Abstract
The goal of this study is to solve the neutron diffusion equation by using a meshless method and evaluate its performance compared to traditional methods. This paper proposes a novel method based on coupling the meshless local Petrov–Galerkin approach and the moving least squares approximation. This computational procedure consists of two main steps. The first involved applying the moving least squares approximation to construct the shape function based on the problem domain. Then, the obtained shape function was used in the meshless local Petrov–Galerkin method to solve the neutron diffusion equation. Because the meshless method is based on eliminating the mesh-based topologies, the problem domain was represented by a set of arbitrarily distributed nodes. There is no need to use meshes or elements for field variable interpolation. The process of node generation is simply and fully automated, which can save time. As this method is a local weak form, it does not require any background integration cells and all integrations are performed locally over small quadrature domains. To evaluate the proposed method, several problems were considered. The results were compared with those obtained from the analytical solution and a Galerkin finite element method. In addition, the proposed method was used to solve neutronic calculations in the small modular reactor. The results were compared with those of the citation code and reference values. The accuracy and precision of the proposed method were acceptable. Additionally, adding the number of nodes and selecting an appropriate weight function improved the performance of the meshless local Petrov–Galerkin method. Therefore, the proposed method represents an accurate and alternative method for calculating core neutronic parameters.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
M. Steinhauser, Computational Multi Scale Modeling of Fluids and Solids (Springer, Berlin, 2017)
G.R. Liu, Mesh Free Methods: Moving Beyond the Finite Element Method (Taylor & Francis, Boca Raton, 2009)
T. Belytschko, T. Rabczuk, A. Huerta et al., Mesh free methods, in Encyclopedia of Computational Mechanics, ed. by E. Stein, R. de Borst, J.R. Hughes (Wiley, Chichester, 2004), pp. 1–48
S. Li, W.K. Liu, Mesh free and particle methods and their applications. Appl. Mech. Rev. 55, 1–34 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1115/1.1431547
Y.T. Gu, Mesh free methods and their comparisons. Int. J. Comput. Methods 2, 477–515 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219876205000673
A. Tayebi, Y. Shekari, M.H. Heydari, A meshless method for solving two-dimensional variable-order time fractional advection–diffusion equation. J. Comput. Phys. 340, 655–669 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcp.2017.03.061
Q.H. Li, S.S. Chen, G.X. Kou, Transient heat conduction analysis using the MLPG method and modified precise time step integration method. J. Comput. Phys. 230, 2736–2750 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcp.2011.01.019
X.H. Wu, W.Q. Tao, S.P. Shen et al., A stabilized MLPG method for steady state incompressible fluid flow simulation. J. Comput. Phys. 229, 8564–8577 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcp.2010.08.001
R. Salehi, M. Dehghan, A moving least square reproducing polynomial meshless method. Appl. Numer. Math. 69, 34–58 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnum.2013.03.001
R.A. Gingold, J.J. Monaghan, Smoothed particle hydrodynamics: theory and application to non-spherical stars. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 181, 375–389 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/181.3.375
P.W. Cleary, Modeling confined multi-material heat and mass flows using SPH. Appl. Math. Model. 22, 981–993 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0307-904X(98)10031-8
G.R. Liu, K.Y. Dai, K.M. Lim, A point interpolation mesh free method for static and frequency analysis of two-dimensional piezoelectric structures. Comput. Mech. 29, 510–519 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00466-002-0360-9
B. Nayroles, G. Touzot, P. Villon, Generalizing the finite element method: diffuse approximation and diffuse elements. Comput. Mech. 10, 307–318 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00364252
W.K. Liu, S. Li, T. Belytschko, Moving least-square reproducing kernel methods. Part I: methodology and convergence. Comput. Method Appl. Mech. 143, 113–154 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0045-7825(96)01132-2
W.K. Liu, J. Adee, S. Jun et al., Reproducing kernel particle methods for elastic and plastic problems, in Advanced Computational Methods for Material Modeling, ed. by D.A. Siginer, W.E. VanArsdale, C.M. Altan, A.N. Alexandrou (ASME, New Orleans, 1993), pp. 175–189
W.K. Liu, S. Jun, Y.F. Zhang, Reproducing kernel particle methods. Numer. Method Fluids 20, 1081–1106 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1002/fld.1650200824
E. Oñate, S. Idelsohn, O.C. Zienkiewicz et al., A finite point method in computational mechanics—applications to convective transport and fluid flow. Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng. 39, 3839–3866 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0207(19961130)39:22<3839::AID-NME27>3.0.CO;2-R
Y.T. Gu, G.R. Liu, Using radial function basis in a boundrary-type meshless method, boundrary point method, in International Conference on Science & Engineering Computation (Beijing, 2001)
M.D. Buhmann, Radial Basis Functions: Theory and Implementations (Cambridge University, Cambridge, 2003)
H. Mehrabi, B. Voosoghi, On estimating the curvature attributes and strain invariants of deformed surface through radial basis functions. Comp. Appl. Math. (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40314-016-0380-2
Q. Li, J. Soric, T. Jarak et al., A locking-free meshless local Petrov–Galerkin formulation for thick and thin plates. J. Comput. Phys. 208, 116–133 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcp.2005.02.008
P. Mycek, G. Pinon, G. Germain, Formulation and analysis of a diffusion-velocity particle model for transport-dispersion equations. Comp. Appl. Math. 35, 447–473 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40314-014-0200-5
S. Abbasbandy, A. Shirzadi, MLPG method for two-dimensional diffusion equation with Neumann’s and non-classical boundary conditions. Appl. Numer. Math. 61, 170–180 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnum.2010.09.002
B. Rokrok, H. Minuchehr, A. Zolfaghari, Application of radial point interpolation method to neutron diffusion field. Trend Appl. Sci. Res. 7, 18–31 (2012). https://doi.org/10.3923/tasr.2012.18.31
T. Tanbay, B. Ozgener, A comparison of the meshless RBF collocation method with finite element and boundary element methods in neutron diffusion calculations. Eng. Anal. Bound. Elem. 46, 30–40 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enganabound.2014.05.005
J.R. Xiao, R.C. Batra, D.F. Gilhooley et al., Analysis of thick plates by using a higher-order shear and normal deformable plate theory and MLPG method with radial basis functions. Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Eng. 196, 979–987 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cma.2006.08.002
S. De, K.J. Bathe, The method of finite spheres. Comput. Mech. 25, 329–345 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s004660050481
M. Moradipour, S. Yousefi, Using a meshless kernel-based method to solve the Black-Scholes variational inequality of American options. Comp. Appl. Math. (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40314-016-0351-7
M. Ebrahimnejad, N. Fallah, A.R. Khoei, Three types of meshless finite volume method for the analysis of two-dimensional elasticity problems. Comp. Appl. Math. 36, 971 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40314-015-0273-9
S. Atluri, T. Zhu, New concepts in meshless methods. Comput. Mech. Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng. 47, 117–127 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0207(20000110/30)47:1/3<537::AID-NME783>3.0.CO;2-E
M. Dehghan, M. Abbaszadeh, Numerical investigation based on direct meshless local Petrov–Galerkin (direct MLPG) method for solving generalized Zakharov system in one and two dimensions and generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Eng. Comput. 33, 983–996 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00366-017-0510-5
A. Taleei, M. Dehghan, Direct meshless local Petrov–Galerkin method for elliptic interface problems with applications in electrostatic and elastostatic. Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Eng. 278, 479–498 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cma.2014.05.016
M. Dehghan, R. Salehi, A meshless local Petrov–Galerkin method for the time-dependent Maxwell equations. J. Comput. Appl. Math. 268, 93–110 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cam.2014.02.013
M. Kamranian, M. Dehghan, M. Tatari, An adaptive meshless local Petrov–Galerkin method based on a posteriori error estimation for the boundary layer problems. Appl. Numer. Math. 111, 181–196 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnum.2016.09.007
M. Dehghan, M. Abbaszadeh, A. Mohebbi, Meshless local Petrov–Galerkin and RBFs collocation methods for solving 2D fractional Klein-Kramers dynamics equation on irregular domains. Comput. Model. Eng. Sci. 107, 481–516 (2015)
W.H. Chen, X.M. Guo, Element free Galerkin method for three-dimensional structural analysis. Comput. Model. Eng. Sci. 4, 497–508 (2001). https://doi.org/10.3970/cmes.2001.002.497
Q.W. Ma, Meshless local Petrov–Galerkin method for two-dimensional nonlinear water wave problems. J. Comput. Phys. 205, 611–625 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcp.2004.11.010
J. Amani Rad, K. Parand, Numerical pricing of American options under two stochastic factor models with jumps using a meshless local Petrov–Galerkin method. Appl. Numer. Math. 115, 252–274 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnum.2017.01.015
H. Lin, S.N. Atluri, The Meshless Local Petrov–Galerkin (MLPG) method for solving incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. Comput. Model. Eng. Sci. 2, 117–142 (2001). https://doi.org/10.3970/cmes.2001.002.117
S.Y. Long, S.N. Atluri, A meshless local Petrov–Galerkin (MLPG) method for solving the bending problems of a thin plate. CMES 3, 53–64 (2002). https://doi.org/10.3970/cmes.2002.003.053
T. Belytschko, Y.Y. Lu, L. Gu, Element-free Galerkin method. Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng. 37, 229–256 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1002/nme.1620370205
G.R. Liu, Y.T. Gu, Meshless local Petrov–Galerkin (MLPG) method in combination with finite element and boundary element approaches. Comput. Mech. 26, 536–546 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s004660000203
M. Li, F.F. Dou, T. Korakianitis et al., Boundary node Petrov–Galerkin method in solid structures. Comp. Appl. Math. (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40314-016-0335-7
I. Debbabi, H. BelhadjSalah, Analysis of thermo-elastic problems using the improved element-free Galerkin method. Comp. Appl. Math. (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40314-016-0401-1
D. Mirzaei, R. Schaback, Direct meshless local Petrov–Galerkin (DMLPG) method: a generalized MLS approximation. Appl. Numer. Math. 68, 73–82 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnum.2013.01.002
M. Dehghan, D. Mirzaei, Meshless local Petrov–Galerkin (MLPG) method for the unsteady magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow through pipe with arbitrary wall conductivity. Appl. Numer. Math. 59, 1043–1058 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnum.2008.05.001
S. Atluri, S. Shen, The basis of meshless domain discretization: the meshless local Petrov–Galerkin (MLPG) method. Adv. Comput. Math. 23, 73–93 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10444-004-1813-9
G.R. Liu, Y.T. Gu, An introduction to mesh free methods and their programming, 1st edn. (Springer, Dordrecht, 2005)
Y.T. Gu, G.R. Liu, A meshless local Petrov–Galerkin (MLPG) method for free and forced vibration analyses for solids. Comput. Mech. 27, 188–198 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s004660100237
P. Lancaster, K. Salkauskas, Surfaces generation by moving least squares methods. Math. Comput. 37, 141–158 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1090/S0025-5718-1981-0616367-1
V.R. Hosseini, E. Shivanian, W. Chen, Local radial point interpolation (MLRPI) method for solving time fractional diffusion-wave equation with damping. J. Comput. Phys. 312, 307–332 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcp.2016.02.030
Y.T. Gu, G.R. Liu, A local point interpolation method for static and dynamic analysis of thin beams. Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Eng. 190, 5515–5528 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0045-7825(01)00180-3
G. Liu, Mesh Free Methods: Moving Beyond the Finite Element Method (CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2003)
M. Dehghan, D. Mirzaei, Numerical solution to the unsteady two-dimensional Schrödinger equation using meshless local boundary integral equation method. Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng. 76, 501–520 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1002/nme.2338
J. Zheng, S. Long, G. Li, Topology optimization of free vibrating continuum structures based on the element free Galerkin method. Struct. Multidiscip. Optim. 45, 119–127 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00158-011-0667-2
M. Sterk, B. Robic, R. Trobec, Mesh free method applied to the diffusion equation. Parallel Numer. 5, 57–66 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00158-011-0667-2
T. Tanbay, B. Ozgener, Numerical solution of the multigroup neutron diffusion equation by the meshless RBF collocation method. Math. Comput. Appl. 18, 399–407 (2013). https://doi.org/10.3390/mca18030399
D. Mirzaei, M. Dehghan, Meshless local Petrov–Galerkin (MLPG) approximation to the two dimensional sine-Gordon equation. J. Comput. Appl. Math. 233, 2737–2754 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cam.2009.11.022
D. Jeong, J. Kim, A Crank–Nicolson scheme for the Landau–Lifshitz equation without damping. J. Comput. Appl. Math. 234, 613–623 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cam.2010.01.002
O. Abbasi, A. Rostami, G. Karimian, Identification of exonic regions in DNA sequences using cross-correlation and noise suppression by discrete wavelet transform. BMC Bioinformatics 12, 430 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2105-12-430
O.A. Abuzaid, A.H.M. Gashut, Discontinuous finite element methods for reactor calculations, in Third Arab Conf. Peac. Uses At. Energy (Damascus, 1996), pp. 39–46
IAEA, Status of small and medium sized reactors (2011)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tayefi, S., Pazirandeh, A. & Kheradmand Saadi, M. A meshless local Petrov–Galerkin method for solving the neutron diffusion equation. NUCL SCI TECH 29, 169 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-018-0506-x
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-018-0506-x