Summary of planning lecture at 2018 Annual Meeting

Mon. March 26, 2018 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM

Room C (Osaka University)

”Applications of Monte Carlo method in computational science and engineering field -challenge and foresight-“

Chair person: Masahiro Tatsumi (NUCLEAR ENGINEERING, Ltd.)

In the field of nuclear engineering, numerical analysis using the Monte Carlo method (MC method) plays an important role in e.g. reactor core simulations. In addition, the MC method is advancing in safety evaluation e.g. PRA. Furthermore, the MC method, such as the DSMC (Direct Simulation Monte-Carlo) method has been widely used. In this special session, the latest numerical analysis researches using MC method were introduced and the future prospects of MC method were discussed.

（1）Current Status and Future Prospects of Monte Carlo Calculation Methods in Reactor Physics (in Japanese)

Yasunobu Nagaya (JAEA)

A great deal of research contents from the dawn of the Monte Carlo method to the latest core analysis technology were reviewed. It was stated that much work have been done to develop the simulation methods for complicated phenomena in the reactor core (coupled nuclear-thermal calculations, unsteady phenomena, etc.) though computing capacity is not enough for reactor core design.

（2）Study on Dynamic PRA with Monte Carlo Method (in Japanese)

Sunghyon Jang (Univ. of Tokyo)

The problem in the current probabilistic risk assessment method (event tree method) was declared and the continuous Markov process Monte Carlo method was introduced as the method to dynamically evaluate event evolution during reactor accident. In addition, the metamodel was also introduced to reduce the computational time in the analysis targeting the loss of heat removal source accident in the actual fast reactor.

（3）A study on Knudsen force exerted on solid body due to gas temperature gradient by DSMC method (in Japanese)

Shigeru Yonemura (Tohoku Univ.)

It was explained how the behavior of the lean fluid changes depending on Knudsen number and the outline of the DSMC method, one of the solving methods of the Boltzmann equation, was introduced. The simulation results of a cold microscale object located above the high temperature wall surface showed that the expected lift force works actually on the object.