An asymptotic homogenized neutron diffusion approximation. II. Numerical comparisons
Travis Trahan, Edward W. Larsen · OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) · 2012
In a companion paper, a monoenergetic, homogenized, anisotropic diffusion equation is derived asymptotically for large, 3-D, multiplying systems with a periodic lattice structure [1]. In the present paper, this approximation is briefly compared to several other well known diffusion approximations. Although the derivation is different, the asymptotic diffusion approximation matches that proposed by Deniz and Gelbard, and is closely related to those proposed by Benoist. The focus of this paper, however, is a numerical comparison of the various methods for simple reactor analysis problems in 1-D. The comparisons show that the asymptotic diffusion approximation provides a more accurate estimate of the eigenvalue than the Benoist diffusion approximations. However, the Benoist diffusion approximations and the asymptotic diffusion approximation provide very similar estimates of the neutron flux. The asymptotic method and the Benoist methods both outperform the standard homogenized diffusion approximation, with flux weighted cross sections. (authors)