Seminars & Events

Joint Seminar, Mathematics and Computer Science Divison and Nuclear Engineering Division
"Advanced Models and Simulations for Nuclear Energy"

DATE: November 24, 2009 to November 24, 2009
TIME: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
SPEAKER: Marius Stan, Deputy Group Leader, Computational Physics Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory
LOCATION: Building 240, TCS Conference Center (1406 & 1407), Argonne National Laboratory
HOST: Andrew Siegel, MCS Division

Description:
Computer simulations are currently used to predict nuclear reactor phenomena such as neutron and heat transport, fluid dynamics, and the effect or radiation on the properties of nuclear fuel elements and structural materials. An important component of the complex simulation methodology is predicting the performance of nuclear fuel elements. After a brief review of world-wide status of fuel performance codes, the presentation focuses on recent Finite Element simulations of coupled heat transfer, chemical species diffusion and thermal expansion of UO2+x fuel elements with metallic clad. The continuum simulations incorporate multi-scale models and simulations of fuel properties, such as atomistic (Molecular Dynamics) models of point defect concentration and meso-scale (Phase Field) simulations of gas bubble formation. The continuum, coupled simulations demonstrate that including the dependence of thermal conductivity and density on local composition (oxygen and fission products content) leads to changes in the predicted centerline temperature that exceed 5%. The final part of the talk is dedicated to a discussion of national and international strategies for developing advanced, innovative models and high performance simulations for nuclear energy applications.

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