Numerical Calculation Scheme of Neutronics-Thermal-Mechanical Coupling in Solid State Reactor Core Based on Galerkin Finite Element Method

Abstract

It is of practical significance to study the multi-physical processes of solid state nuclear systems for device design, safety analysis, and operation guidance. This system generally includes three multi-physical processes: neutronics, heat transfer, and thermoelasticity. In order to analyze the multi-physical field behavior of solid state nuclear system, it is necessary to analyze the laws of neutron flux, temperature, stress, and other physical fields in the system. Aiming at this scientific goal, this paper has carried out three aspects of work: (1) Based on Galerkin’s finite element theory, the governing equations of neutronics, heat transfer, and thermoelasticity have been established; (2) a neutronics-thermal-mechanical multi-physical finite element analysis code was developed and verified based on benchmark examples and third-party software for multi-physical processes; (3) for a solid state nuclear system with a typical heat pipe cooled reactor configuration, based on the analysis code developed in this work, the neutronics-thermal-mechanical coupling analysis was carried out, and the physical field laws such as neutron flux, temperature, stress, etc., of the device under the steady-state operating conditions were obtained; and (4) finally, the calculation results are discussed and analyzed, and the focus and direction of the next work are clarified.