0.11.0.rst

What's New in 0.11.0

.. currentmodule:: openmc

Summary

This release of OpenMC adds several major new features: :ref:`depletion <usersguide_depletion>`, photon transport, and support for CAD geometries through DAGMC. In addition, the core codebase has been rewritten in C++14 (it was previously written in Fortran 2008). This makes compiling the code considerably simpler as no Fortran compiler is needed.

Functional expansion tallies are now supported through several new tally filters that can be arbitrarily combined:

• :class:`openmc.LegendreFilter`
• :class:`openmc.SpatialLegendreFilter`
• :class:`openmc.SphericalHarmonicsFilter`
• :class:`openmc.ZernikeFilter`
• :class:`openmc.ZernikeRadialFilter`

Note that these filters replace the use expansion scores like scatter-P1. Instead, a normal scatter score should be used along with a :class:`openmc.LegendreFilter`.

The interface for random sphere packing has been significantly improved. A new :func:`openmc.model.pack_spheres` function takes a region and generates a random, non-overlapping configuration of spheres within the region.

New Features

• White boundary conditions can be applied to surfaces
• Support for rectilinear meshes through :class:`openmc.RectilinearMesh`.
• The :class:`Geometry`, :class:`Materials`, and :class:`Settings` classes now have a from_xml method that will build an instance from an existing XML file.
• Predefined energy group structures can be found in :data:`openmc.mgxs.GROUP_STRUCTURES`.
• New tally scores: H1-production, H2-production, H3-production, He3-production, He4-production, heating, heating-local, and damage-energy.
• Switched to cell-based neighor lists (PR 1140)
• Two new probability distributions that can be used for source distributions: :class:`openmc.stats.Normal` and :class:`openmc.stats.Muir`
• The :mod:`openmc.data` module now supports reading and sampling from ENDF File 32 resonance covariance data (PR 1024).
• Several new convenience functions/methods have been added:
  • The :func:`openmc.model.cylinder_from_points` function creates a cylinder given two points passing through its center and a radius.
  • The :meth:`openmc.Plane.from_points` function creates a plane given three points that pass through it.
  • The :func:`openmc.model.pin` function creates a pin cell universe given a sequence of concentric cylinders and materials.

Python API Changes

• All surface classes now have coefficient arguments given as lowercase names.

• The order of arguments in surface classes has been changed so that coefficients are the first arguments (rather than the optional surface ID). This means you can now write:

  x = openmc.XPlane(5.0, 'reflective')
  zc = openmc.ZCylinder(0., 0., 10.)
  

• The Mesh class has been renamed :class:`openmc.RegularMesh`.

• The get_rectangular_prism function has been renamed :func:`openmc.model.rectangular_prism`.

• The get_hexagonal_prism function has been renamed :func:`openmc.model.hexagonal_prism`.

• Python bindings to the C/C++ API have been move from openmc.capi to :mod:`openmc.lib`.

Bug Fixes

• Rotate azimuthal distributions correctly for source sampling
• Fix reading ASCII ACE tables in Python 3
• Fix bug for distributed temperatures
• Fix bug for distance to boundary in complex cells
• Bug fixes for precursor decay rate tallies
• Check for invalid surface IDs in region expression
• Support for 32-bit operating systems
• Avoid segfault from unused nuclides
• Avoid overflow when broadcasting tally results

Contributors

This release contains new contributions from the following people:

• Brody Bassett
• Will Boyd
• Andrew Davis
• Iurii Drobyshev
• Guillaume Giudicelli
• Brittany Grayson
• Zhuoran Han
• Sterling Harper
• Andrew Johnson
• Colin Josey
• Shikhar Kumar
• Travis Labossiere-Hickman
• Matias Lavista
• Jingang Liang
• Alex Lindsay
• Johnny Liu
• Amanda Lund
• Jan Malec
• Isaac Meyer
• April Novak
• Adam Nelson
• Gavin Ridley
• Jose Salcedo Perez
• Paul Romano
• Sam Shaner
• Jonathan Shimwell
• Patrick Shriwise
• John Tramm
• Jiankai Yu
• Xiaokang Zhang