Adding reporting ID capability in reactor module

[yjung-anl]

Reason

The reactor module, supplemented by MOOSE framework meshgenerator objects, can generate a mesh file for a typical Cartesian or hexagonal reactor core having a hierarchical structure consisting of multiple levels: pin, assembly, core, and axial plane. In a 3D heterogeneous reactor core geometry, hundreds or even thousands of unique regions may exist on which the user will want to tally output. Currently the standard to identify these zones throughout the calculation involves maintaining an excessive number of block IDs or by using geometrical formulas hard-wired in a vector postprocessor. The concept of reporting IDs are needed to define the hierarchical region structures of reactors (pin, assembly and plane) directly on meshes produced in the reactor module without extreme computational overhead. The primary usage of reporting IDs are to post-process Griffin (or other MOOSE app) solutions by parsing data based these IDs (e.g. assembly-wise, pin-wise distributions).

Pin, assembly, and plane regions for Cartesian and hexagonal reactor geometries should be automatically applied as tags on the mesh called “reporting IDs” for easier post-processing of physics results. By assigning corresponding reporting IDs on each element of the mesh for those levels, the user can easily tally reactor component-wise values, such as pin-by-pin power distribution. Additionally, automatic assignment of pin-wise or assembly-wise depletion zone ids for reactor lattices is needed to reduce user burden and simplify material bookkeeping during a reactor physics depletion solve.

Design

Mesh generators which apply reporting IDs on a mesh were developed that wrap around the Cartesian and hexagonal meshing capabilities and utilize extra element integer ID values on each element. The reporting ID capabilities cover the followings:

• Add reporting IDs (extra element integer IDs) to mesh elements to identify pins, assemblies, plane regions;
• Add depletion IDs (extra element integer IDs) to mesh elements to identify depletion zones;
• Vector postprocessor to integrate variables based on regions identified by reporting IDs.

Impact

This enhancement adds something new when analyzing regular Cartesian or hexagonal assemblies or cores. In these geometries, the bookkeeping of element groups for both depletion zone (material) assignment and output reporting can now be automated through assignment of pin, assembly, core, axial and depletion id values stored as extra element integers. The extra element tags on the mesh greatly speed the reactor analyst’s efforts track pin-wise or assembly-wise depletion zones and parse output such as axial pin power distributions.

[yjung-anl]

@eshemon @ScottRichards-ANL