Equivalent low-order angular flux nonlinear finite difference equation of MOC transport calculation

The key issue in accelerating method of characteristics(MOC)transport calculations is in obtaining a completely equivalent low-order neutron transport or diffusion equation.Herein,an equivalent low-order angular flux nonlinear finite difference equation is proposed for MOC transport calculations.This method comprises three essential features:(1)the even parity discrete ordinates method is used to build a low-order angular flux nonlinear finite difference equation,and different boundary condition treatments are proposed;(2)two new defined factors,i.e.,the even parity discontinuity factor and odd parity discontinuity factor,are strictly defined to achieve equivalence between the low-order angular flux nonlinear finite difference method and MOC transport calculation;(3)the energy group and angle are decoupled to construct a symmetric linear system that is much easier to solve.The equivalence of this low-order angular flux nonlinear finite difference equation is analyzed for two-dimensional(2D)pin,2D assembly,and 2D C5G7 benchmark problems.Numerical results demonstrate that a low-order angular flux nonlinear finite difference equation that is completely equivalent to the pin-resolved transport equation is established.