Abstract
Nuclear engineering requires computationally efficient methods to simulate different components and systems of plants. The Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM), a numerical method with a mesoscopic approach to Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) derived from the Boltzmann equation and the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution, can be an adequate option. The purpose of this paper is to present a review of the recent applications of the Lattice Boltzmann Method in nuclear engineering research. A systematic literature review using three databases (Web of Science, Scopus, and ScienceDirect) was done, and the items found were categorized by the main research topics into computational fluid dynamics and neutronic applications. The features of the problem addressed, the characteristics of the numerical method, and some relevant conclusions of each study are resumed and presented. A total of 45 items (25 for computational fluid dynamics applications and 20 for neutronics) was found on a wide range of nuclear engineering problems, including thermal flow, turbulence mixing of coolant, sedimentation of impurities, neutron transport, criticality problem, and other relevant issues. The LBM results in being a flexible numerical method capable of integrating multiphysics and hybrid schemes, and is efficient for the inner parallelization of the algorithm that brings a widely applicable tool in nuclear engineering problems. Interest in the LBM applications in this field has been increasing and evolving from early stages to a mature form, as this review shows.
Highlights
The need for achieving energy sustainability and reliability, as well as cutting air pollutants, greenhouse gases, and ozone-depleting substances, could require nuclear energy to be part of the energy mix, since renewable energies are inherently intermittent [1,2,3]
The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the framework and the application of the Lattice Boltzmann Method in nuclear engineering, to identify which problems in the nuclear engineering field have been addressed with the LBM, how the LBM has been adapted to be applied in nuclear engineering, how results were validated, and to explore some trends in the research of LBM applied to nuclear engineering
The main description of the relevant literature found will be presented, and the analysis will focus on the two general application fields, as previously described, i.e., computational fluid dynamics and neutronics, each one in a dedicated subsection
Summary
The need for achieving energy sustainability and reliability, as well as cutting air pollutants, greenhouse gases, and ozone-depleting substances, could require nuclear energy to be part of the energy mix, since renewable energies (such solar, wind, etc.) are inherently intermittent [1,2,3]. It has even been suggested that “The support of a thermal reactor fleet in the mix will in all cases be needed until the end of the present century an even beyond, independently of the reactor type and global or regional plutonium mass availability” [7]; the future scenario concerning nuclear fuel availability must be evaluated considering particular regional characteristics regarding possible energy demand growth, uranium availability, fuel cycle facilities, and different kinds of reactors instead of considering only idealized homogeneous global trends [7]. It can be expected that nuclear reactors will play a relevant and different role in the energy production in each world region, and, for this reason, the research concerning nuclear reactors at different levels (fundamental physics, design, control, training, etc.) continues to be required
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