TPHEX, MultiGroup Neutron Flux in Homogeneous Hexagonal LWR Cells

1 - Description of program or function: This program is intended to calculate the multigroup neutron flux distribution in an assembly of homogenized hexagonal cells using a transmission probability (interface current) method. It is primarily intended for calculations on hexagonal LWR fuel assemblies, with each cell corresponding to a pin cell, but can be used for other purposes, although its accuracy in other applications must be established separately. The flux at each cell interface is divided azimuthally into 60-degree sectors, with two components (an incomplete P1 expansion) in each sector. The interface fluxes are connected by transmission of un-collided neutrons through the cell. AN isotropic source (from fission or scattering) within the cell with a parabolic spatial distribution also contributes. The boundary conditions may correspond to full reflection at the mid-planes of the peripheral cells or (approximately) to a diagonal albedo matrix. Periodic boundary conditions can easily be implemented. If the peripheral cells are not regular hexagons, an edge transport correction may be applied to decrease the error from treating them as regular. 2 - Method of solution: The flux in one group is solved in an inner iteration, which may be accelerated by successive over-relaxation and, optionally, renormalization. The fluxes in different groups, connected through scattering and fission, are solved by outer iteration. The coefficients needed by the program (transmission coefficients etc.) are interpolated from pre-calculated values stored in a file. 3 - Restrictions on the complexity of the problem: The optical thickness of the cells must be in the range from 0.1 to 5. These limits can be expanded if the coefficient file is recalculated, but the accuracy is best when the optical thickness is not too near the ends of this range. Variable dimensioning is used, so there are no fixed limits on the number of cells or groups. However, since 48 variables are needed to describe the flux and source in each cell and group, and since many coefficients are also needed, large problems (more than about 225 cells) may require lots of memory, even though only data for one group at a time are held in memory