Axial subdividing fuel pins for depletion

User Support
1

Hi all,

I am performing a full core depletion simulation on a sodium-cooled fast reactor. I have built the model and only need to separate assemblies and subdivide the fuel pins on different axial levels so multiple materials are depleted. There are 79 assemblies and I should subdivide them into approximately 10 axial regions, which means 790 materials should be made.

Before I implement this by hand, I wanted to ask if there is a better method. Can I use a function that subdivides these regions into different materials?

Thanks a lot!

2

Hello @daan1392,

There is the build_cells method from the openmc.RegularMesh class which i found very useful for axially subdividing fuel assemblies. But i am not sure if this is what you are looking for.

1 Like
3

I think you will like the diff_burnable_mats argument on the model.deplete.CoupledOperator method. It allows you to have a single material for the fuel cells on the user script and it makes lots of new materials behind the scenes.

Another way to go about this is to use the model model.differentiate_depletable_mats materials prior to the deplete call

For segmenting the geometry it sounds like a for loop with subdive could do it. I hear there is also an excellent package (openmc_cell_segmenter) for segmenting cells but is probably unnecessary in your case.

*edited to include links to the relevant docs

1 Like