| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1728416 | Annals of Nuclear Energy | 2014 | 9 Pages |
•The spectral element method (SEM) is applied to various transport models.•The results allow to assess the performance of SEM when applied to neutron transport problems in reactor physics.•The method is validated against benchmark results and manufactured solutions.•The results presented prove the effectiveness of the method and the high level of accuracy that can be attained.
The spectral element method can be used to deal with the spatial operators of neutron transport problems with high efficiency, as shown recently in the framework of the second-order AN transport approximation. The results highlight interesting computational features and show the appeal of the scheme for reactor physics applications. In this paper we investigate the numerical performance of the method in detail. In order to carry out an accurate monitoring of the error behavior to levels close to numerical round-off, we use benchmark problems with known analytical solutions, or with manufactured solutions. Manufactured solutions can easily be obtained for source-injected problems, by tailoring the external neutron source and the boundary conditions to a pre-established analytical solution for a given system. The results presented prove the effectiveness of the method and the high level of accuracy that can be attained.
