State of the Art in Using Finite Element Method for Neutron Diffusion Calculation

摘要

The finite element method had been designed for structural analysis. Reactor designers and reactor operators needed accurate and efficient three dimensional calculation tools. The aim of the FEM development for reactor calculations was to offer fast and accurate 2 D and 3 D programs. The FEM has been applied to steady state and transient reactor calculations. This review paper is divided into five parts: theoretical basis of the method, numerical problems involved, data processing problems, survey of the existing codes, and the last part is devoted to numerical results including a comparison with nodal calculations. (ERA citation 09:040098)