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Home / Publications / Journals / Nuclear Science and Engineering / Volume 160 / Number 3

A Continuous Finite Element-Based, Discontinuous Finite Element Method for SN Transport

James S. Warsa

Nuclear Science and Engineering / Volume 160 / Number 3 / November 2008 / Pages 385-400

Technical Note / dx.doi.org/10.13182/NSE160-385TN

A class of discontinuous finite element methods (DFEMs) is proposed for spatially discretizing the SN transport equation in multidimensions. Mesh cells are first subdivided into simplexes. Equations for the angular fluxes in a cell are then generated by computing the linear DFEM SN equations for a simplex on each subelement and assembling the equations over the subelements. The result is a (piecewise) linear continuous finite element method spatial discretization on the cell that is coupled discontinuously to its neighbors through the standard DFEM upwinding technique. The method is presented in two-dimensional Cartesian coordinates. Numerical experiments indicate the method has numerical properties that are suitable for a new SN spatial discretization.