Recent trends in nuclear reactor performance and safety analyses increasingly rely on multiscale multiphysics computer simulations to enhance predictive capabilities by replacing conventional methods that are largely empirically based with a more scientifically based methodology. Through this approach, one addresses the issue of traditionally employing a suite of stand-alone codes that independently simulate various physical phenomena that were previously disconnected. Multiple computer simulations of different phenomena must exchange data during runtime to address these interdependencies. Previously, recommendations have been made regarding various approaches for piloting different design options of data coupling for multiphysics systems (Seydaliev and Caswell, 2014, “CORBA and MPI Based “Backbone” for Coupling Advanced Simulation Tools,” AECL Nucl. Rev., 3(2), pp. 83–90). This paper describes progress since the initial pilot study that outlined the implementation and execution of a new distribution framework, referred to as “Backbone,” to provide the necessary runtime exchange of data between different codes. The Backbone, currently under development at the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL), is a hybrid design using both common object request broker architecture (CORBA) and message passing interface (MPI) systems. This paper also presents two preliminary cases for coupling existing nuclear performance and safety analysis codes used for simulating fuel behavior, fission product release, thermal hydraulics, and neutron transport through the Backbone. Additionally, a pilot study presents a few strategies of a new time step controller (TSC) to synchronize the codes coupled through the Backbone. A performance and fidelity comparison is presented between a simple heuristic method for determining time step length and a more advanced third-order method, which was selected to maximize configurability and effectiveness of temporal integration, saving time steps and reducing wasted computation. The net effect of the foregoing features of the Backbone is to provide a practical toolset to couple existing and newly developed codes—which may be written in different programming languages and used on different operating systems—with minimal programming effort to enhance predictions of nuclear reactor performance and safety.

References

1.
Ivanov
,
K.
, and
Avramova
,
M.
,
2007
, “
Progress and Challenges in the Development and Qualification of Multi-Level Multi-Physics Coupled Methodologies for Reactor Analysis
,”
Proceedings of the International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAP 2007)
,
Nice, France
,
May 13–18
, .
2.
Seydaliev
,
M.
, and
Caswell
,
D.
,
2014
, “
CORBA and MPI-Based “Backbone” for Coupling Advanced Simulation Tools
,”
AECL Nucl. Rev.
,
3
(
2
), pp.
83
90
.10.12943/ANR.2014.00036
3.
The Consortium for Advanced Simulation or LWRs (CASL)
,
2016
, http://www.casl.gov/ (accessed July 13, 2016).
4.
Kim
,
M.
,
Kim
,
H.-K.
,
Kim
,
H.-J.
,
Hwang
,
S. H.
,
Hong
,
I. S.
, and
Kim
,
C. H.
,
2006
, “
Enhancement of Safety Analysis Capability for a CANDU-6 Reactor Using RELAP-CANDU/SCAN Coupled Code System
,”
Nucl. Technol.
,
156
(
2
), pp.
159
167
.
5.
Dupleac
,
D.
,
Prisecaru
,
I.
,
Ghitescu
,
P.
, and
Negut
,
G.
,
2007
, “
Effect of CANDU 6 Core Modeling on Large Break LOCA Analysis
,”
Proceedings of the 12th International Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH-12)
,
Pittsburgh, PA
,
Sept. 30–Oct. 4
, .
6.
Szabo
,
T.
,
Kretzschmar
,
F.
, and
Schulenberg
,
T.
,
2014
, “
Obtaining a More Realistic Hydrogen Distribution in the Containment by Coupling MELCOR With GASFLOW
,”
Nucl. Eng. Des.
,
269
, pp.
330
339
. 0029-549310.1016/j.nucengdes.2013.07.009
7.
Gouja
,
I.
,
Avramova
,
M.
, and
Rubin
,
A.
,
2010
, “
Development and Optimization of Coupling Interfaces Between Reactor Core Neutronics and Thermal-Hydraulic Codes
,”
Proceedings of the International Conference on Advances in Reactor Physics to Power the Nuclear Renaissance (PHYSOR 2010)
,
Pittsburgh, PA
,
May 9–14
.
8.
Gomez-Torres
,
A. M.
,
Sanchez-Espinoza
,
V.
,
Ivanov
,
K.
, and
Macian-Juan
,
R.
,
2012
, “
DYNSUB: A High Fidelity Coupled Code System for the Evaluation of Local Safety Parameters—Part I: Development, Implementation and Verification
,”
Ann. Nucl. Energy
,
48
, pp.
108
122
. 0306-454910.1016/j.anucene.2012.05.011
9.
Sanchez
,
V.
, and
Al-Hamry
,
A.
,
2009
, “
Development of a Coupling Scheme Between MCNP and COBRA-TF for the Prediction of the Pin Power of a PWR Fuel Assembly
,”
Proceedings of the International Conference on Mathematics, Computational Methods and Reactor Physics (M&C2009)
,
Saratoga Springs, NY
,
May 3–7
.
10.
Chen
,
Z.
,
Chen
,
X.-N.
,
Rineiski
,
A.
,
Zhao
,
P.
, and
Chen
,
H.
,
2015
, “
Coupling a CFD Code With Neutron Kinetics and Pin Thermal Models for Nuclear Reactor Safety Analyses
,”
Ann. Nucl. Energy
,
83
, pp.
41
49
. 0306-454910.1016/j.anucene.2015.03.023
11.
Gaston
,
D.
,
Newman
,
C.
,
Hansen
,
G.
, and
Lebrun-Grandie
,
D.
,
2009
, “
MOOSE: A Parallel Computational Framework for Coupled Systems of Nonlinear Equations
,”
Nucl. Eng. Des.
,
239
(
10
), pp.
1768
1778
. 0029-549310.1016/j.nucengdes.2009.05.021
12.
Chauliac
,
C.
,
Aragones
,
J.-M.
,
Bestion
,
D.
,
Cacuci
,
D. G.
,
Crouzet
,
N.
,
Weiss
,
F.-P.
, and
Zimmermann
,
M. A.
,
2011
, “
NURESIM—A European Simulation Platform for Nuclear Reactor Safety: Multi-Scale and Multi-Physics Calculations, Sensitivity and Uncertainty Analysis
,”
Nucl. Eng. Des.
,
241
(
9
), pp.
3416
3426
. 0029-549310.1016/j.nucengdes.2010.09.040
13.
Baudron
,
A.-M.
,
Crouzet
,
N.
,
Doderlein
,
C.
,
Geay
,
A.
,
Lautard
,
J.-J.
,
Richebois
,
E.
,
Royer
,
E.
, and
Sireta
,
P.
,
2008
, “
Unstructured 3D MINOS/FLICA4 Coupling in SALOME Application to JHR Transient Analysis
,”
International Conference on the Physics of Reactors (PHYSOR’08)
,
Interlake, Switzerland
,
Sept. 14–19
.
14.
Baviere
,
R.
,
Tauveron
,
N.
,
Perdu
,
F.
,
Garre
,
E.
, and
Li
,
S.
,
2014
, “
A First System/CFD Coupled Simulation of a Complete Nuclear Reactor Transient Using CATHARE2 and TRIO_U. Preliminary Validation on the Phénix Reactor Natural Circulation Test
,”
Nucl. Eng. Des.
,
277
, pp.
124
137
.10.1016/j.nucengdes.2014.05.031
15.
Schmidt
,
R.
,
Belcourt
,
N.
,
Hooper
,
R.
, and
Pawlowski
,
R.
,
2011
, “
An Introduction to LIME 1.0 and Its Use in Coupling Codes for Multiphysics Simulations
,”
Sandia National Laboratories
, Albuquerque, NM, .
16.
SALOME
,
2016
,
SALOME: The Open Source Integration Platform for Numerical Simulation
, http://www.salome-platform.org/ (accessed July 13, 2016).
17.
Denis
,
A.
,
Perez
,
C.
, and
Priol
,
T.
,
2004
, “
Network Communications in Grid Computing: At a Crossroads Between Parallel and Distributed Worlds
,”
Proceedings of the International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium (IPDPS’04)
,
Sante Fe, NM
,
Apr. 26–30
.
18.
Message Passing Interface Forum
,
2009
,
MPI: A Message-Passing Interface Standard Version 2.2, Message Passing Interface Forum
,
High Performance Computing Center
,
Stuttgart, Germany
.
19.
OMG—Object Management Group
,
2016
,
OMG
, http://www.omg.org (accessed July 13, 2016).
20.
Shim
,
C. B.
,
Jung
,
Y. S.
,
Yoon
,
J. I.
, and
Joo
,
H. G.
,
2011
, “
Application of Backward Differentiation Formula to Spatial Reactor Kinetics Calculation With Adaptive Time Step Control
,”
Nucl. Eng. Technol.
,
43
(
6
),
531
546
.10.5516/NET.2011.43.6.531
21.
Soderlind
,
G.
,
2003
, “
Digital Filters in Adaptive Time-Stepping
,”
ACM Trans. Math. Software
,
29
(
1
), pp.
1
26
. 0098-350010.1145/641876
22.
omniORB: Free CORBA ORB
, http://omniorb.sourceforge.net/index.html (accessed July 13, 2016).
23.
Suresh
,
A.
, and
Townsend
,
S. E.
,
2007
, “
Coupling of Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) Codes for Steady and Unsteady Simulations
,”
43rd AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit
,
Cincinnati, OH
,
July 8–11
, Paper AIAA 2007-5044.
24.
Michaelsen
,
P. M.
,
Pritz
,
B.
, and
Gabi
,
M.
,
2013
, “
A Fluid Structure Interaction Tool by Coupling of Existing Codes
,”
Proceedings of the 20th European MPI Users’ Group Meeting (EuroMPI’13)
,
Madrid, Spain
,
Sept. 15–18
, pp.
157
162
.
25.
Message Passing Interface Forum
,
1997
,
MPI-2: Extensions to the Message-Passing Interface
, http://www.mpi-forum.org/docs/mpi-2.0/mpi-20-html/mpi2-report.html (accessed July 13, 2016).
26.
Kopysov
,
S. P.
,
Krasnopyorov
,
I. V.
, and
Rychkov
,
V. N.
,
2006
, “
CORBA and MPI Code Coupling
,”
Programm. Comput. Software
,
32
(
5
), pp.
276
283
. 0361-768810.1134/S0361768806050045
27.
QT Company
,
2016
,
QT
, qt-project.org (accessed July 13, 2016).
28.
OpenPBS
,
2004
,
OpenPBS
, http://www.mcs.anl.gov/research/projects/openpbs/ (accessed July 13, 2016).
29.
IBM Spectrum LSF
, http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/platformcomputing/products/lsf/ (accessed July 13, 2016).
30.
Williams
,
A. F.
,
2005
, “
The Eloca Fuel Modelling Code: Past, Present and Future
,”
Proceedings of the 9th International CNS Conference on CANDU Fuel
,
Belleville, ON
,
Sept. 18–21
.
31.
Brito
,
A. C.
,
Iglesias
,
F. C.
,
Liu
,
Y.
,
Petrilli
,
M. A.
,
Richards
,
M. J.
,
Gibb
,
R. A.
, and
Reid
,
P. J.
,
1995
, “
Source 2.0: A Computer Program to Calculate Fission Product Release From Multiple Fuel Elements for Accident Scenarios
,”
Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on CANDU Fuel
,
Pembroke, ON
,
Oct. 1–4
, Vol.
2
, pp.
5B-45
5B-56
.
32.
CATHENA
, 2015,
CATHENA
,
2015
,
CATHENA
, https://www.cathena.aecl.ca/index.htm (accessed July 13, 2016).
33.
Yukalov
,
V. I.
,
Yukalova
,
E. P.
, and
Sornette
,
D.
,
2009
, “
Punctuated Evolution due to Delayed Carrying Capacity
,” ,
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
, Zurich, Switzerland.
You do not currently have access to this content.