A new approach to three-dimensional neutron transport solution based on the method of characteristics and linear axial approximation

Abstract

A new approach based on the method of characteristics (MOC) is proposed to solve the neutron transport equation. A new three-dimensional (3D) spatial discretization is applied to avoid the instability issue of the transverse leakage iteration of the traditional 2D/1D approach. In this new approach, the axial and radial variables are discretized in two different ways: the linear expansion is performed in the axial direction, then, the 3D solution of the angular flux is transformed to be the planar solution of 2D angular expansion moments, which are solved by the planar MOC sweeping. Based on the boundary and interface continuity conditions, the 2D expansion moment solution is equivalently transformed to be the solution of the axially averaged angular flux. Using the piecewise averaged angular flux at the top and bottom surfaces of 3D meshes, the planes are coupled to give the 3D angular flux distribution. The 3D CMFD linear system is established from the surface net current of every 3D pin-mesh to accelerate the convergence of power iteration. The STREAM code is extended to be capable of handling 3D problems based on the new approach. Several benchmarks are tested to verify its feasibility and accuracy, including the 3D homogeneous benchmarks and heterogeneous benchmarks. The computational sensitivity is discussed. The results show good accuracy in all tests. With the CMFD acceleration, the convergence is stable. In addition, a pin-cell problem with void gap is calculated. This shows the advantage compared to the traditional 2D/1D MOC methods.