Acceleration techniques for the direct use of CAD-based geometry in fusion neutronics analysis

• Published in: Fusion engineering and design Vol. 85; no. 10; pp. 1759 - 1765
• Main Authors: Wilson, Paul P.H., Tautges, Timothy J., Kraftcheck, Jason A., Smith, Brandon M., Henderson, Douglass L.
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.12.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Acceleration; Applied sciences; CAD-based analysis; Complex systems; Computer programs; Computer simulation; Controled nuclear fusion plants; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Exact sciences and technology; Fusion neutronics; Installations for energy generation and conversion: thermal and electrical energy; Mathematical models; Monte Carlo methods; Radiation transport; Software development; Tessellation; Translations; Software development; Fusion neutronics; CAD-based analysis; Nuclear fusion reactor; Quality assurance; Complex system; Software
• ISSN: 0920-3796; 1873-7196
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fusengdes.2010.05.030

The Direct Accelerated Geometry Monte Carlo (DAGMC) software library offers a unique approach to performing neutronics analysis on CAD-based geometries of fusion systems. By employing a number of acceleration techniques, the ray-tracing operations that are fundamental to Monte Carlo radiation transport are implemented efficiently for direct use on the CAD-based solid model, eliminating the need to translate to the native Monte Carlo input language. By forming hierarchical trees of oriented bounding boxes, one for each facet that results from a high-fidelity tessellation of the model, the ray-tracing performance is adequate to permit detailed analysis of large complex systems. In addition to the reduction in human effort and improvement in quality assurance that is found in the translation approaches, the DAGMC approach also permits the analysis of geometries with higher order surfaces that cannot be represented by many native Monte Carlo radiation transport tools. The paper describes the various acceleration techniques and demonstrates the resulting capability in a real fusion neutronics analysis.