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At least 1,045 records · Page 58
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DOE OSTI2018

TOUGH3 User’s Guide, Version 1.0

TOUGH3 is a general-purpose numerical simulator for multi-dimensional fluid and heat flows of multiphase, multicomponent fluid mixtures in porous and fractured media. It is developed as an enhanced, more efficient version of the TOUGH2 suite of codes. The present report provides a summary of the mathematical models and numerical methods, discusses new user features, and gives complete specifications for preparing input data. It also includes a quick start guide to TOUGH3 that describes how to install the code, set up the problem, execute the simulation, and analyze the output. To make this report self-contained, we include much of the material that was covered in the TOUGH2 user’s guide (Pruess et al., 2012).

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2018

Pronghorn Theory Manual

This manual is intended to provide a thorough description of the governing equations, the relations used for material, heat transfer, and fluid flow parameters, and the numerical method utilized in Pronghorn.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2018

Advanced Combustion Numerics and Modeling – FY18 Fourth Quarter Report

This project is focused on early stage research and development of numerical methods and models to improve advanced engine combustion concepts and systems. The current focus is on the development of new mathematics and algorithms to reduce the time to solution for advanced combustion engine design using detailed fuel chemistry. The research is prioritized towards the most time-consuming workflow bottlenecks (computer and human) and accuracy gaps that slow ACS program members. Zero-RK, the fast and accurate chemical kinetics solver software developed in this project, is central to the research efforts and continues to be developed to address the current and emerging needs of the engine designers, engine modelers and fuel mechanism developers.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗
DOE OSTI2018

An Evaluation of Bang-Time Measurements from a Multichannel, Triaxial, nTOF Diagnostic for MagLIF Experiments at the Z facility

Neutron bang times for a series of MagLIF (Magnetic Liner Inertial Fusion) experiments with D 2 -filled targets have been measured at the Z facility. The emitted neutrons were detected as current-mode pulses in a multichannel, neutron time-of-flight (nTOF) diagnostic with conventional, scintillator-photomultiplier-tube (PMT) detectors. In these experiments, the detectors were fielded at known, fixed distances L (690-2510 cm) from the target, and on three, non-coplanar (but convergent) lines-of-sight (LOS). The primary goal of this diagnostic was to estimate a fiducial time (bang time) relative to an externally generated time-base for synchronizing all the diagnostics in an experiment. Recorded arrival times (A7) of the pulses were characterized experimentally by three numerical methods: a first-moment estimate (centroid) and two nodal measures — Savitzky-Golay (SG) smoothing and a single point peak estimate of the raw data. These times were corrected for internal detector time delays (transit and impulse-response function) — an adjustment that linked the recorded ATs to the corresponding arrival of uncollided neutrons at each detector. The bang time was then estimated by linearly regressing the arrival times against the associated distances to the source; t bang (on the system timescale) was taken as the temporal intercept of the regression equation at distance L = 0. This article reports the analysis for a representative shot #2584 for which (a) the recorded ATs — even without detector corrections — agreed by method in each channel to within 1-2 ns; (b) internal corrections were each ~3 — 5 ns; and (c) a 95% uncertainty (confidence) interval for t bang in this shot was estimated at ±3 ns with 4 degrees of freedom. A secondary goal for this diagnostic was to check that the bang time measurements corresponded to neutrons emitted by the D(d,n) 3 He reaction in a thermalized DD plasma. According to the theoretical studies by Brysk, such neutrons should be emitted with an isotropic Gaussian distribution of mean kinetic energy $ \overline{E}$ of 2.449 MeV; this energy translates to a mean neutron speed $ \overline{u}$ of 2.160 cm/ns [D. H. Munro, Nuclear Fusion, 56(3) 036001 (2016)]. In the MagLIF series of shots there was no evidence of spatial asymmetry in the time-distance regressions, and it was possible to extract the mean neutron speed from the slope of these fits. In shot 2584 $ \overline{u}$ was estimated at 2.152 cm/ns ± 0.010 cm/ns [95 % confidence, 4 dof] and the mean kinetic energy $ \overline{E}$ (with relativistic corrections) was 2.431 MeV ± 0.022 MeV [95 % confidence, 4 dof] — results supporting the assumption that D-D neutrons were, in fact, measured.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Advanced Combustion Numerics and Modeling - FY19 First Quarter Report

This project is focused on early stage research and development of numerical methods and models to improve advanced engine combustion concepts and systems. The current focus is on the development of new mathematics and algorithms to reduce the time to solution for advanced combustion engine design using detailed fuel chemistry. The research is prioritized towards the most time-consuming workflow bottlenecks (computer and human) and accuracy gaps that slow ACS program members. Zero-RK, the fast and accurate chemical kinetics solver software developed in this project, is central to the research efforts and continues to be developed to address the current and emerging needs of the engine designers, engine modelers and fuel mechanism developers.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Validation of k eff Calculations for Extended BWR Burnup Credit

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and consensus standards recommend validation of the numerical methods used in criticality safety analyses. This validation requires the comparison of computational results with measurements of physical systems which are neutronically similar to those used in the safety analysis being performed. To this end, this document examines the methods available to generate sensitivity data to help identify systems similar to spent boiling- water reactor (BWR) fuel in a flooded spent nuclear fuel transportation or storage cask. A large number of critical benchmark experiments are surveyed using sensitivity/uncertainty (S/U) techniques to assess their applicability to BWR burnup credit (BUC) beyond the burnup of peak reactivity. Multiple burnups of BWR assemblies are considered herein, as well as the actinide-only (AO) and actinide-and-major-fission-product (AFP) isotope sets. Sample validations are completed for representative application models to demonstrate that appropriate validation is possible and to indicate the bias and bias uncertainty values expected for related applications.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2019

Reactivity Feedback Modeling in SAM

System Analysis Module (SAM) is being developed at Argonne National Laboratory as a modern system-level modeling and simulation tool for advanced non-light water reactor safety analyses. It utilizes the object-oriented application framework MOOSE to leverage the modern software environment and advanced numerical methods. The capabilities of SAM are being extended to enable the transient modeling, analysis, and design of various advanced nuclear reactor systems. This report presents the development of Point-Kinetics modeling and reactivity feedback mechanisms in SAM. It also presents a new capability for predicting the thermal expansion in various structural components by coupling SAM with an external thermomechanics module (Tensor Mechanics) from the MOOSE framework. The analysis of the transient behavior of a nuclear reactor requires the coupled simulation of reactor kinetics and thermal-hydraulics of the reactor core, especially for those unprotected transients where the reactor scram system may not function properly. The point kinetics model has been widely used for reactor safety analysis due to its simplicity to capture the transient behavior of the reactor. Various reactivity feedback models have been developed and integrated with the Point-Kinetics module, including fuel axial expansion, core radial expansion, fuel Doppler, and coolant density reactivity. The reactivity feedback models in SAM are similar to the respective models used in SAS4A/SASSYS-1. This report first presents the brief theory of the Point-Kinetics module and reactivity feedback models. A number of verification tests have been performed where the code simulations are compared to the analytical model results. The reactivity feedback due to the thermal deformation, such as the fuel axial expansion and core radial expansion, is important for SFR transient analysis. Simplified thermal expansion models for the fuel pin and reactor constrain system (e.g. grid plate) are developed and verified in SAM. Additionally, a coupling interface is developed to couple SAM with external thermomechanical analysis modules for more accurate predictions of the thermal expansion of different components during the transients. The current coupling interface has been tested with the Tensor Mechanics module from MOOSE. These point kinetics and reactivity feedback modeling capabilities have also been demonstrated by simulating the early stage of the unprotected loss-of-flow (ULOF) accident in the Advanced Burner Test Reactor (ABTR). Both the stand-alone SAM and coupled SAM and Tensor Mechanics simulations are performed. It is confirmed that the major physics phenomena in the heat transport system of the ABTR reactor are captured by SAM, and the point kinetics model, reactivity feedback models, and the coupling schemes are working well as expected.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2019

UPC++ Programmer’s Guide (v1.0-2019.3.0)

UPC++ is a C++11 library that provides Partitioned Global Address Space (PGAS) programming. It is designed for writing parallel programs that run efficiently and scale well on distributed-memory parallel computers. The PGAS model is single program, multiple-data (SPMD), with each separate constituent process having access to local memory as it would in C++. However, PGAS also provides access to a global address space, which is allocated in shared segments that are distributed over the processes. UPC++ provides numerous methods for accessing and using global memory. In UPC++, all operations that access remote memory are explicit, which encourages programmers to be aware of the cost of communication and data movement. Moreover, all remote-memory access operations are by default asynchronous, to enable programmers to write code that scales well even on hundreds of thousands of cores.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2019

Development of Heat Pipe Reactor Modeling in SAM

System Analysis Module (SAM) is under development at Argonne National Laboratory as a modern system-level modeling and simulation tool for advanced non-light water reactor safety analyses. It utilizes the object-oriented application framework MOOSE to leverage the modern software environment and advanced numerical methods available in PETSc. The capabilities of SAM are being extended to enable the transient modeling, analysis, and design of various advanced nuclear reactor systems. This report presents the development of new capabilities for modeling the heat pipe type reactor systems. The need for power at remote locations away from a reliable electrical grid is an important niche for nuclear energy. Heat pipe-cooled fast-spectrum nuclear reactors are well suited for these applications. The key feature of the heat pipe reactors is the use of heat pipes for heat removal from the reactor core. The heat pipe makes use of the phase change of the working fluid and transports a large amount of heat from the evaporator to the condensation end with very small temperature drops. In contrast to the traditional nuclear reactor system that makes use of pumped loop for extracting the thermal power, the heat pipe reactors make use of hundreds of heat pipes for removing the thermal power (including the decay heat) passively. This could potentially significantly improve the reliability and safety of the reactor systems. The essential part in the analysis of a heat pipe type reactor is the modeling of heat transport inside the heat pipe. The capability of SAM is extended in this work to enable the modeling of the conventional heat pipe. Two alternative modeling options, 2D-RZ Heat conduction and 3D-1D coupling, are developed, which are both based on the assumption that the heat pipe vapor core can be modeled as a superconductor of extremely high thermal conductivity. Both modeling options are verified with a simplified thermal resistance model. The heat pipes are also coupled with the fuel region of a prototype micro reactor under both normal and off-normal conditions. It is confirmed that both modeling options can correctly model the heat transport in the heat-pipe reactors.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2017

SIERRA Multimechanics Module: Aria Thermal Theory Manual (Version 4.46)

This document describes the theoretical foundation of thermal analysis in Sierra Mechanics. The SIERRA Multimechanics Module: Aria, henceforth referred to as Aria for brevity, was developed at Sandia National Laboratories under the ASC program, and approximates linear and nonlinear continuum models of heat transfer. Aria uses the SIERRA Framework, which provides data management services commonly required by computational mechanics software, and facilitates the development of coupled, multi-mechanics applications for massively parallel computers. The mathematical models in Aria are based heavily on those of COYOTE, a well-established thermal analysis program that was also developed at Sandia and its ASC code predecessor, Calore. Aria, Calore and COYOTE share a significant body of numerical methods, which are described in detail by Reddy and Gartling. Throughout this document, the terms software and implementation are synonymous with the Aria thermal-fluid analysis computer program.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2017

SIERRA Multimechanics Module: Aria Thermal Theory Manual (Version 4.44)

This document describes the theoretical foundation of thermal analysis in Sierra Mechanics. The SIERRA Multimechanics Module: Aria, henceforth referred to as Aria for brevity, was developed at Sandia National Laboratories under the ASC program, and approximates linear and nonlinear continuum models of heat transfer. Aria uses the SIERRA Framework, which provides data management services commonly required by computational mechanics software, and facilitates the development of coupled, multi-mechanics applications for massively parallel computers. The mathematical models in Aria are based heavily on those of COYOTE, a well-established thermal analysis program that was also developed at Sandia and its ASC code predecessor, Calore. Aria, Calore and COYOTE share a significant body of numerical methods, which are described in detail by Reddy and Gartling. Throughout this document, the terms software and implementation are synonymous with the Aria thermal-fluid analysis computer program.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2016

SIERRA Multimechanics Module: Aria Thermal Theory Manual (Version 4.42)

This document describes the theoretical foundation of thermal analysis in Sierra Mechanics. The SIERRA Multimechanics Module: Aria, henceforth referred to as Aria for brevity, was developed at Sandia National Laboratories under the ASC program, and approximates linear and nonlinear continuum models of heat transfer. Aria uses the SIERRA Framework, which provides data management services commonly required by computational mechanics software, and facilitates the development of coupled, multi-mechanics applications for massively parallel computers. The mathematical models in Aria are based heavily on those of COYOTE, a well-established thermal analysis program that was also developed at Sandia and its ASC code predecessor, Calore. Aria, Calore and COYOTE share a significant body of numerical methods, which are described in detail by Reddy and Gartling. Throughout this document, the terms software and implementation are synonymous with the Aria thermal-fluid analysis computer program.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2019

Advanced Combustion Numerics and Modeling: FY19 Third Quarter Report

This project is focused on early stage research and development of numerical methods and models to improve advanced engine combustion concepts and systems. The current focus is on the development of new mathematics and algorithms to reduce the time to solution for advanced combustion engine design using detailed fuel chemistry. The research is prioritized towards the most time-consuming workflow bottlenecks (computer and human) and accuracy gaps that slow ACS program members. Zero-RK, the fast and accurate chemical kinetics solver software developed in this project, is central to the research efforts and continues to be developed to address the current and emerging needs of engine designers, engine modelers and fuel mechanism developers.

02 PETROLEUM↗
DOE OSTI2019

UPC++ v1.0 Programmer’s Guide (Revision 2019.9.0)

UPC++ is a C++11 library that provides Partitioned Global Address Space (PGAS) programming. It is designed for writing parallel programs that run efficiently and scale well on distributed-memory parallel computers. The PGAS model is single program, multiple-data (SPMD), with each separate constituent process having access to local memory as it would in C++. However, PGAS also provides access to a global address space, which is allocated in shared segments that are distributed over the processes. UPC++ provides numerous methods for accessing and using global memory. In UPC++, all operations that access remote memory are explicit, which encourages programmers to be aware of the cost of communication and data movement. Moreover, all remote-memory access operations are by default asynchronous, to enable programmers to write code that scales well even on hundreds of thousands of cores.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2019

Multi-Physics Simulations of Heat Pipe Micro Reactor

System Analysis Module (SAM) is under development at Argonne National Laboratory as a modern system-level modeling and simulation tool for advanced non-light water reactor safety analyses. It utilizes the object-oriented application framework MOOSE to leverage the modern software environment and advanced numerical methods. The capabilities of SAM are being extended to enable the transient modeling, analysis, and design of various advanced nuclear reactor systems. This report presents the development of new capabilities for modeling the heat pipe type reactor systems. The need for power at remote locations away from a reliable electrical grid is an important niche for nuclear energy. Heat pipe-cooled fast-spectrum nuclear reactors are well suited for these applications. The key feature of the heat pipe reactors is the use of heat pipes for heat removal from the reactor core. The heat pipe makes use of the phase change of the working fluid and transports a large amount of heat from the evaporator to the condensation end with very small temperature drops. In contrast to the traditional nuclear reactor system that makes use of pumped loop for extracting the thermal power, the heat pipe reactors make use of hundreds of heat pipes for removing the thermal power (including the decay heat) passively. This could potentially significantly improve the reliability and safety of the reactor systems. The essential part in the analysis of a heat pipe type reactor is the modeling of heat transport inside the heat pipe. The capability of SAM was extended to enable the modeling of the conventional heat pipe. The full suite of non-LWR codes for confirmatory analysis at NRC is known as the Comprehensive Reactor Analysis Bundle (CRAB). It makes use of existing NRC codes, and integrates them with several codes developed through the DOE-NE’s Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program. In this report, the heat pipe micro reactor is simulated using three submodules under CRAB. The MAMMOTH module is used to simulate the reactor kinetics behavior of the micro reactor; the SAM module is used to simulate the heat conduction in the reactor core and heat removal through the heat pipe heat exchangers and Reactor Cavity Cooling System (RCCS); and the MOOSE Tensor Mechanics module is used to simulate the thermal expansion of the reactor cores. The different sub-models are coupled together using MOOSE’s MultiApp system and executed using the BlueCrab application. The new capability has been demonstrated by a steady-state operation analysis, a failure of a single central heat pipe transient analysis, and a loss of heat sink transient analysis. The fully coupled model is shown to work well.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2019

High-fidelity kinetic modeling of plasmas in Z-pinch and pulsed power configurations (18-ERD-048)

Plasma dynamics can be strongly influenced by fine-scale kinetic physics, which is not captured by standard fluid treatments, is challenging to simulate, and is poorly understood. The aim of this research was to investigate the fundamental fine-scale properties of collisionless plasmas in Z-pinch and pulsed power configurations by deploying novel noisefree high-accuracy computational algorithms. Significant advances were achieved through the development of robust numerical capabilities to exploit axisymmetry in kinetic simulations, the development of new methodologies to construct kinetic equilibria, and the theoretical and computational study of kinetic sheared-flow-driven transport in pulsed power systems. These new capabilities shed light on the anisotropies that can develop in Z-pinches and the transport processes that can lead to parasitic currents in pulsed power inertial confinement fusion experiments. The use of cutting-edge massively-parallel numerical algorithms to address outstanding scientific questions in plasma physics advances the mission of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the areas of high energy density science and high performance computing. By bringing together kinetic theory, high-order numerical methods, high performance computing, and experimental applications, this research advances the state of the art in plasma physics modeling.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Quantum Optimal Control Using High Performance Computing

This feasibility study developed numerical methods for the optimal control problem for realizing logical gates in closed quantum systems, where the evolution of the state vector is governed by the time dependent Schrodinger equation. The number of parameters in the control functions is made independent of the number of time steps by expanding them in terms of B-spline basis functions, with and without carrier waves. We use an interior point gradient-based technique from the IPOPT package to minimize the gate infidelity subject to amplitude constraints on the control functions. The symplectic Stromer-Verlet scheme is used to integrate a real-valued formulation of Schrodinger's equation in time and the gradient of the gate infidelity is obtained by solving the corresponding adjoint equation. This allows all components of the gradient to be calculated at the cost of solving three Schrodinger systems, independently of the number of parameters in the control functions. The correctness of the method is verified and applied to Hamiltonians that model the dynamics of coupled super-conducting qubits.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Atmospheric System Research Treatment of Convection in Next-Generation Climate Models: Challenges and Opportunities Workshop Report

A workshop sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric System Research (ASR) Program was held at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) on 3-5 February 2016. This workshop was a response to the rapid approach of climate models with cloud-permitting (1- to 10-km grid spacing) resolutions. The expansion of computational resources and advances in numerical methods are making such models a reality. The workshop participants considered specifically the new set of challenges for representing convective cloud processes in this generation of models. The challenges arise from the fact that some aspects of convection are partly resolved. Short- and long-term strategies that would lead to accurately representing convection in these models were discussed, and opportunities for the ASR program to effectively leverage DOE’s unique capabilities, high-performance computing resources, and Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility observational facilities to this end were identified. The workshop was organized around the premise that a strategy to accurately treat convection in the next generation of climate models comprises addressing challenges on three core themes and their integration.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗