Stability of Fissile Solution Systems
Steven Klein, USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Robert H. Kimpland · 2015
A technique has been developed to model the dynamics of fissile solution systems. This technique, which can be characterized as Dynamic System Simulation (DSS), is a set of coupled nonlinear differential equations that may be solved in the time domain to simulate the dynamic behavior of the overall system. The details of model development and results have previously been documented, hence, herein only a summary is presented. Herein an extension of the modeling technique is described that uses output of the simulation models to examine stability. Simplified versions of the simulation model have been linearized and transformed into the complex plane. Transfer functions for each of the system components were developed and combined to generate overall system closed- and open-loop transfer functions. Standard linear stability analysis techniques, such as frequency response and pole configuration, were used to evaluate the stability of the system.