Nuclear Science and Engineering

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A New Solution of the Point Kinetics Equations

J. A. W. Nóbrega da

To cite this article: J. A. W. Nóbrega da (1971) A New Solution of the Point Kinetics Equations,
Nuclear Science and Engineering, 46:3, 366-375, DOI: 10.13182/NSE71-A22373

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.13182/NSE71-A22373

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 NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING: 46, 366-375 (1971)

A New Solution of the Point Kinetics Equations

J. A. W. da N6brega*
Department of Nuclear Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
Received August 11, 1971
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A technique based on the Pade approximations is applied to the solution of the

point kinetics equations. The method consists of treating explicitly the roots of
the inhour formula which would make the Pade approximations inaccurate. Also,
an analytic method is developed which permits a fast inversion of polynomials of
the point kinetics matrix and has direct applicability to the Pade approximations.
Results are presented for several cases using various options of the method.
It is concluded that the technique provides a fast and accurate computational
method for the pOint kinetics equations.

I. INTRODUCTION of these methods a generalized point kinetics

formulation results in which the elements of the
For various reasons, the point kinetics equa- ordinary point kinetics equations are replaced by
tions are still an important set of equations in this matrices having a similar, but more generalized,
era of space-dependent kinetics. First, they can physical meaning. 4,5
be derived formally from a transport theory The preferred form of the point kinetics
formulation l and lead to quite accurate results if a equations is written in terms of the neutron
good approximation for the flux shape is available. generation time. 6 They are
Thus, they are useful for describing the effects of
~
small perturbations or in rough preliminary reac-
tor calculations, particularly for tightly coupled
dn
dt = A n + 11[ A; c; + f
cores. Second, they are widely applied in the dc; {3i
control theory aspects of reactor analysis, where dt = A n - Ai C ; (i = 1, 2, ..• ,l)
it is difficult to perform a study using a full
space-time description of the neutronics. 2 In where
addition, some of the more elaborate space-time nand Ci = weighted integrals of the neutron
methods rely on the solution of the point kinetics and i'th precursor concentrations
equations, namely, the family of quasi -static
methods 3 and some synthesis schemes. 4 In some f = source term
p = reactivity
*On leave of absence from the Instituto de Enge-
nharia Nuclear, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. {3i = effective delayed neutron fraction
I A. F. HENRY, Nucl. Sci. Eng., 3, 52 (1958). for groupi
2 E. P. GYFTOPOULOS, in The Technology of Nu-
Ai = decay constant for precursor i
clear Reactor Safety, Vol. 1, Chap. 3, T. J. THOMPSON
and J. G. BECKERLEY, Eds .• The MIT Press, Cam- A = neutron generation time
bridge, Massachusetts (1964).
3 K. O. OTT and D. A. MENELEY, Nucl. Sci. Eng., I = total number of delayed neutron
36, 402 (1969). groups.
4 S. KAPLAN, in Advances in I Nuclear I Science and
Technology, Vol. 3, p. 233, P. GREEBLER and E. J. 5 T. A. PORSCHING, SIAM J. Appl. Math., 16, 301
HENLEY, Eds., Academic Press, New York and London (1968).
(1966). II J. LEWINS, Nucl. Sci. Eng., 7, 122 (1960).

366
 The quantities n, c{, f , and p a r e , in general,
functions of the time t and 0X;, and A are a s -
sumed constant. In addition, p may be a function
of n in feedback problems.
The above equations can be written in matrix
f o r m as
f = A*+f , (1)
where
^ = col[w c L c 2 . . . c/],
/ = c o l [ / 0 0 . . . 0],
and
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a A.2 ... X/
Mi "Aj 0 ... 0 accurate and which has the ability to reproduce all
JU2 0 -x2 . . . o
M/ 0 . . . -x,_
with a = ( p - / 3 ) / A and ju(-= j3«-/A. A i s usually
called the point kinetics matrix.
When p and / vary with t i m e , Eq. (1) i s usually
solved in a s e r i e s of time s t e p s , the assumption
being that p and / are constant and equal to their
average values during the t i m e step under con-
sideration. The implications of this assumption
are analyzed later.
For constant A the formal solution of Eq. (1) i s
given by
= exp(fcA)* 0 + ^ - 1 [exp(/*yl) - / ] /
where h =ti - t0 and are the values of the
vector ^ at the beginning and end of the time step,
respectively. Note that the matrix function multi-
plying / is always well defined, even if A i s
singular.
B e c a u s e this s y s t e m of equations i s a r e l a -
tively s i m p l e one, its solution can be done in
practice by "brute f o r c e " methods, that i s , c a l -
culating all the eigenvalues of the matrix A and
performing straightforward computations. How-
e v e r , this i s an expensive s c h e m e , when the
reactivity v a r i e s with t i m e , s i n c e the calculation
of the eigenvalues amounts to solving an (I + l)'th
order algebraic equation (the inhour formula) for
all its roots at every t i m e step.
Thus, a wealth of methods have been devised to
s o l v e Eq. (1) in a more economical way. Among
them we have
1. methods based essentially on Taylor s e r i e s
expansions 7 ' 8
2. methods based on convolution integrals using
numerical integration 9 ' 1 0
3. methods based on integral equation f o r m u -
lations and a p p r o x i m a t i o n of the inte-
grand 11 " 14
4. methods based on s o m e approximation of
matrix exponentials 1 5 ' 1 6
5. methods based on extrapolation of low order
appr oximations 1 7
6. methods using spline functions. 1 4
Of course there are many other methods and the
above list i s not intended to be exhaustive.
In what follows, we propose to apply yet another
method which i s expected to be very fast and
the features of transients, including the prompt
jump, which i s not very well represented in s o m e
of the other methods.
Our method is based on an approximate e x -
p r e s s i o n for e x p ( M ) , suggested by an earlier
s c h e m e called the "purification method." 1 8 A l s o
important in the present work i s a procedure to
invert polynomials of the point kinetics matrix A,
which might be considered a good method of s o l u -
tion for Eq. (1) in its own right, as we shall s e e
later.
7
J . C. VIGIL, Nucl. Sci. Eng., 29, 392 (1967).
8
T . AUERBACH, J. MENNIG, and G. SARLOS, "The
Application of Lie Series to Time Dependent Reactor
Theory," in Proc. Brookhaven Conf. on Ind. Needs
, (2) Acad. Research in Reactor Kinetics, BNL-50117, p. 306,
Brookhaven National Laboratory (1968).
9
G. R. KEEPIN and C. W. COX, Nucl. Sci. Eng., 8,
670 (1960).
10
W. R. RHYNE and A. C. LAPSLEY, Nucl. Sci. Eng.,
40, 91 (1970).
11
J. J. KAGANOVE, "Numerical Solution of the One-
Group, Space-Independent Reactor Kinetics Equations
for Neutron Density Given the Excess Reactivity,"
ANL-6132, Argonne National Laboratory (1960).
12
E. R. COHEN, "Some Topics in Reactor Kinetics,"
Proc. 2nd U.N. Intern. Conf. Peaceful Uses At. Energy,
11, 302 (1958). Available from the Clearinghouse for
Federal Scientific and Technical Information, Spring-
field, Virginia.
13
K. F. HANSEN, B. V. KOEN, and W. W. LITTLE,
J r . , Nucl. Sci. Eng., 22, 51 (1965).
14
C. M. KANG, Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc., 14, 201 (1971).
15
T. A. PORSCHING, Nucl. Sci. Eng., 2l5, 183 (1966).
16
K. F. HANSEN, E. R. KLEBAN, and I. J. CHANG,
Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc., 12, 617 (1969).
17
M. IZUMI and T. NODA, Nucl. Sci. Eng., 41, 299
(1970).
18
A. F. HENRY, Personal Communication (January
1970).
 n. AN APPROXIMATION FOR exp (hA) Thus, to a high degree of accuracy, we have

Let the matrix A have eigenvalues co,- and e x p ( M ) « g ( h A ) =f(hA) + £'[exp(/zco(fe) - f(hwk)]
eigenvectors A l s o , let A have corresponding
Xu v
eigenvectors Vi, corresponding to its eigenvalues kI
co,- which a r e the s a m e as those of A. The e i g e n - where the sum i s over only those k for which
values co,- are the roots of the inhour formula Eq. (7) does not hold.
Another way to s e e the s m a l l s i z e of the e r r o r s
p = co A + co £ — (3) involved i s to calculate the norm of the difference
,-=i X,- + co
between the exact exponential and the approxima-
and can be ordered as
tion g(hA). F r o m Eqs. (6) and (8), we have
CO/ < -X/ < co/_i < -Xj_i < . . . < coi < -Xi < coo . ( 4 )
||exp(M)-^(L4)|| = D"[exp(/*co,-) - f(hwi)]uiV{
We now state the following:
Theorem: If Am = co,-«,- and A v, = co;V, with
ttiVi = 1, that i s , normalized to unity, the following where Yj" runs over all i for which Eq. (7) holds,
e x p r e s s i o n holds for any f{A) for which /(co,) i s in
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that i s , those excluded f r o m the summation

bounded for all i :
Eq. (8). Using the properties of norms 2 0 we have
= /(A) + £ [exp(co,) - /(co,-) . (5)
(=0 ||exp(M) -^(M)|kS"|exp(feco,-) " / M l • Ikll
i
Proof. Since eAUk = exp(coJ% for all uk, we
have only to show that this s a m e relationship xlkll .
holds for the right-hand s i d e of Eq. (5), s i n c e two Since ujv{ = 1 , ||it,|| • ||w,|| » 1 but i s not e x -
m a t r i c e s with the s a m e eigenvalues and eigen- pected to be very large. F r o m Eq. (7) we can
v e c t o r s a r e identical. then conclude that the norm in question i s indeed
Thus, we write s m a l l and that, accordingly, g(hA) i s a good a p -
i proximation for the exponential.
eAuk = f(A)uk + £ [exp(co() - / ( c o , ) .
«=0 The v e c t o r s M* and vk a r e easily calculated
f r o m their defining equations. They a r e
But VJUK = 6IK, s i n c e the eigenvalues of A and
AT f o r m a biorthonormal set when properly n o r - JX2_ JJ±_
uk = col 1
malized. 1 9 A s a r e s u l t , Xi + GOFC X 2 + CO* ' ' ' X , + COFEJ
i
eAuk = f{wk)Uk + £ [exp(co,) - /(CO,-)]M,-6,A, Vk ^ • c o l f l - ^ —
«=o L Xj + cCO* X 2 + CO*. X, + Wk
where vk i s a normalization factor given by
= f(uk)"k + [exp(co^) - f(wk)]uk = exp(wk)uk
QED . 1 <
vk = [l i + h (X,-„ + Jco*) " J
1
To suit our particular needs we introduce the
factor h. Equation (5) then b e c o m e s
III. THE PADE APPROXIMATIONS AND
exp (hA) = f(hA) + £ [exp(fcco,-) - /(/JCO,•)]«;»/ (6) RELATED INVERSIONS
1= 0

with Ui and unchanged, s i n c e (hA)u,- = (ftco,-)ti,- Here we consider a particular c l a s s of approx-

and analogously for
Equation (6) i s s o far a m e r e mathematical
manipulation. It h a s , however, a f o r m which
p e r m i t s us to approximate exp (hA) in an economi-
cal fashion. We only have to note that, if /(ftco,-) i s
a good approximation for exp(&co,-), we are justified
in dropping the i'th t e r m f r o m the summation. It
will have a very s m a l l coefficient, namely,
imations for the exponential function, namely the
Pade rational approximations. T h e s e approxima-
tions are known to be consistent and uncondition-
ally stable when the numerator i s a polynomial of
the s a m e degree as the denominator or s m a l l e r . 2 1
For any of t h e s e approximations for which the
degree of the polynomial of the denominator i s
larger than unity we have a full square matrix of

[exp(fcco,) - A h w d ] « 1 , (7) 20
E. ISAACSON and H. B. KELLER, Analysis of
s i n c e exp(feco,) & /(&co,-) . Numerical Methods, p. 2, John Wiley and Sons, Inc.,
New York, London, and Sidney (1966).
19 21
M. CLARK, J r . and K. F. HANSEN, Numerical R. S. VARGA, Matrix Iterative Analysis, p. 262,
Methods of Reactor Analysis, p. 34, Academic P r e s s , Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood C l i f f s , New Jersey
New York and London (1964). (1962).
 order ( / + 1) to invert, which i s a task one nor- We factor PN(A) as
mally t r i e s to avoid, particularly for the c a s e of N
varying reactivity when such inversion needs to be PN(A ) = n=
n 1[/ - e A] N ,
done at every t i m e step.
We have, however, developed a method in which, where {e„} are, in general, complex numbers.
by going temporarily to the complex plane, we Then,
obtain s i m p l e analytic e x p r e s s i o n s for such in-
v e r s e s . As a result, essentially the s a m e number [ P N ( A ) p = n [/ - e„A] _1 .
B=1
of arithmetic operations s u f f i c e to multiply the
i n v e r s e of a polynomial of the matrix A by a Of course, the {e„} will either be real numbers
vector as are required to multiply the polynomial or f o r m complex conjugate pairs. For e„ real, we
i t s e l f . This fact makes the computational effort u s e Eq. (9) to do the inversion or directly solve
involved in using implicit methods of any order the pertinent s y s t e m of equations. For a complex
equal to that used for explicit methods of the s a m e conjugate pair we consider the pair of factors
order (Taylor s e r i e s expansions). However, the
instabilities associated with the latter are avoided. [/ - eA] _1 [7 - 7AJ"1 = / - 2 R e ( e ) A + | e 12A2 ,
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The method i s based on an expression for the

which is a real matrix and thus has a real inverse.
inverse of [7 - eA] where e i s a s c a l a r . This e x -
By using Eq. (9) with complex e for both factors
pression is
and combining the complex elements of the r e -
[I - eA]'1 = yabT +D , (9) sulting expression, we obtain a sum of two real
dyads and one real diagonal matrix as the desired
where

r
inverse. Almost all the elements involved can be
precomputed since only the reactivity changes
1 + eX with time, and it appears in a simple fashion in
£jU2 the coefficients of the dyads as s e e n later in a
a = col CMi
1 + eXi 1 + eX2 1 + eX,_ specific example.
For the Pade approximations, Eq. (7) will be
eXi eX2 eX,
b = col satisfied, in general, whenever |fta>,-|<< 1 and
1 + eXi 1 + eX2 1 + eX,
therefore we can u s e this as a preliminary c r i -
terion to decide which t e r m s should be included in
D = diag 0
1 + eXi 1 + eX2 1 + eX, Eq. (8). From Eq. (4) we s e e that, with the e x -
ception of oji and, possibly, coo, all the eigenvalues
The validity of Eq. (9) can be v e r i f i e d directly by
of the matrix A have magnitudes s m a l l e r than X,.
multiplication by [/ - eA].
Therefore, the condition hx, < < 1 a s s u r e s that
Notice that only y , a s c a l a r , depends on the
Eq. (7) will be satisfied for most eigenvalues w,-.
reactivity. Also, it i s worth noting the computa-
For practical values of XH this allows that r e l a -
tional advantages of multiplying an N dyad by a
tively large values of h can be taken with good
vector, as compared to a general N xN matrix.
accuracy.
The former involves only 3N arithmetic opera-
tions as compared to 2N 2 in the latter. Further, A s an example, we consider two of the Pade
observe that for this particular matrix A, e s s e n - approximations, namely the Crank-Nicholson and
tially the s a m e number of operations are required the second-order implicit approximations.
to effect the product of either [I - e A ] - 1 or [/ + eA]
III.A. The Pade {1,1) Approximation
and s o m e vector.
The expression (9) i s of no great advantage by This approximation, commonly known as the
itself s i n c e we can always s o l v e directly the s y s - Crank-Nicholson approximation, is given by
tem of equations implied by the inverse shown,
spending essentially the s a m e computational e f - 1
L\(hA) = | AA] [/ + | M]
fort, in this case. The utility of the analytical
inversion i s evident, however, when one t r i e s to and involves no particular difficulty, except that
invert a general polynomial of the matrix A which one must always choose h so that hu>i f 2 to keep
can be e x p r e s s e d as a product of factors having f{hwi) bounded. Since only the eigenvalue a>o of A
the f o r m [I - eA]. To s e e this utility in more can be positive, we simply must have hw0 f 2. For
detail, consider the matrix polynomial s m a l l k, the e r r o r of this approximation i s given
by
PN(A) =£ c„AN
n-0
exp(M) - MhA) h3A3 + 0(fc4)
with {cn} being real numbers and c0 = 1. 12
 Since all eigenvalues of A have s m a l l magni- 1 ~ 0 ~
tudes except possibly a>o and wa these a r e the only
ones we will ever need to calculate explicitly for hXxpi( 1 +h\i) hXi.pi
u s e in Eq. (8), if we do not want to take h very bx = hXzp2(l +hX2) ; 62 = hX2p2
s m a l l . Also, we have that |exp(ftw,) - / i ( f e a ) , ) | <
0.035 or 0.14 for negative hw { down to - 1 or - 2 ,
r e s p e c t i v e l y . T h e s e f i g u r e s are low enough to hX,p,( 1 +hX,) hX,p,
require the inclusion of the w, t e r m in Eq. (8)
D' = diag[0 2py 2p2. . . 2p,] .
only when hw, < - 1 or, in many c a s e s , when
hw, < - 2 . Such conditions a r e clearly much l e s s Note that only the s c a l a r s r, yi, and y2 depend
stringent than the general condition < < 1. on the reactivity and therefore almost everything
The above considerations, coupled with the fact can be precomputed. A l s o , although we have d i s -
that for most practical c a s e s only one of wo and w, played four dyads in the e x p r e s s i o n for f2(frA) we
i s of large magnitude, indicate that, in many could combine them into two. However, the f o r m
problems, satisfactory r e s u l t s will be obtained by shown provides s o m e computational convenience
treating explicitly only one t e r m in Eq. (8). in that we can group the four dyads in two ways
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keeping either (oi, a 2 ) or (blt b2) explicit.

III.B. The Pade (2,0) Approximation For this approximation we have jexp(kw,) -
f2(h&i) I < 0.07 for all negative hu)i (maximum
This approximation, which we call the second
0.069 at hwi = -2.62). This figure i s s m a l l enough
order implicit approximation, i s given by
that r e s u l t s of high accuracy can be obtained by
treating explicitly only the w0 t e r m in Eq. (8).
f2(hA) = |/ -hA + | h2A2 1
,
Moreover, if |&cool i s sufficiently below unity,
none of the wk t e r m s in Eq. (8) need be considered
and f2(hui) f 0 for any real value of hw,. For
explicitly.
s m a l l h the e r r o r of this approximation i s given
The s a m e complex factorization idea used h e r e
by
could be applied to the denominator of any higher
order Pade approximation but there i s not much
exp(hA) - MhA) = | h3A3 + 0 ( f t 4 ) .
advantage in going beyond 0(h 3 ), s i n c e there i s an
0(h3) e r r o r inherent in the assumption of constant
We will show h e r e the explicit application of reactivity and s o u r c e during the time s t e p as we
the method which we developed, to find the i n v e r s e will s e e in the next section. For this reason, only
in f2(hA). We factor h(hA) as the two approximations above have been c o n s i -
f2(hA) = [/ - eA] - 1 [7 - eA]"1 , dered.

where e =h( 1 +i)/2 with i IV. ANALYSIS OF THE ASSUMPTION OF

Using Eq. (9) for t h e s e values of e and carrying CONSTANT PARAMETERS
out s o m e involved but straightforward algebra, we
eliminate all imaginary numbers in the final e x - The analysis done previously a s s u m e s constant
p r e s s i o n which i s given by reactivity and s o u r c e during a t i m e step. Taking
them equal to their average value during the t i m e
f2(hA) = yi(aj)2 + a2b[) + y2(aibj - a2bl) + D' , interval h yields the s m a l l e s t e r r o r . To s e e how
good an approximation this i s we consider the
where following exact expansion for ty(t + h) = tfj in
y i = 2 r/(r2 + s 2 ); y 2 = 2 s / ( / + s 2 ); t e r m s of'i'(f) = ¥ 0 :
1
ho
r = 1- ^ + hT^ iapi(2 + hXi); * ! x = ¥ o + W o + |j- ¥ o + | j ¥o + . • • .(10)
A ,=i
/ By repeated u s e of =A ( $'o + / 0 , Eq. (10)
s = 1 + h2 £ HipiXii Pi = [ 1 + (1 + hXi)2]-1-, becomes
i=1
1

/ 2 M i A ( 1 + hX 1)
0

hy-ipi
[ I + hAo +
h2

C^o
'
+
h3

yi +
2AoA 0
ax = ; a2 = 1 r h2 '
h\i2p2(\ + hX2) hii2p2

+ A 0 A 0 + A 0 ) + . . . t f o + ]hf0 + g-j ( f 0 +A0/0)

hn,p,(l + hX,) h\±,p.

+ f j (7o + A j 0 + 2Ao/o +A2o/o) + . . . ] . (11)

 With the assumption of constant parameters we lookup and interpolation, by using the Newton-
obtain the solution Raphson method, or by a combination of both
s c h e m e s . In this last method, a f i r s t guess i s
= exp(fcA)* 0 + A _ 1 [ e x p ( M ) - / ] / ,
obtained from a table lookup and the Newton-
as indicated in Eq. (2). Here, the bar indicates an Raphson method i s used to improve upon the
average over the time step. _ initial guess to any desired degree of accuracy.
By using the s e r i e s expansion for e x p ( M ) we The Newton-Raphson method can be shown to
then get converge in the following c a s e s :
For coo, with s o m e initial guess coo0) such
*! p = I+hA + + ^ A3 + .
(a)
that

k. J + hi J2 -Xi < coo°^ < co0 .

(12)
2! 3!
(b) For CO/, with s o m e initial guess co/0) such
But that

1 co, < co,(0)< -X, .

A JRt0
h Jtr, A(t)dt = A0 + J]A0 - A
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+ 0 +
It can a l s o be shown that co/ < a < co0 and that,
and if a has a large enough magnitude, it i s already a
good approximation for one of the roots and thus
can be used as a good f i r s t guess for that root.
The Newton-Raphson expression i s derived
Substituting these expansions into Eq. (12) gives from Eq. (3) and is given by
us
co
- £ / 3
p h2 + uW)
*? = I +hA o + — (Aq2 +Aft) + 2 | ^A) + 2 AgAg co (/+i) _

A+E A
(=1 + CO
I A0A0 + A^j + . . u* +
2! In practice, with reasonable f i r s t g u e s s e s , two
to five iterations are enough to achieve an a c -
3 3 *
x (/o + Agfg) + ( 0 g 2 Ao/o + g Ao/o curacy of one part in 10 5 . To appreciate the
amount of work involved in the above calculations
we estimated the computer time n e c e s s a r y to do
+ Ao/oj + . . . one iteration, which, by efficient programming,
can be reduced to 3 / additions and subtractions,
Then, f r o m this result and Eq. (11) we obtain 41 multiplications and (I + 1) divisions, f o r / p r e -
hs 1 3 cursor groups. If we take 7 = 6 and a s s u m e t+ = 2
h
"^i 12 [ AoAo 0
~ ^o^ ]* 0 +
12 ~ jusec, = 4 jusec, and t+ = 7 jusec (approximately
the IBM 360/65 times), one would spend about 180
+ 0(fc 4 ) . / i s e c per iteration which, for comparison, i s about
Note that this expression for the error still holds the time needed to calculate two exponentials in
if A(t) and f ( t ) are known only through a t h r e e - single p r e c i s i o n (in the IBM 360/65).
term Taylor expansion, w h i c h requires only We can s e e , therefore, that the amount of work
knowledge of A, f , and their first and second spent in the calculation of the desired roots is not
derivatives at the beginning of the time step. unduly large, particularly in view of the relatively
Thus, the assumption of constant parameters large time step s i z e s one i s able to take with the
has a local error of 0(h 3 ) and, correspondingly, an present method.
overall error of 0(h 2 ).

VI. NUMERICAL RESULTS

V. CALCULATION OF THE EIGENVALUES
OF LARGE MAGNITUDE
A s s e e n before, we need to be able to calculate
the values of one or both of the two extreme
eigenvalues of the point kinetics matrix A, which
are the algebraically largest and s m a l l e s t roots of
the inhour formula, Eq. (3).
The calculation of coo or co/ can be done by table
We now present s o m e numerical results for
two representative r e a c t o r s , a thermal and a fast
reactor. The values for A, j3,-, and X,- (in sec" 1 )
for these r e a c t o r s are shown in Table I, for s i x
delayed neutron groups. We consider h e r e five
d i f f e r e n t t r a n s i e n t s , all starting f r o m equilibrium
conditions and with w(0) = 1. In every c a s e the
s o u r c e t e r m / i s taken to be zero. The Tables II
 TABLE I Case 1. The r e s u l t s for this c a s e are shown in
Parameters for Two Typical Reactors Table II, and correspond to a step reactivity in-
sertion of +0.5 dollars in the fast reactor, c a l c u -
Thermal Reactor Fast Reactor lations having been done by three methods: (a)
Neutron Pade (2,0) with no explicit treatment of roots, (b)
Group A; ft A, Hi Pade (1,1) with w6 treated explicitly, and (c)
4 Crank-Nichols on.
1 0.0127 2.850 x 10" 0.0129 1.672 x 10"4
2 0.0317 1.5975 x 10~3 0.0311 1.232 x 10"3 The e r r o r s for this c a s e a r e of the s a m e order
3 0.115 1.410 x 10"3 0.134 9.504 x 10"4 of magnitude for the f i r s t two methods, (a) and (b),
4 0.311 3.0525 x 10' 3 0.331 1.443 x 10"3 method (b) having an error about half the e r r o r of
5 1.40 9.600 x 10"4 1.26 4.534 x 10"4 method (a). The e r r o r s of the Crank-Nicholson
6 3.87 1.950 x 10"4 3.21 1.540 x 10~4
method, (c), are, in general, unacceptably large,
ftot= 0.00750 /3tot = 0.00440 except for large t and s m a l l h. Comparison of the
4 methods (b) and (c) shows the large correction
A = 5 x 10~ sec A = 1 x 10"7 sec
effect obtained by treating w6 explicitly, a feature
to be shared by s o m e of the following c a s e s . Note
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that the e r r o r s for the f i r s t two methods a r e quite

to VI show the exact n(t) and the relative percent
e r r o r s of the calculations for s e v e r a l options of
the method presented in this work, the e r r o r s
being defined as
Wcalc
error = " W e " c t X 100
^exact
The r e s u l t s a r e shown for s e l e c t e d t i m e s t
during the transient and for s e v e r a l values of the
t i m e step s i z e h u s e d in the calculations. The
numbers in each square a r e in exponential nota-
tion and correspond, r e s p e c t i v e l y , to the methods
described in each of the c a s e s that follow.
s m a l l (<1%) for h as large as 1 s e c .
Case 2. Table EI shows the r e s u l t s for this
case. Now we consider the thermal reactor, in
which a - 0 . 5 dollars step reactivity i s inserted.
Calculations were done using the s a m e three
methods as for c a s e 1.
. For this case, we again have that the e r r o r s for
the methods (a) and (b) are of the s a m e order of
magnitude, except for the early part of the t r a n s i -
ent (t = 0.1 s e c ) when the second method yielded
much s m a l l e r e r r o r s . The e r r o r s for method (a)
are n e v e r t h e l e s s a l s o quite s m a l l . In this e x a m -
ple, the Crank-Nicholson method, (c), f a r e s better
than for c a s e 1, but the e r r o r s b e c o m e too large

TABLE n TABLE m
Percent Errors and Exact n(t) for Case 1 Percent Errors and Exact n(t) for Case 2

h( sec) t = 0.1 sec t = 1 sec t = 10 sec Msec) t = 0.1 sec t = 1 sec t = 10 sec

- 9.64( - 5) -7.53(-5) -7.85(-5) +7.99(-2) +6.59(-5) 0.0

0.01 +4.82(-5) +3.77(-5) 0.0 0.01 -2.86(-5) -4.94(-5) 0.0
-4.02(+l) -6.1l(+0) 0.0 -4.70(-2) -4.94(-5) 0.0

-7.32(-3) -7.34(-3) -6.28(-3) +3.15(+0) +6.44(-3) +7.07(-4)

0.10 +4.53(-3) +4.18(-3) +3.14(-3) 0.10 -3.88(-3) -3.7l(-3) -3.53(-4)
+4.81(+1) -3.70(+l) -6.54(+0) -7.78(+0) -3.7l(-3) -3.53(-4)

-3.93(-2) -3.99(-2) +3.44(-2) +4.37(-3)

0.25 - - +2.62(-2) +1.94(-2) 0.25 - - -2.32(-2) -2.27(-3)
-3.75(+l) -7.60(+0) +2.83(+0) -2.27(-3)

-1.29(-1) -1.64(-1) + 1.19(-1) +1.69(-2)

0.50 — +1.08(-1) +7.77(-2) 0.50 - - -9.05(-2) -9.09(-3)
-3.75(+l) -7.7l(+0) +2.62(+l) +5.92(-2)

-3.91(-1) -6.93(-l) +5.01(-1) +6.34(-2)

1.00 - - +6.88(-l) +3.12(-1) 1.00 - - -6.86(-l) -3.64(-2)
+3.83(+l) -7.52(+0) -4.55(+l) +1.41(+1)

n(t) 2.075317 2.655853 12.74654 n(t) 0.6989252 0.6070536 0.3960777

 for t i m e steps of 0.5 s e c or larger, in contrast
with the f i r s t two methods.
Note the fact that the transient i s very a c -
curately represented in method (b) due to the
explicit treatment of w6.
Again the e r r o r s with the f i r s t two methods are
<1% even for t i m e steps up to 1 s e c .
Case 3. Results for this c a s e are presented in
Table IV and are those of a step reactivity of +1
dollar introduced in the thermal reactor, four
methods being used to do the calculations: (a)
Pade (2,0) with explicit treatment of u>0; (b) Pade
(2.0) without explicit treatment of roots; (c) Pade
(1.1) with coo treated explicitly; (d) Crank-Nichol-
son.
As one should expect, the methods (a) and (c)
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Table V. The calculations were done using two
methods, namely: (a) Pade (2,0) with automatic
inclusion of the u>o term; (b) Pade (2,0) with no
explicit treatment of roots. By automatic inclu-
sion of the o)0 t e r m we mean that this root is
treated explicitly whenever hcoo i s larger than a
certain value, which we chose as 0.05. Otherwise,
the wo t e r m i s not included.
The results a r e exactly the s a m e for t = 0.5
s e c and approximately the s a m e for t = 1 s e c ,
which indicates that the main s o u r c e of error here
i s the nonconstancy of the reactivity. The e r r o r s
become very large in the vicinity of prompt c r i t i -
cality (and beyond) for time steps of the order of
0.01 s e c or l a r g e r , as one can s e e especially for
the results at t = 1 s e c . This brings, however, no

have s m a l l e r e r r o r s than the other two, which significant limitation to the method of this work
again shows the improvement obtained by the s i n c e , in most practical problems, feedback con-
explicit treatment of the dominant root, in this siderations limit the time step s i z e one will be
c a s e wo- The e r r o r s are about the s a m e for both able to take to a small value, if results of a r e a -
methods, but method (c) f a r e s better than method sonable accuracy a r e desired.
(a) for small h. A parallel behavior takes place Case 5. This c a s e is that of a more complex
for the methods (b) and (d). Note that the e r r o r s reactivity insertion pattern in the thermal r e a c -
for the methods (a) and (c) are of the order of 1% tor; a +1 d o l l a r / s e c ramp up to 0.5 s e c followed
for h as large as 1 s e c . by a - 1 d o l l a r / s e c ramp up to 1 s e c ; then a +1
Case 4. This c a s e corresponds to a positive d o l l a r / s e c ramp up to 1.5 s e c followed by a con-
ramp insertion of reactivity of +1 d o l l a r / s e c in stant 0.5 dollars reactivity from then on. Note
the fast reactor, its r e s u l t s being presented in that p (t) i s a continuous function. Table VI shows
the results obtained for this c a s e by three meth-
ods: (a) Pade (2,0) with no explicit treatment of
TABLE IV r o o t s , (b) Pade (1,1) with automatic inclusion of
Percent Errors and Exact nit) for Case 3 the o)6 t e r m , and (c) Crank-Nicholson. In the
second method, (b), the W6 term i s included when-
ever both hw6 < -2 and w6 < - 1 . 2 X e .
hi sec) t = 0.1 sec / = 0.5 sec t = 1 sec
The e r r o r s , in general, are the s a m e for all
-2.70(-3) -7.72(-4) -1.24(-4) three methods. For small h the results show a
-5.76(-3) -9.17(-3) -1.50(-2) larger error for method (a) which should be e x -
0.01 +1.39(-3) +4.83(-4) +6.21(-5) pected from the theory and was noted in previous
+2.90(-3) +4.54(-3) +7.40(-3)

-2.16(-1) -6.85(-2) -1.03(-2)

-5.64(-l) -1.02(+0) -1.7l(+0) TABLE V
0.10 +1.43(-1) +4.32(-2) +6.2l(-3)
+2.93(-l) +4.57(-l) +7.48(-l) Percent Errors and Exact nit) for Case 4

- 3.25(-1) -5.22(-2)
-7.53(+0) -1.25(+l) hi sec) t = 0.5 sec t = 1 sec
0.25 - -
+2.83(-l) +3.89(-2)
+2.98(+0) +4.93(+0) -9.15(-2) -5.07(-l)
0.001
-9.15(-2) -5.96(-1)
-9.04(-l) -1.59(-1)
-3.33(+l) -4.99(+l) -9.82(-l) -2.92(+l)
0.50 - - 0.01 -9.82(-l) -3.34(+l)
+1.46(+0) + 1.47(-1)
+1.44(+1) +2.46(+l)
-9.15(+0) -9.48(+l)
0.10 -9.15(+0) -9.52(+l)
-4.28(-l)
-9.08(+l)
1.00 - - - -
+1.42(+0) -2.03(+l) -9.85(+l)
-1.32(+3) 0.25 -2.03(+l) -9.86(+l)

nit) 2.515766 10.36253 32.18354 nit) 2.136407 1207.813

 TABLE VI
Percent Errors and Exact n(t) for Case 5

h( sec) t = 0.5 sec t = 1 sec t - 1.5 sec t - 2 sec t = 10 sec

-2.69(-2) +3.74(-2) -2.76(-2) -2.97(-3) -1.25(-3)

0.01 -4.24(-3) -3.30(-3) -4.76(-3) -4.36(-4) -5.81(-4)
-4.24(-3) -3.30(-3) -4.76(-3) -4.36(-4) -5.8l(-4)

-1.99(+0) +2.25(+0) -2.03(+0) -2.3l(-l) -9.80(-2)

0.10 -4.22(-l) -3.50(-l) -4.70(-l) -4.28(-2) -5.10(-2)
-4.22(-l) -3.50(-l) -4.70(-l) -4.28(-2) -5.10(-2)

-8.43(+0) +8.40(+0) -8.55(+0) -1.15(+0) -4.67(-l)

0.25 -6.64(+0) +6.07(+0) -6.94(+0) -6.42(-l) -3.85(-1)
-2.39(+0) -4.6l(+0) -2.60(+0) -3.37(-l) -3.19(-1)

-2.03(+l) +1.98(+1) -2.02(+l) -3.66(+0) -1.41(+0)

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0.50 -1.94(+1) +2.00(+l) -2.01(+1) -1.77(+0) -1.2l(+0)

-1.08(+l) +1.40(+1) -1.82(+1) +6.25(+0) -1.09(+0)

n(t) 1.721422 1.211127 1.892226 2.521601 12.04711

c a s e s . F r o m the methods (b) and (c) it can be
concluded that the better r e s u l t s obtained for the
Crank-Nichols on method are purely accidental,
s i n c e method (b) i s an improvement over Crank-
Nicholson.
Notice a l s o that the bad r e s u l t s obtained for
l a r g e r time s t e p s s t e m f r o m the very bad r e p r e -
sentation of the ramp as a s e r i e s of s t e p s . In
particular, for h = 0 . 5 s e c , we simply have the
transient represented as a 0.25 dollar s t e p f r o m 0
to 1.5 s e c followed by another step totaling 0.5
dollars f r o m then on.
VII. CONCLUSIONS
The r e s u l t s of Sec. VI for the f i r s t three c a s e s
show the great improvement of the Pade (1,1)
method with explicit treatment of wo or u>6 over
the s i m p l e Crank-Nichols on method. This i m -
provement shows itself not only in the a c h i e v e -
ment of greater accuracy for all t i m e s t e p s , but
a l s o in being able to take larger time steps
without incurring l a r g e e r r o r s .
The Pade (2,0) method i s a l s o much better than
the Crank-Nichols on method, for the c a s e s of
constant reactivity, as can be concluded f r o m the
r e s u l t s for the f i r s t three c a s e s . Except for near
or above prompt criticality, the Pade (2,0) method
does quite well without the need for inclusion of
the coo t e r m and does not suffer f r o m the o s c i l l a -
tions present in the Crank-Nicholson method when
h i s large.
In general, the Pade (1,1) method yields better
r e s u l t s than the Pade (2,0) method but a glance
through Tables II to IV shows that halving the time
step s i z e h for the f i r s t of t h e s e methods will p r o -
duce better r e s u l t s than the second method with
t i m e step h. Note, however, that in many c a s e s
the Pade (1,1) method requires one m o r e root
treated explicitly than does the Pade (2,0) method.
A l s o , such extra calculation will normally more
than double the amount of computation per time
step. It can thus be s e e n that the Pade (2,0) meth-
od will be more economical, in general, even if
the t i m e step n e c e s s a r y to attain a given accuracy
is smaller.
The r e s u l t s for the last two c a s e s show that,
for varying r e a c t i v i t i e s , inclusion of roots in the
basic approximations does not make any s i g n i f i -
cant improvement on accuracy. Thus, by c o m -
bining this fact with the previous findings, we
would conclude that, for c a s e s of practical inter-
e s t , the Pade (2,0) method with a procedure to
decide whether the w0 t e r m should be treated
explicitly and s o m e strategy for the choice of the
time step s i z e will provide a very fast and a c c u r -
ate method for point kinetics calculations in
general, when the inversion s c h e m e developed in
Sec. Ill i s used.
For c a s e s in which a very accurate treatment
of the beginning of transients i s d e s i r e d , the
Pade (1,1) method with inclusion of the coB t e r m
i s to be p r e f e r r e d , when a>6 has a large magnitude.
Although one could a l s o include the o>6 t e r m in the
Pade (2,0) method, the e r r o r for the previous
method will be s m a l l e r for most c a s e s , as can
a l s o be concluded f r o m the underlying theory.
Calculations for other c a s e s , in addition to
 those presented, have been done, and they con-
f i r m e d the general conclusions reached here which
s e e m to have general validity and agree with the
theoretical expectations. The method presented
i s particularly good for c a s e s in which the r e a c -
tivity can be represented by a s e r i e s of steps and
p e r f o r m s quite well for more general c a s e s .
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author wishes to express his appreciation to
Allan F. Henry for his many valuable suggestions during
the course of this work.
This work was performed under the auspices of the
U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.