Domain decomposition for the neutron SP_N equations

Studying numerically the steady state of a nuclear core reactor is expensive, in terms of memory storage and computational time. In order to address both requirements, one can use a domain decomposition method, implemented on a parallel computer. We present here such a method applied to the neutron SPN equations, which are an approximation of the transport neutron equation. This method is based on the Schwarz iterative algorithm with optimized Robin interface conditions to handle communications. From a computational point of view, this method is rather easy to implement. We give some numerical results in highly heterogeneous 3D configurations. Computations are carried out with the MINOS solver, which is a multigroup SPN solver of the APOLLO3r1 neutronics code. Numerical experiments show that the method is robust and efficient, and that our choice of the Robin parameters is satisfactory. (authors)