An acceleration technique for 2D MOC based on Krylov subspace and domain decomposition methods

Abstract The method of characteristics (MOC) has great geometrical flexibility but poor computational efficiency in neutron transport calculations. The generalized minimal residual (GMRES) method, a type of Krylov subspace method, is utilized to accelerate a 2D generalized geometry characteristics solver AutoMOC. In this technique, a form of linear algebraic equation system for angular flux moments and boundary fluxes is derived to replace the conventional characteristics sweep (i.e. inner iteration) scheme, and then the GMRES method is implemented as an efficient linear system solver. This acceleration method is proved to be reliable in theory and simple for implementation. Furthermore, as introducing no restriction in geometry treatment, it is suitable for acceleration of an arbitrary geometry MOC solver. However, it is observed that the speedup decreases when the matrix becomes larger. The spatial domain decomposition method and multiprocessing parallel technology are then employed to overcome the problem. The calculation domain is partitioned into several sub-domains. For each of them, a smaller matrix is established and solved by GMRES; and the adjacent sub-domains are coupled by “inner-edges”, where the trajectory mismatches are considered adequately. Moreover, a matched ray tracing system is developed on the basis of AutoCAD, which allows a user to define the sub-domains on demand conveniently. Numerical results demonstrate that the acceleration techniques are efficient without loss of accuracy, even in the case of large-scale and strong scattering problems in complex geometries.