Fuel Performance of PWRs

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Table of contents

1 Introduction
1.1 Nuclear Reactor Coreas a Multiphysic System
1.1.1 Introduction to Multiphysic Issues
1.1.2 Multiphysics of PWRs along Irradiation
1.2 Main Issues of Multiphysic Modelling of a PWR along Irradiation
1.2.1 Single-physic Problems
1.2.2 Coupled Problem
1.3 Strategies for the Multiphysic Modelling of a PWR along Irradiation
1.3.1 Fundamental Element son Single-Physics Modelling
1.3.2 Layout of the Thesis
2 State of the Art
2.1 Modelling Choices and Data Exchange
2.1.1 Conventional Approach
2.1.2 Best-Estimate
2.1.3 High-Fidelity and Massive Parallelization
2.1.4 Main Conclusions
2.2 Numerical Methods
2.2.1 Damped Fixed-Point
2.2.2 Anderson Acceleration
2.2.3 Jacobian-freeNewton-Krylov
2.2.4 Main Conclusions
3 AvailableTools 
3.1 Neutronic Models
3.1.1 APOLLO2
3.1.2 APOLLO3
3.2 Thermal-Hydraulic Models
3.2.1 FLICA4
3.2.2 THEDI
3.3 Isotopic Evolution Model
3.3.1 MENDEL
3.4 Fuel Performance Models
3.4.1 ALCYONE
3.4.2 Simplified Gap Heat Transfer Coefficient Model
3.5 Coupling Tools
3.5.1 SALOME Coupling Platform
3.5.2 CORPUS
3.6 Pre-Existing Coupling Schemes
3.7 Conclusion
4 Development of the Multiphysic Coupling Scheme for Steady-State Calculations
4.1 Problem Formalization
4.2 Modelling Choices
4.2.1 Power Generation Model
4.2.2 Thermal-Hydraulic Model
4.2.3 Depletion Model
4.3 Implementation Details
4.3.1 Neutronic Operator
4.3.2 Thermal-Hydraulic Operator
4.3.3 Depletion Operator
4.4 Chapter Conclusion
5 Analysis of the Application to a Steady-State Case Study
5.1 Definition of the Case Study
5.1.1 Definition of the Characterizing Variables
5.1.2 Analysis of the Available Case Studies
5.1.3 Description of the Chosen Case Study
5.2 Implementation of the Damped Fixed-Point Coupling Scheme
5.3 Selection of the Neutronic Model for Core Calculations
5.3.1 Decoupled Analysis of the Models
5.3.2 Selection of the Models Based on the Coupled Analysis
5.4 Application of the Complete Coupling Scheme on the Case Study
5.4.1 Implementation of More Advanced Models
5.4.2 Assessment of the importance of the Thermal-Hydraulic and Heat Conduction
5.4.3 Analysis of the impact of the Coupling Scheme on the Axial Power Profile
5.5 Chapter Conclusion
6 Numerical Optimization of the Steady-State Coupling Scheme
6.1 Analysis of the limitation of the Damped Fixed-Point Algorithm
6.2 Generalised Fixed-Point with Partial-Convergences
6.2.1 Introduction
6.2.2 Parametric Performance study
6.2.3 Analysis of the Fixed-Point Bifurcations
6.3 Assessment of the Performance of the Anderson Algorithm
6.3.1 Implementation Details
6.3.2 Comparison to the generalised Fixed-Point with Partial-Convergences
6.4 Customization of the Anderson Algorithm with Partial-Convergences
6.4.1 Strategy Based on the Single-Solver Iterations
6.4.2 Strategy Based on the Progressive Refinement of the Internal Convergence Criteria
6.5 Chapter Conclusion
7 Evolution Calculation
7.1 Integration of Burn up Dependent Thermodynamic Variables
7.1.1 Fuel Conductivity Law
7.1.2 Fuel Gap Heat Transfer Coefficient
7.1.3 Impact on the Steady-State Calculation
7.2 Research of the Target Boron Concentration
7.2.1 Definition of the Algorithm
7.2.2 Impact on the Steady-State Calculation
7.3 Depletion Calculations
7.3.1 Definition of the Multiphysic Time Evolution Scheme
7.3.2 Application to a Constant Power Irradiation Scenario
7.4 Chapter Conclusion
8 Conclusions 
8.1 Research Problem
8.2 Main Results
8.3 Discussion
8.3.1 Models Selection for Steady-State Simulations
8.3.2 Numerica Optimization of the Steady-State Scheme
8.3.3 Models Selection for Depletion Simulations
8.4 Perspectives