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Development of a Low-order Multiphysics Analysis Framework for the Neutron-Irradiation of Samples in the Versatile Test Reactor Rabbit Environment
Abstract
A Multiphysics analysis framework is developed for predicting the behavior of samples being irradiated in a rabbit system, particularly that of the versatile test reactor. The work de-couples, simplifies, and then re-couples the different physical phenomena to develop an analysis framework with generalized correlations and metrics. This work discusses the fast-spectrum versatile test reactor and the pursued rabbit system designs, namely the U-tube and concentric annular designs. Detailed thermal sensitivity analyses are conducted, followed by generalized hydraulic analyses, leading to the development of a consolidated thermal-hydraulic analysis tool for either design. A low order neutronics model is developed to carry out hundreds of simulations efficiently and investigate UO₂ and U-10Zr samples being irradiated in the rabbit system under different geometrical constraints. Data is also provided for irradiation in the advanced test reactor, which is a thermal neutron spectrum. Generalized fits and fit coefficients are obtained for sample heating, reaction rate densities, and local multiplication factors, allowing the prediction of the neutronics behavior of the samples based on their geometrical constraints. A novel spatio-temporal transmutation model is developed to track the detailed distribution of a sample’s composition throughout irradiation. Custom spatio-temporal fits with fit coefficients are derived alongside temporal sensitivity coefficients. The work couples all the physical phenomena studied into a singular Multiphysics analysis framework with a user interface, enabling fast and effective analyses of the irradiation behavior of samples in the rabbit system of the versatile test reactor.nalyses of the irradiation behavior of samples in the rabbit system of the versatile test reactor.
Subject
MultiphysicsIrradiation
Modeling
VTR
Rabbit
Sensitivity Analysis
Thermal-hydraulics
Neutronics
Citation
Weiss, Abdullah Ghassan (2022). Development of a Low-order Multiphysics Analysis Framework for the Neutron-Irradiation of Samples in the Versatile Test Reactor Rabbit Environment. Doctoral dissertation, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /197871.