FINELM: A Multigroup Finite Element Diffusion Code. III. R-Theta Geometry and Internal Boundary Conditions

摘要

The authors describe the formalism of the finite element for r-theta geometry. The treatment of a four sided element with two circular arcs and two radial sides is presented. At the centre of the disc this element is collapsed into a three sided element by reducing the inner arc length to zero. The singularity of the leakage term of such an element at r=0 is described. The modelling of control and safety rods by introducing boundary conditions interior to the reactor is presented. This has the effect of converting the diffusion region from a simply connected to a multiply connected region. Dirichlet conditions with prescribed flux values zero are imposed on nodes in the interior of the non diffusion zones in order to decouple these nodes from the rest. The method is tested by calculating the effectiveness of control and safety rods for a 500 MW Th high temperature reactor. The results are compared with those obtained with DIFGEN using x-y geometry. The DIFGEN results and the problem data are by courtsey of Hochtemperatur Reaktor Bau AG, Mannheim. (Atomindex citation 15:002984)