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DOE OSTI2022

MOOSE framework enhancements for meshing reactor geometries

MOOSE is an open-source, parallel finite element framework designed to permit rapid development of robust multi-physics modeling capabilities. Under the DOE-NEAMS program, numerous solvers have been developed utilizing the open-source MOOSE framework for multiphysics reactor analysis. These solvers require input finite element meshes representing the discretized geometry. Typically, reactor analysts turn to licensed external tools for creation of reactor geometry meshes. Recently, enhancements have been added to the MOOSE framework to mesh common reactor geometries and improve MOOSE-based application user workflows. Support for hexagonal pins, assemblies, and cores has been added, and Cartesian support has been extended. Options for modeling static and rotating control drums within a hexagonal assembly are now available. Pin, assembly, and plane regions can be identified through automatically applied tags on the mesh called 'reporting IDs' for easier post- processing of physics results. An external open-source triangle routine has been leveraged within MOOSE to mesh core periphery zones. A set of reactor geometry builder routines further streamline the construction of hexagonal and Cartesian cores and include the ability to assign materials to regions during mesh generation. The new meshing routines are available through the MOOSE framework in the open-source 'Reactor' module, and the resulting directly within MOOSE-based applications or exported as Exodus II files for use in other finite element solvers. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

NASA NTRS2018

Summary of the 1st AIAA Geometry and Mesh Generation Workshop (GMGW-1) and Future Plans

The 1st AIAA Geometry and Mesh Generation Workshop (GMGW-1) was held in conjunction with the AIAA Aviation Forum and Exposition 2017 and in collaboration with the 3rd AIAA Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) High Lift Prediction Workshop (HiLiftPW-3). As the first AIAA workshop on these topics, GMGW-1's broad objectives were to assess the current state-of-the art in geometry preprocessing and mesh generation technology as well as software as applied to aircraft and spacecraft systems. The workshop was intended to identify and develop understanding of areas of needed improvement in terms of performance, accuracy, and applicability. It was also to provide a foundation for documenting best practices for geometry preprocessing and mesh generation. The genesis of GMGW-1 is found in the indictments levied against geometry preprocessing and mesh generation - not undeservedly - by the NASA CFD Vision 2030 Study. In order to create a reference against which future progress in geometry preprocessing and mesh generation can be measured, the organizers of GMGW-1, with the assistance of the organizers of HiLiftPW- 3, focused GMGW-1 on generation of meshes of the NASA High Lift Common Research Model (HL-CRM). Some of the generated meshes were provided for use by the participants in HiLiftPW-3. All meshes and the processes by which they were generated were analyzed by GMGW-1 as a first assessment of state of the art practices. The results of GMGW-1 added quantitative detail to known problem areas including geometry modeling, data interoperability, and amount of human intervention. They do provide a clear path toward a vision of geometry preprocessing and mesh generation in the year 2030. The next milepost along this path will be a second workshop.

Chawner, John R.↗

DOE OSTI2016

CUBIT: Geometry and Mesh Generation Toolkit (15.1 User Documentation)

CUBIT is a full-featured software toolkit for robust generation of two- and three-dimensional finite element meshes (grids) and geometry preparation. Its main goal is to reduce the time to generate meshes, particularly large hex meshes of complicated, interlocking assemblies. It is a solid-modeler based preprocessor that meshes volumes and surfaces for finite element analysis. Mesh generation algorithms include quadrilateral and triangular paving, 2D and 3D mapping, hex sweeping and multi-sweeping, tetrahedral meshing, and various special purpose primitives. CUBIT contains many algorithms for controlling and automating much of the meshing process, such as automatic scheme selection, interval matching, sweep grouping, and also includes state-of-the-art smoothing algorithms.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2016

CUBIT Geometry and Mesh Generation Toolkit 15.2 User Documentation

Welcome to CUBIT, the Sandia National Laboratory automated mesh generation toolkit. CUBIT is a full-featured software toolkit for robust generation of two- and three-dimensional finite element meshes (grids) and geometry preparation. Its main goal is to reduce the time to generate meshes, particularly large hex meshes of complicated, interlocking assemblies. It is a solidmodeler based preprocessor that meshes volumes and surfaces for finite element analysis.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2016

Flexible Computer Science Infrastructure (FleCSI)

FleCSI is a compile-time configurable framework designed to support multi-physics application development. As such, FleCSI attempts to provide a very general set of infrastructure design patterns that can be specialized and extended to suit the needs of a broad variety of solver and data requirements. Current support includes multi-dimensional mesh topology, mesh geometry, and mesh adjacency information, n-dimensional hashed-tree data structures, graph partitioning interfaces, and dependency closures. FleCSI also introduces a functional programming model with control, execution, and data abstractions that are consistent with both MPI and state-of-the-art task-based runtimes such as Legion and Charm++. The FleCSI abstraction layer provides the developer with insulation from the underlying runtime, while allowing support for multiple runtime systems, including conventional models like asynchronous MPI. The intent is to give developers a concrete set of user-friendly programming tools that can be used now, while allowing flexibility in choosing runtime implementations and optimizations that can be applied to architectures and runtimes that arise in the future. The control and execution models in FleCSI also provide formal nomenclature for describing poorly understood concepts like kernels and tasks.

Moss, Nicholas↗

DOE OSTI2016

Collision of Physics and Software in the Monte Carlo Application Toolkit (MCATK)

The topic is presented in a series of slides organized as follows: MCATK overview, development strategy, available algorithms, problem modeling (sources, geometry, data, tallies), parallelism, miscellaneous tools/features, example MCATK application, recent areas of research, and summary and future work. MCATK is a C++ component-based Monte Carlo neutron-gamma transport software library with continuous energy neutron and photon transport. Designed to build specialized applications and to provide new functionality in existing general-purpose Monte Carlo codes like MCNP, it reads ACE formatted nuclear data generated by NJOY. The motivation behind MCATK was to reduce costs. MCATK physics involves continuous energy neutron & gamma transport with multi-temperature treatment, static eigenvalue (k eff and α) algorithms, time-dependent algorithm, and fission chain algorithms. MCATK geometry includes mesh geometries and solid body geometries. MCATK provides verified, unit-test Monte Carlo components, flexibility in Monte Carlo application development, and numerous tools such as geometry and cross section plotters.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2017

ATDM LANL FleCSI: Topology and Execution Framework

FleCSI is a compile-time configurable C++ framework designed to support multi-physics application development. As such, FleCSI attempts to provide a very general set of infrastructure design patterns that can be specialized and extended to suit the needs of a broad variety of solver and data requirements. This means that FleCSI is potentially useful to many different ECP projects. Current support includes multidimensional mesh topology, mesh geometry, and mesh adjacency information, n-dimensional hashed-tree data structures, graph partitioning interfaces, and dependency closures (to identify data dependencies between distributed-memory address spaces). FleCSI introduces a functional programming model with control, execution, and data abstractions that are consistent with state-of-the-art task-based runtimes such as Legion and Charm++. The model also provides support for fine-grained, data-parallel execution with backend support for runtimes such as OpenMP and C++17. The FleCSI abstraction layer provides the developer with insulation from the underlying runtimes, while allowing support for multiple runtime systems, including conventional models like asynchronous MPI. The intent is to give developers a concrete set of user-friendly programming tools that can be used now, while allowing flexibility in choosing runtime implementations and optimizations that can be applied to architectures and runtimes that arise in the future. This project is essential to the ECP Ristra Next-Generation Code project, part of ASC ATDM, because it provides a hierarchically parallel programming model that is consistent with the design of modern system architectures, but which allows for the straightforward expression of algorithmic parallelism in a portably performant manner.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2017

Local Error Analysis and Comparison of the Swept- and Intersection-Based Remapping Methods

Abstract In this paper, the numerical error of two widely used methods for remapping of discrete quantities from one computational mesh to another is investigated. We compare the intuitive, but resource intensive method utilizing intersections of computational cells with the faster and simpler swept-region-based method. Both algorithms are formally second order accurate, however, they are known to produce slightly different quantity profiles in practical applications. The second-order estimate of the error formula is constructed algebraically for both algorithms so that their local accuracy can be evaluated. This general estimate is then used to assess the dependence of the performance of both methods on parameters such as the second derivatives of the remapped distribution, mesh geometry or mesh movement. Due to the complexity of such analysis, it is performed on a set of simplified elementary mesh patterns such as cell corner expansion, rotation or shear. On selected numerical tests it is demonstrated that the swept-based method can distort a symmetric quantity distribution more substantially than the intersection-based approach when the computational mesh moves in an unsuitable direction.

Klima, Matej↗

DOE OSTI2016

Flexible Computer Science Infrastructure (FleCSI)

Bergen, Ben↗

NASA NTRS2018

Preparation and Analysis of the Geometry Models used in the 1st AIAA Geometry and Mesh Generation Workshop

The NASA High-Lift Common Research Model (HL-CRM) was the subject model chosen for the AIAA Geometry and Mesh Generation Workshop I (GMGW-1) and High-Lift Prediction Workshop III (HLPW-3). This paper describes how geometry models of the HLCRM were prepared for use in the workshops and reviews the analysis of their construction that was provided to workshop participants. The refinements made to the HL-CRM geometry model immediately after GMGW-1 are also presented.

Taylor, Nigel J.↗

DOE OSTI2016

Localized Radial Basis Functions for Radiation Transport in Slab Geometry

Meshing the spatial domain for the neutron transport equation can be computationally expensive and labor-intensive. Mesh-free methods, such as radial basis function (RBF) approximations, may alleviate these concerns by using a pointwise solution of the transport equation instead of the standard volume-integrated solution using cells or elements. This allows for the use of any geometric description that can provide the material at solution points and the boundary normal directions for boundary points. RBFs give spectral convergence when used to solve differential equations, but only if they are infinitely smooth. This occurs when the RBFs are effectively flat, creating an ill-conditioned, dense system of equations. One simple way to alleviate this issue is to use localized RBFs. Global RBFs have been applied previously to the monoenergetic radiative transport equation in X-Y geometry using source iteration. In this summary, localized RBFs are applied to the multigroup neutron transport equation in slab geometry using Krylov iteration. The results show agreement with benchmark solutions, provided the coefficients for the RBF basis are properly chosen. (authors)

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2024

Versatile TRISO fuel particle modeling in Bison

Tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) fuel particles are a key component in several previous and current reactors as well as in a variety of novel nuclear reactor designs. Interest in TRISO fuel is on the rise, necessitating considerable computer modeling of TRISO fuel behavior in order to support related design and licensing activities. The Bison nuclear fuel performance code, which offers a full set of capabilities for modeling TRISO fuels, makes it easier to explore the various important aspects of TRISO fuel behavior. One key advantage of Bison is its ability to create meshes in 1D, 2D, and 3D. Users can customize these meshes for specific geometries, mesh densities, and use cases. This enables a wide variety of analyses, including thermal, structural, mass diffusion, homogenization, and statistical failure analyses. Furthermore, the meshing capability simplifies analysts’ workflows. The inherent mesh generation capability eliminates the need for separate mesh-generating software and mesh file management. Also, the fact that the meshes are customizable makes it straightforward to automate an investigation over a range of geometric parameters or mesh densities. Here, the present paper highlights the ease with which Bison may be used to create meshes for both simple and relatively complex TRISO fuel particles, and it explores the types of analyses enabled by these meshes.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI2023

MOOSE Reactor Module: An Open-Source Capability for Meshing Nuclear Reactor Geometries

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program has developed numerous physics solvers utilizing the open-source Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) framework for multiphysics reactor analysis. These solvers require input finite element meshes representing the discretized spatial domain. Typically, reactor analysts turn to licensed tools for the creation of reactor geometry meshes. Recently, open-source functionality has been added to the MOOSE framework to mesh common reactor geometries and improve MOOSE-based nuclear reactor application user workflows. The new functionality is primarily contained in the new Reactor module of MOOSE and includes support for hexagonal pins, assemblies, and cores, extended Cartesian geometry support, options for modeling static and rotating control drums within a hexagonal assembly, core periphery triangulation, and automatic tagging of pin, assembly, plane, and depletion regions for easier post processing of physics results. A set of reactor geometry mesh builder objects further streamlines the construction of hexagonal and Cartesian cores and allows mapping of materials to regions during mesh generation. The meshes produced with the MOOSE Reactor module may be used directly within MOOSE-based applications or exported as Exodus II files for use in other finite element solvers. The tools have been demonstrated and verified using a variety of NEAMS physics solvers on a range of reactor applications, including a sodium-cooled fast reactor core analysis using Griffin, a fast reactor assembly thermal deformation analysis using MOOSE Tensor Mechanics, and a heat pipe–cooled microreactor coupled analysis using Griffin, Bison, and Sockeye. MOOSE’s Reactor module provides significant advantages compared to the use of external meshing tools when analyzing Cartesian and hexagonal reactor lattices using MOOSE-based applications: immediate accessibility (open-source) to the end user, low barrier to entry for new users, speed of mesh generation, volume preservation of meshed fuel pins, and simplification of analysis workflow when used in conjunction with MOOSE-based applications.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

DOE OSTI2016

Hot zero power reactor calculations using the Insilico code

In this paper we describe the reactor physics simulation capabilities of the Insilico code. A description of the various capabilities of the code is provided, including detailed discussion of the geometry, meshing, cross section processing, and neutron transport options. Numerical results demonstrate that Insilico using an SP{sub N} solver with pin-homogenized cross section generation is capable of delivering highly accurate full-core simulation of various pressurized water reactor problems. Comparison to both Monte Carlo calculations and measured plant data is provided.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2016