2013 International Nuclear Atlantic Conference - INAC 2013 Recife, PE, Brazil, November 24-29, 2013 ASSOCIAO BRASILEIRA

DE ENERGIA NUCLEAR - ABEN ISBN: 978-85-99141-05-2

TITLE OF THE PAPER

Ricardo C. Barros1, Margarida M. Hamada2 and Rogrio Arcuri Filho3
1

Departamento de Modelagem Computacional - Instituto Politcnico Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro P.O Box 97282 28610-974 Nova Friburgo, RJ, Brazil rcbarros@pq.cnpq.br Instituto de Pesquisas Energticas e Nucleares (IPEN / CNEN - SP) Av. Professor Lineu Prestes 2242 05508-000 So Paulo, SP, Brazil mmhamada@ipen.br
3

Eletrobrs Termonuclear S.A. - ELETRONUCLEAR Departamento GLN G Rua da Candelria, 65 9 andar 20091-906 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil rarcuri@eletronuclear.gov.br

ABSTRACT We describe analytical numerical methods for one-speed X,Y-geometry discrete ordinates (SN) deep penetration transport problems with isotropic scattering. For low-order SN calculations, say N < 10, we present the spectral Greens function - exponential nodal (SGFExpN) method, that is based on a spectral analysis that we perform in the transverse integrated SN nodal equations with exponential approximations for the transverse leakage terms, wherein the decay constants are identified with the absorption macroscopic cross section of the spatial node the neutrons leave behind. This partial anisotropy introduced in the numerical algorithm adds a significant degree of complexity to the numerical scheme in high-order SN calculations. Therefore, in order to alleviate this negative feature, we have developed an alternative analytical numerical method based on the diagonalization of the Laplace transform (LTSN) matrix. We follow two alternative steps in order to reach this goal: (i) we approximate the aforementioned transverse leakage terms by linear combinations of elementary solutions of the transverse integrated SN nodal equations; and (ii) we approximate the transverse leakage terms by the same exponential functions, as we did in the SGF-ExpN method. Numerical experiments to typical neutron transport problems show that for loworder SN calculations, the offered methods are basically equivalent. However, for N = 10 or greater, the LTSN versions tend to being more efficient in the sense that these generate similar results in less CPU time and floating point operations.