Use of discontinuity factors in high-order finite element methods

Abstract

The discontinuity factors are a technique widely used in nodal methods to minimize the error due to spatial homogenization of cross sections for a coarse mesh core calculation. In the present work, the introduction of discontinuity factors in a high-order finite element approximation of the neutron diffusion equation is investigated. More precisely, classical reference and assembly discontinuity factors are introduced in a discontinuous Galerkin finite element method stabilized using an interior penalty formulation for the neutron diffusion equation. The proposed method is tested solving different one- and two-dimensional benchmark problems, showing that the discontinuity factors technique can be successfully introduced in the discontinuous Galerkin formulation.