定论中子输运堆芯计算中的应用

Application of Spring Method-based Thermal Expansion Feedback Method to Deterministic Neutron Transport Core Calculation

  • 摘要: 随着反应堆堆芯设计的发展,热膨胀效应对反应性的影响越来越不可忽视,因此有必要发展基于中子输运节块方法的核热力耦合方法,以在堆芯核设计计算中高效、准确地考虑这种影响。本文通过引入经典的弹簧法力学模型,将材料的膨胀转化为弹簧的膨胀,从而在不改动原有中子输运网格拓扑关系的情况下实现了对径向非均匀热膨胀的描述,并使用L-BFGS方法求解弹簧系统的能量最小化问题,进而获得膨胀后的堆芯网格与材料分布。将SARAX-LAVENDER程序应用在一圆柱裸堆的假想非均匀热膨胀工况,并与商用软件COMSOL的有限元力学计算结果对比验证SARAX-LAVENDER使用的力学模型的准确性,与蒙特卡罗程序SERPENT计算的特征值结果对比验证SARAX-LAVENDER计算膨胀反应性反馈的准确性。结果表明:SARAX-LAVENDER获得的膨胀量计算结果与COMSOL计算得到的结果吻合较好;SARAX-LAVENDER计算得到的反应性反馈与SERPENT特征值结果的对比显示,在总引入反应性约为120 pcm时,特征值计算偏差约为5 pcm。SARAX-LAVENDER在计算径向非均匀热膨胀及其对中子学计算的反馈时均具备良好的精度。

     

    Abstract: With the evolution of reactor core design, the impact of thermal expansion effects on reactivity has become increasingly significant and cannot be overlooked. There are many researches focusing on the coupled calculation of neutronics-thermal-mechanics based on the finite element method and Monte Carlo method, aiming at high fidelity and thorough simulation of coupling. However, the physics analysis used in core design calculation phase based on deterministic method could also use the coupled calculation in order to better consider the expansion feedback effect, given a viable methodology. Consequently, it is necessary to develop a neutronics-thermal-mechanical coupling methodology based on the nodal neutron transport method to efficiently and accurately account for this effect in core nuclear design calculations. Such a method is essential to explicitly and reliably account for the deformation-induced changes in material densities and geometries during steady-state and transient calculations. In this work, the classical spring mechanics model was introduced in SARAX-LAVENDER code to describe radially non-uniform thermal expansion without altering the original neutron transport mesh topology. The expansion of material was first described as the expansion of mesh, and then transformed into the expansion of spring. The state of the spring system after applying expansion was described as the minimal energy state, and the energy minimization problem of the spring system was solved using the L-BFGS method, thereby obtaining the expanded core mesh. The geometry was then updated and the material distribution, macro cross-section could be calculated afterwards. The SARAX-LAVENDER was applied to a hypothetical case of non-uniform thermal expansion in a cylindrical bare reactor, in order to demonstrate the viability and liability of the expansion calculation method, as well as the coupling method with neutronics calculation. The UO2 fuel in this reactor was manually divided into three different layer zones. The fuel in the middle layer was applied a significant high temperature while the fuel in the inner and outer layer was not, so that a non-uniform expansion in the radial direction was simulated with decent feedback effect on neutronics calculation. The same problem was modeled also in the commercial software COMSOL, and the expansion results calculated by SARAX-LAVENDER show good agreement with those obtained from COMSOL’s mechanical simulation module. The Monte Carlo code SERPENT was used and the reactivity feedback based on the reference geometry given by COMSOL, as well as on the geometry given by SARAX-LAVENDER’s expansion module, was calculated. The comparison of eigenvalue calculation between SERPENT and SARAX-LAVENDER indicates that for a total introduced reactivity of approximately 120 pcm, the calculation deviation in eigenvalues is about 5 pcm. This demonstrates that the SARAX-LAVENDER achieves good accuracy in calculating radially non-uniform thermal expansion and its feedback effect on neutronics calculation for core physics analysis.

     

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