On the transient models of the VITAS code:applications to the C5G7-TD pin-resolved benchmark problem

This article describes the transient models of the neutronics code VITAS that are used for solving time-dependent,pinresolved neutron transport equations.VITAS uses the stiffness confinement method(SCM)for temporal discretization to transform the transient equation into the corresponding transient eigenvalue problem(TEVP).To solve the pin-resolved TEVP,VITAS uses a heterogeneous variational nodal method(VNM).The spatial flux is approximated at each Cartesian node using finite elements in the x-y plane and orthogonal polynomials along the z-axis.Angular discretization utilizes the even-parity integral approach at the nodes and spherical harmonic expansions at the interfaces.To further lower the computational cost,a predictor–corrector quasi-static SCM(PCQ-SCM)was developed.Within the VNM framework,computational models for the adjoint neutron flux and kinetic parameters are presented.The direct-SCM and PCQ-SCM were implemented in VITAS and verified using the two-dimensional(2D)and three-dimensional(3D)exercises on the OECD/NEA C5G7-TD benchmark.In the 2D and 3D problems,the discrepancy between the direct-SCM solver’s results and those reported by MPACT and PANDAS-MOC was under 0.97%and 1.57%,respectively.In addition,numerical studies comparing the PCQ-SCM solver to the direct-SCM solver demonstrated that the PCQ-SCM enabled substantially larger time steps,thereby reducing the computational cost 100-fold,without compromising numerical accuracy.