IMPROVEMENTS TO THE TIME STEPPING ALGORITHM OF RELAP5-3D

The RELAP5-3D time step method is used to perform thermo-hydraulic and neutronic simulations of nuclear reactors and other devices. It discretizes time and space by numerically solving several differential equations. Previously, time step size was controlled by halving or doubling the size of a previous time step. This process caused the code to run slower than it potentially could. In this research project, the RELAP5-3D time step method was modifi ed to allow a new method of changing time steps to improve execution speed and to control error. The new RELAP5-3D time step method being studied involves making the time step proportional to the material courant limit (MCL), while insuring that the time step does not increase by more than a factor of two between advancements. As before, if a step fails or mass error is excessive, the time step is cut in half. To examine performance of the new method, a measure of run time and a measure of error were plotted against a changing MCL proportionality constant (m) in seven test cases. The removal of the upper time step limit produced a small increase in error, but a large decrease in execution time. The best value of m was found to be 0.9. The new algorithm is capable of producing a signifi cant increase in execution speed, with a relatively small increase in mass error. The improvements made are now under consideration for inclusion as a special option in the RELAP5-3D production code