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At least 73 records · Page 4

A Non-perturbative Approach to Computing Seismic Normal Modes in Rotating Planets

In this work, a continuous Galerkin method based approach is presented to compute the seismic normal modes of rotating planets. Special care is taken to separate out the essential spectrum in the presence of a fluid outer core using a polynomial filtering eigensolver. The relevant elastic-gravitational system of equations, including the Coriolis force, is subjected to a mixed finite-element method, while self-gravitation is accounted for with the fast multipole method. Our discretization utilizes fully unstructured tetrahedral meshes for both solid and fluid regions. The relevant eigenvalue problem is solved by a combination of several highly parallel and computationally efficient methods. We validate our three-dimensional results in the non-rotating case using analytical results for constant elastic balls, as well as numerical results for an isotropic Earth model from standard “radial” algorithms. We also validate the computations in the rotating case, but only in the slowly-rotating regime where perturbation theory applies, because no other independent algorithms are available in the general case. The algorithm and code are used to compute the point spectra of eigenfrequencies in several Earth and Mars models studying the effects of heterogeneity on a large range of scales.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Layered CAD/CSG geometry for spatially complex radiation transport scenarios

Many spatially complex fission, fusion, and national security Monte Carlo (MC) radiation transport scenarios involve combining computer-aided design (CAD) models with constructive solid geometry (CSG) models. A layered geometry method has been implemented in the Shift MC code to address this need. With layered geometry, multiple CAD and/or CSG models can be clipped, translated, rotated, and placed in overlapping layers to form transport-ready geometries. Here, the utility of this method is demonstrated with two problems: (1) a fixed-source simulation with a layered geometry consisting of a LiDAR-generated CAD model of the Combined Arms Collective Training Facility urban environment overlaid with CSG models of a mock hotel and a detector apparatus, and (2) a k-eigenvalue calculation using a layered geometry model of the Transformational Challenge Reactor consisting of CAD fuel elements placed in a CSG core. Tallied particle flux distributions match expectations, but tracking robustness must be improved prior to general-purpose use.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Implementation of Perturbation Theory and Sensitivity Capabilities in Griffin

Griffin is a Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) based reactor Multiphysics analysis application, jointly developed by Argonne and Idaho National Laboratories under the DOE-NE NEAMS program. This fiscal year, capabilities for reactivity and sensitivity evaluation using perturbation methods were implemented and verified. The First Order Perturbation Method (FOPT) was employed to compute reactivity worth resulting from small perturbations in input parameters, while the Generalized Perturbation Theory (GPT) was used to evaluate sensitivities of a range of response types, including reaction rate ratio, k-eigenvalue, neutron generation time, and effective delayed neutron fraction. These perturbation methods enable users to quantify how response quantities change due to a perturbation in a input parameter without explicitly performing an additional transport simulation for each perturbed state. In particular, the GPT formulation accounts for indirect effects arising from flux changes by solving generalized inhomogeneous equations, for which a Neumann series-based iterative solution method was developed and implemented in Griffin. The implemented reactivity and sensitivity evaluation capabilities were verified using two test problems: an infinite homogeneous system and a two-dimensional hexagonal core. The results showed excellent agreement with reference solutions obtained by a direct method based on finite difference approximation as well as GPT-based results from the PERSENT code, confirming the accuracy of both reactivity and sensitivity evaluations. Additionally, preliminary uncertainty quantification (UQ) results were obtained by combining the sensitivity values computed using GPT and external covariance data, demonstrating that the implemented sensitivity results can be reliably used for uncertainty calculations. To further demonstrate the generality and practical strength of the implementation, the sensitivity evaluation capability was successfully applied to the Empire microreactor with a geometrically complex design that poses significant modeling challenges. The results confirm that Griffin enables sensitivity evaluations even for irregular and highly heterogeneous reactor configurations, thereby establishing a foundation for UQ applications in advanced reactor designs and analyses.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Verification of the DIF3D Software to Support Fast Reactor Analysis (Rev. 3)

Ongoing design activities at Argonne National Laboratory are requiring a thorough verification of the Argonne Reactor Computation codes be performed. DIF3D is central to this system. The driver for this effort requires the 3D Cartesian, triangular-Z, and hexagonal-Z core geometry options of DIF3D be verified. Previous work identified the DIF3D features required to be verified to support current design activities, features of which are generally applicable to hexagonal-Z fast reactor designs. The scope of this verification effort includes verifying DIF3D’s ability to correctly translate the user’s model in to DIF3D’s preferred format, verifying that options planned for use have the desired effect, and verifying the correctness of the eigenvalue, fixed-source, forward, and adjoint solvers in DIF3D-FD and DIF3D-VARIANT. This manuscript provides the verification tasks and their results with respect to the features needed for current design activities. Since analytic solutions of the neutron diffusion and transport equations are either limited in scope or not possible, multiple tiers of problems unique to each solver and geometry type were implemented. Each of these tiers tests features independent and complementary arguments for why the separate testing of functionalities is acceptable. Finally, this separate testing was also supplemented with a high-level integral check of each the diffusion and transport capabilities and applicable geometries. To accommodate cases which an analytic solution is not feasible, MCNP6.2 was relied upon to provide a higher-order reference solution. This therefore required that the capabilities within MCNP6.2 which were relied upon for this work are also verified in this work. No MCNP discrepancies were noted in this effort. Note that the MCNP6.2 verification included in this work does not stand as a full verification of MCNP6.2, but merely verifies the features used in verifying DIF3D. The verification effort identified no issues that are debilitating or otherwise impactful to design usage of DIF3D, and thus DIF3D version 11.0, release 3012 is considered verified. As some additional changes have been made to the ARC software since this point all versions between release 3012 and 3266 can be considered verified as version 3253 was used for all updates in this revision. The types of issues that were identified were predominantly in the areas of: unclear documentation, software bugs which were inconsequential to final results, editing options which were ignored in favor of printing more information than requested, bugs in the outputs of intermediate results, or secondary output binary file information which was not present. While not a bug, this verification report also identified that the algorithm used to evaluate the peak fast flux in a nodal transport solution can be quite unreliable due to the methodology used and the location of the peak within the mesh. The authors of the report therefore recommend the usage of the EvaluateFlux software (distributed with ARC) as a more robust alternative noting that DIF3D will properly notify the user when the peaking values it is providing are potentially incorrect.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Kohn-Sham Solver (KSSOLV) v2.0

KSSOLV is a MATLAB toolbox for solving Kohn-Sham density functional theory based electronic structure eigenvalue problems. It uses an object oriented features of MATLAB to represent atom, molecules, wavefunctions and Hamiltonians and their operations. It is designed to make it easier for users to prototype and test new algorithms for solving the Kohn-Sham problem. KSSOLV2.0 contains significant improvement over the original KSSOLV described in a paper published in ACM Transaction on Mathematical Software (attached). In addition to performing ground state calculation for small molecules, it can also perform geometry optimization for both molecules and solids. It uses standard pseudopotentials and implements local density approximation, generalized gradient approximation and hybrid functionals. Future releases will also include time-dependent DFT and post DFT calculations such as the GW quasi-particle energy calculation and Bethe-Salpeter equation solver for optical absorption.

Yang, Chao↗

NEAMS-Multiphysics MOOSE End Year Framework Activities FY20

The Multiphysics Object Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) is a general finite element package meant for high performance solution of multiphysics problems in science and engineering. In this report, we present additions and enhancements to MOOSE funded by the Nuclear Engineering Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program. NEAMS-funded MOOSE framework library improvements include: expansion of support for multi-level multi-application restart; enhancement of coupling between native MOOSE applications and external libraries; addition of a sparse automatic differentiation (AD) container enabling non-local degree of freedom coupling; block-specific quadrature rules; further development of an eigenvalue executioner; faster setup of periodic boundary conditions; and creation of a mesh meta-data system streamlining simulation startup. Besides developing the framework library, NEAMS funds were used to overhaul a swath of important MOOSE infrastructure in order to substantially improve user experience. These critical infrastructure changes included adapting MOOSE to python 3, improving the test harness to catch race conditions, and most importantly transitioning MOOSE to use Conda, a globally known packaging system, that greatly eases software adoption.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

On the Stochastic Stability of Deep Markov Models

Deep Markov models (DMM) are generative models which are scalable and expressive generalization of Markov models for representation, learning, and inference problems. DMMs using deep neural networks to parametrize the transition of Markov probability distributions have recently been shown to provide more expressiveness in modeling sequential data and dynamical system responses. However, the fundamental stochastic stability guarantees of such models have not been thoroughly investigated. In this paper, we present a rigorous analytical method to prove the necessary and sufficient conditions of DMM's stochastic stability. This task is achieved by spectral analysis of the efficiently computed Jacobians of probabilistic maps modeled by deep neural networks. We make theoretical connections between the eigenvalues of neural network's weights and the different activation function types used on the stability and overall dynamic behavior of DMMs with Gaussian distributions. We empirically substantiate our theoretical results on stochastic stability and eigenvalue spectra via several numerical experiments. Formal stability guarantees of DMMs can substantially improve their robustness and trustworthiness, necessary for reliable use in safety-critical real-world applications.

Drgona, Jan↗

The MOOSE electromagnetics module

The Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) electromagnetics module has been developed to increase MOOSE physics module capabilities, enabling standalone and coupled computational electromagnetics within the MOOSE multiphysics ecosystem. The module is actively being utilized in the areas of plasma physics and advanced manufacturing, and it currently provides initial demonstrated capability in multi-dimensional, complex-valued electromagnetic wave propagation, electrostatic contact, reflection and transmission, and electromagnetic eigenvalue problems. Two-dimensional wave propagation and one-dimensional wave reflection and transmission are showcased as examples in this work. The modularity, parallelism, and plug-in infrastructure for custom future development is inherited from MOOSE itself, and the module can be used with both MOOSE-based and external codes, giving great flexibility.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Verification of the DIF3D Software to Support Fast Reactor Analysis

Ongoing design activities at Argonne National Laboratory are requiring a thorough verification of the Argonne Reactor Computation codes be performed. DIF3D is central to this system. The driver for this effort requires the 3D Cartesian, triangular-Z, and hexagonal-Z core geometry options of DIF3D be verified. Previous work identified the DIF3D features required to be verified to support current design activities, features of which are generally applicable to hexagonal-Z fast reactor designs. The scope of this verification effort includes verifying DIF3D’s ability to correctly translate the user’s model in to DIF3D’s preferred format, verifying that options planned for use have the desired effect, and verifying the correctness of the eigenvalue, fixed-source, forward, and adjoint solvers in DIF3D-FD and DIF3D-VARIANT. This manuscript provides the verification tasks and their results with respect to the features needed for current design activities. Since analytic solutions of the neutron diffusion and transport equations are either limited in scope or not possible, multiple tiers of problems unique to each solver and geometry type were implemented. Each of these tiers tests features independent and complementary arguments for why the separate testing of functionalities is acceptable. Finally, this separate testing was also supplemented with a high-level integral check of each the diffusion and transport capabilities and applicable geometries. To accommodate cases which an analytic solution is not feasible, MCNP6.2 was relied upon to provide a higher-order reference solution. This therefore required that the capabilities within MCNP6.2 which were relied upon for this work are also verified in this work. No MCNP discrepancies were noted in this effort. Note that the MCNP6.2 verification included in this work does not stand as a full verification of MCNP6.2, but merely verifies the features used in verifying DIF3D. The verification effort identified no issues that are debilitating or otherwise impactful to design usage of DIF3D, and thus DIF3D version 11.0, release 3012 is considered verified. As some additional changes have been made to the ARC software since this point all versions between release 3012 and 3266 can be considered verified as version 3253 was used for all updates in this revision. The types of issues that were identified were predominantly in the areas of: unclear documentation, software bugs which were inconsequential to final results, editing options which were ignored in favor of printing more information than requested, bugs in the outputs of intermediate results, or secondary output binary file information which was not present. While not a bug, this verification report also identified that the algorithm used to evaluate the peak fast flux in a nodal transport solution can be quite unreliable due to the methodology used and the location of the peak within the mesh. The authors of the report therefore recommend the usage of the EvaluateFlux software (distributed with ARC) as a more robust alternative noting that DIF3D will properly notify the user when the peaking values it is providing are potentially incorrect.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Extended Applications of Subgrid Representation in the 2D/1D Method

Recent efforts in MPACT have focused on improving the performance of the 2D/1D subplane implementation to help target computational performance goals. Here, we build on previous efforts that targeted the use of subgrid treatments to improve the accuracy of control rod representation, presenting three additional applications of subgrid treatments with the goal of reducing the computational burden of simulations. These subgrid applications include treatment of spacer grids, thermal feedback, and axial reflector material representation. With these approaches, a single method of characteristics (MOC) plane can contain several different materials axially that are represented explicitly via subgrids on the coarse mesh finite difference (CMFD) mesh but are axially homogenized on the MOC mesh. This allows for a substantial reduction in the number of MOC planes needed in the calculation through the introduction of an approximate treatment, particularly with regard to the self-shielded cross sections and MOC-informed radial current coupling coefficients in CMFD. Several test problems ranging from single rod to quarter core are used to assess the solution accuracy and performance of these various subgrid representations. Overall, the accuracy of the approximations seems very reasonable, with extremely small differences in eigenvalue observed and maximum pin power errors in the 0.5% to 1.0% range. Several cases show substantial value in the compromise between accuracy and computational performance. Others highlight the new computational hurdles that future research will aim to resolve.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Dimensionality reduction of the many-body problem using coupled-cluster subsystem flow equations: classical and quantum computing perspective

We discuss reduced-scaling strategies employing recently introduced sub-system embedding sub-algebras coupled-cluster formalism (SES-CC) to describe many-body systems. These strategies utilize properties of the SES-CC formulations where the equations describing certain classes of sub- systems can be integrated into a computational flows composed coupled eigenvalue problems of reduced dimensionality. Additionally, these flows can be defined at the level of the CC Ansatz defined by selected classes of cluster amplitudes, which define the wave function ”memory” of possible partitionings of the many-body system into constituent sub-systems. One of the possible ways of solving these coupled problems is through implementing procedures, where the information is passed between the sub-systems in a self-consistent manner. As a special case, we consider local flow formulations where the so-called local character of correlation effects can be closely related to properties of sub-system embedding sub-algebras employing localized molecular basis. We also generalize flow equations to the time domain and to downfolding methods utilizing double exponential unitary CC Ansatz (DUCC), where reduced dimensionality of constituent sub-problems offer a possibility of efficient utilization of limited quantum resources in modeling realistic systems.

Electron correlation, quantum chemistry, quantum c↗

An FFT-based approach for Bloch wave analysis: application to polycrystals

A method based on the Fast Fourier Transform is proposed to obtain the dispersion relation of acoustic waves in heterogeneous periodic media with arbitrary microstructures. The microstructure is explicitly considered using a voxelized Representative Volume Element (RVE). The dispersion diagram is obtained solving an eigenvalue problem for Bloch waves in Fourier space. To this aim, two linear operators representing stiffness and mass are defined through the use of differential operators in Fourier space. The smallest eigenvalues are obtained using the implicitly restarted Lanczos and the subspace iteration methods, and the required inverse of the stiffness operator is done using the conjugate gradient with a preconditioner. The method is used to study the propagation of acoustic waves in elastic polycrystals, showing the strong effect of crystal anistropy and polycrystaline texture on the propagation. It is shown that the method combines the simplicity of classical Fourier series analysis with the versatility of Finite Elements to account for complex geometries proving an efficient and general approach which allows the use of large RVEs in 3D.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Drude weights in one-dimensional systems with a single defect

Ballistic transport of a quantum system can be characterized by Drude weight, which quantifies the response of the system to a uniform electric field in the infinitely long timescale. The Drude weight is often discussed in terms of the Kohn formula, which gives the Drude weight by the derivative of the energy eigenvalue of a finite-size system with the periodic boundary condition in terms of the Aharonov-Bohm flux. Recently, the Kohn formula is generalized to nonlinear responses. However, the nonlinear Drude weight determined by the Kohn formula often diverges in the thermodynamic limit. In order to elucidate the issue, in this work we examine a simple example of a one-dimensional tight-binding model in the presence of a single defect at zero temperature. We find that its linear and nonlinear Drude weights given by the Kohn formula (i) depend on the Aharonov-Bohm flux and (ii) diverge proportionally to a power of the system size. Here, we argue that the problem can be attributed to different order of limits. The Drude weight according to the Kohn formula (“Kohn-Drude weight”) indicates the response of a finite-size system to an adiabatic insertion of the Aharonov-Bohm flux. While it is a well-defined physical quantity for a finite-size system, its thermodynamic limit does not always describe the ballistic transport of the bulk. The latter should be rather characterized by a “bulk Drude weight” defined by taking the thermodynamic limit first before the zero-frequency limit. While the potential issue of the order of limits has been sometimes discussed within the linear response, the discrepancy between the two limits is amplified in nonlinear Drude weights. We demonstrate the importance of the low-energy excitations of O(1/L), which are excluded from the Kohn-Drude weight, in regularizing the bulk Drude weight.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Discrete Green’s functions and spectral graph theory for computationally efficient thermal modeling

Here, this work concerns solutions of the heat equation with the spectral graph method, for which the temperature is defined at discrete points in the domain and the spatial relationship among the points is described by a graph. The heat equation on the graph is solved using matrix techniques involving the eigenvectors and eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix. The spectral graph approach precludes the computationally intensive meshing and numerous time-integration steps of the finite element method. In the present work, the spectral graph method is extended to include heat loss at the boundaries with a generalized boundary condition, and physics-based edge weights are introduced which simplify the calibration process. From this approach a discrete Green’s function is defined which allows for solutions under a variety of heating conditions including: space-varying initial conditions; time-and-space varying internal heating; and, time-and-space-varying heating at boundaries of type 1 (Dirichlet), type 2 (Neumann) and type 3 (Robin). Results are provided for benchmark heat transfer problems in one spatial dimension and in three spatial dimensions, and verification is provided by comparison with exact analytical solutions and finite difference solutions. The spectral graph method converges within 0.4% error of the analytical solution. The practical utility of the approach is demonstrated by thermal simulation of a multilayer additive manufacturing process. The spectral graph results are compared to experimentally-obtained temperature data for two metal parts, with error less than 5% of the experimental measurements, with computation time less than one minute on a desktop computer.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

BWR Progression Problems

Under the Consortium for the Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL) Program, the Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications (VERA) was developed with the primary focus to model pressurized water reactors (PWRs). Recently, a new project was started to extend the modeling capability in VERA to model boiling water reactors (BWRs). The new project is called “Modeling and Analysis of Exelon BWRs for Eigenvalue and Thermal Limits Predictability,” and it is led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Exelon with participation from Global Nuclear Fuel and three universities: North Carolina State University (NCSU), the University of Michigan, and the University of Illinois.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Real-Time Krylov Theory for Quantum Computing Algorithms

Quantum computers provide new avenues to access ground and excited state properties of systems otherwise difficult to simulate on classical hardware. New approaches using subspaces generated by real-time evolution have shown efficiency in extracting eigenstate information, but the full capabilities of such approaches are still not understood. In recent work, we developed the variational quantum phase estimation (VQPE) method, a compact and efficient real-time algorithm to extract eigenvalues on quantum hardware. Here we build on that work by theoretically and numerically exploring a generalized Krylov scheme where the Krylov subspace is constructed through a parametrized real-time evolution, which applies to the VQPE algorithm as well as others. We establish an error bound that justifies the fast convergence of our spectral approximation. We also derive how the overlap with high energy eigenstates becomes suppressed from real-time subspace diagonalization and we visualize the process that shows the signature phase cancellations at specific eigenenergies. We investigate various algorithm implementations and consider performance when stochasticity is added to the target Hamiltonian in the form of spectral statistics. To demonstrate the practicality of such real-time evolution, we discuss its application to fundamental problems in quantum computation such as electronic structure predictions for strongly correlated systems.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Explicit Quantum Circuits for Block Encodings of Certain Sparse Matrices

Many standard linear algebra problems can be solved on a quantum computer by using recently developed quantum linear algebra algorithms that make use of block encodings and quantum eigenvalue/singular value transformations. A block encoding embeds a properly scaled matrix of interest A in a larger unitary transformation U that can be decomposed into a product of simpler unitaries and implemented efficiently on a quantum computer. Although quantum algorithms can potentially achieve exponential speedup in solving linear algebra problems compared to the best classical algorithm, such a gain in efficiency ultimately hinges on our ability to construct an efficient quantum circuit for the block encoding of A, which is difficult in general, and not trivial even for well structured sparse matrices. Here, in this paper, we give a few examples on how efficient quantum circuits can be explicitly constructed for some well structured sparse matrices and discuss a few strategies used in these constructions. We also provide implementations of these quantum circuits in MATLAB.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

An entropy-based debiasing approach to quantifying experimental coverage for novel applications of interest in the nuclear community

This manuscript proposes a novel information-theoretic approach to the quantification of experimental relevance, i.e., coverage, to achieve optimal data assimilation results for nuclear engineering applications. Specifically, this work posits the need for a new metric, called coverage (q C ) of an application’s quantity of interest, i.e., eigenvalue or power peaking for an advanced reactor concept, defined herein as the theoretically maximum achievable reduction in the quantity’s uncertainty given measurements from a pool of experiments in a manner that is independent of the data assimilation procedure employed. Currently, reduction in a quantity’s uncertainty is strongly biased by the underlying assumptions of the assimilation procedure to account for the under-determined nature of such problems and the similarity criterion employed to identify relevant experiments. To address this challenge, this work has developed a coverage metric, q C , based on mutual information, which establishes a new conceptual framework for assessing coverage, one that is independent of the model parameters and responses degree of variations in both the experimental and application domains, i.e., linear vs non-linear, and their prior uncertainty distributions, i.e., Gaussian vs. non-Gaussian. The q C is an entropic measure capable of addressing coverage for general nonlinear problems with non-Gaussian uncertainties and inclusive of the measurement uncertainties from multiple experiments. Numerical experiments from manufactured analytical problems as well as a set of benchmarks from the ICSBEP handbook are employed to demonstrate its theoretical and practical performance as compared to the c k -based experiment selection methodology, commonly employed in the neutronic community. The manuscript then employs other well-known adaptations to existing data assimilation methodologies for nonlinear and non-Gaussian problems capable of achieving the coverage posited by q C .

Bayesian data assimilation↗