change the material in individual cells during a depletion calculation

User Support
1

Hi,
I wanted to ask if it is possible to change the material in individual cells during a depletion calculation. For example, to simulate the pulling of a control rod.

And if this function does not exist, I am also very happy to receive tips on how to implement such a thing.

Thanks a lot!

Christopher

2

Hi Christopher,

Interesting question! I don’t think there’s any straightforward way to do this currently, but that would certainly be a useful capability. I would encourage you to create an issue on our github repository requesting this feature so that we can keep track of it, and others can chime in if they see an obvious path toward an implementation.

All of our depletion capabilities are implemented in the Python side of the code – if you want to take a look at how it works, check out the openmc/deplete/ directory in the repository (operator.py contains most of the top-level logic). The coupling does work in-memory rather than through the filesystem and relies on bindings to the C/C++ code for things like changing material densities, executing a transport step, etc.

Thanks,
Paul

3

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your answer. I have created an issue in the github repository.

Christopher