Cardinal

Accelerating Discovery in Fusion and Fission Energy

Flexible Multiphysics

Geometry-agnostic multiphysics with (i) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and (ii) Monte Carlo radiation transport on CSG and CAD geometry

In-Memory Coupling

In-memory coupling and distributed parallel meshes to deliver high-resolution multiphysics at scale and on heterogeneous CPU-GPU systems

Powerful Postprocessing

Leverages MOOSE postprocessing systems for improved data analysis and to provide multiscale closures to other MOOSE applications

Cardinal is a wrapping of the GPU-oriented spectral element Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code NekRS and the Monte Carlo particle transport code OpenMC within the MOOSE framework. Cardinal provides high-resolution thermal-hydraulics and/or radiation transport feedback to MOOSE multiphysics simulations. Multiphysics feedback is implemented in a geometry-agnostic manner which eliminates the need for rigid one-to-one mappings. A generic data transfer implementation also allows NekRS and OpenMC to couple to any MOOSE application, enabling a broad set of multiphysics capabilities. Simulations can also leverage combinations of MPI, OpenMP, and GPU resources.

Pebble Bed Reactorsmore_vert
Pebble Bed ReactorscloseFull-core PBR simulations with NekRS Lan et al. (2021); MOOSE finite element heat conduction is coupled with NekRS and OpenMC for up to 127,000 pebbles Fischer et al. (2021). Figure shows fluid velocity predicted by NekRS.
Fusion Componentsmore_vert
Fusion ComponentscloseMultiphysics model of a Helium Cooled Lead Lithium (HCLL) tritium breeder blanket module from the EU DEMO using OpenMC and MOOSE heat conduction Novak et al. (2023). Image shows the solid temperature in the cooling plates. The OpenMC model uses CAD geometry, capable of highly complex geometry.
Prismatic Gas Reactorsmore_vert
Prismatic Gas ReactorscloseFull-core multiphysics model of a high temperature gas reactor using OpenMC-THM-MOOSE Novak et al. (2022); figure shows the OpenMC power and MOOSE solid temperature.
Molten Salt Reactorsmore_vert
Molten Salt ReactorscloseMultiphysics model of a Molten Salt Fast Reactor using NekRS-OpenMC Novak et al. (2023). OpenMC geometry uses CAD, with on-the-fly adaptive re-generation of the OpenMC cells according to contours in temperature and/or density feedback.
Heat Pipe Reactorsmore_vert
Heat Pipe ReactorscloseMultiphysics model of a Heat Pipe Microreactor using OpenMC-MOOSE-Sockeye Eltawila et al. (2024).
Fast Reactorsmore_vert
Fast ReactorscloseMultiphysics model of a 7-pin SFR fuel bundle using NekRS-OpenMC-MOOSE Novak et al. (2022); figure shows fluid temperature predicted by a momentum source NekRS model with solid duct temperature predicted by BISON.
Pressurized Thermal Shockmore_vert
Pressurized Thermal ShockcloseCoupled NekRS CFD simulations with the MOOSE solid mechanics module for predicting stress-strain response in Light Water Reactor (LWR) reactor vessels Yu et al. (2022). Figure shows the fluid velocity and temperature predicted by NekRS, which are then fed to a solid mechanics model.
Systems Analysismore_vert
Systems AnalysiscloseCoupled NekRS CFD simulations with systems-level feedback from SAM, for predicting tracer concentration in a loop with a double T-junction Huxford et al. (2023).

Getting Started

Repository is available on GitHub - learn how to get started

Tutorials and Documentation

Explore the tutorials and source documentation to learn about code capabilities

Build on HPC Systems

Find instructions for building on common HPC systems across the National Laboratories

References

M. Eltawila, A. Novak, and Y. Miao. Coupled Multiphysics Modeling of Heat Pipe Microreactors using Cardinal, BISON, and Sockeye. In Proceedings of Physor. 2024.

@inproceedings{eltawila,
    author = "Eltawila, M. and Novak, A. and Miao, Y.",
    title = "{Coupled Multiphysics Modeling of Heat Pipe Microreactors using Cardinal, {BISON}, and Sockeye}",
    booktitle = "Proceedings of Physor",
    year = "2024"
}

P. Fischer, E. Merzari, M. Min, S. Kerkemeier, Y. Lan, M. Phillips, T. Rathnayake, A. Novak, D. Gaston, N. Chalmers, and T. Warburton. Highly Optimized Full-Core Reactor Simulations on Summit. October 2021. arXiv:2110.01716.

@misc{fischer_2021,
    author = "Fischer, P. and Merzari, E. and Min, M. and Kerkemeier, S. and Lan, Y. and Phillips, M. and Rathnayake, T. and Novak, A. and Gaston, D. and Chalmers, N. and Warburton, T.",
    title = "{Highly Optimized Full-Core Reactor Simulations on Summit}",
    archivePrefix = "arXiv",
    year = "2021",
    month = "October",
    note = "arXiv:2110.01716"
}

A. Huxford, V.C. Leite, E. Merzari, L. Zou, V. Petrov, and A. Manera. A Hybrid Domain Overlapping Method for Coupling System Thermal Hydraulics and CFD Codes. Annals of Nuclear Energy, 189:109842, 2023. doi:10.1016/j.anucene.2023.109842.

@Article{huxford2023,
    author = "Huxford, A. and Leite, V.C. and Merzari, E. and Zou, L. and Petrov, V. and Manera, A.",
    title = "{A Hybrid Domain Overlapping Method for Coupling System Thermal Hydraulics and {CFD} Codes}",
    journal = "Annals of Nuclear Energy",
    volume = "189",
    pages = "109842",
    year = "2023",
    DOI = "10.1016/j.anucene.2023.109842"
}

Y. Lan, P. Fischer, E. Merzari, and M. Min. All-hex meshing strategies for densely packed spheres. arXiv, 2021. URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2106.00196.

@article{lan,
    author = "Lan, Y. and Fischer, P. and Merzari, E. and Min, M.",
    title = "All-Hex Meshing Strategies for Densely Packed Spheres",
    year = "2021",
    journal = "arXiv",
    url = "https://arxiv.org/abs/2106.00196"
}

A.J. Novak, D. Andrs, P. Shriwise, J. Fang, H. Yuan, D. Shaver, E. Merzari, P.K. Romano, and R.C. Martineau. Coupled Monte Carlo and Thermal-Fluid Modeling of High Temperature Gas Reactors Using Cardinal. Annals of Nuclear Energy, 177:109310, 2022. doi:10.1016/j.anucene.2022.109310.

@Article{novak2022_cardinal,
    author = "Novak, A.J. and Andrs, D. and Shriwise, P. and Fang, J. and Yuan, H. and Shaver, D. and Merzari, E. and Romano, P.K. and Martineau, R.C.",
    title = "{Coupled {Monte} {Carlo} and Thermal-Fluid Modeling of High Temperature Gas Reactors Using {Cardinal}}",
    journal = "Annals of Nuclear Energy",
    year = "2022",
    volume = "177",
    pages = "109310",
    DOI = "10.1016/j.anucene.2022.109310"
}

A.J. Novak, H. Brooks, P. Shriwise, A. Hegazy, and A. Davis. Multiphysics Coupling of OpenMC CAD-Based Transport to MOOSE using Cardinal and Aurora. In Proceedings of M&C. 2023.

@InProceedings{novak_2023,
    author = "Novak, A.J. and Brooks, H. and Shriwise, P. and Hegazy, A. and Davis, A.",
    title = "{Multiphysics Coupling of OpenMC CAD-Based Transport to MOOSE using Cardinal and Aurora}",
    booktitle = "{Proceedings of M\\&C}",
    year = "2023"
}

A.J. Novak, P. Shriwise, R. Rahaman, P.K. Romano, E. Merzari, and D. Gaston. Coupled Monte Carlo Transport and Conjugate Heat Transfer for Wire-Wrapped Bundles Within the MOOSE Framework. In Proceedings of NURETH. 2022.

@InProceedings{novak2022,
    author = "Novak, A.J. and Shriwise, P. and Rahaman, R. and Romano, P.K. and Merzari, E. and Gaston, D.",
    title = "{Coupled {Monte} {Carlo} Transport and Conjugate Heat Transfer for Wire-Wrapped Bundles Within the {MOOSE} Framework}",
    booktitle = "{Proceedings of NURETH}",
    year = "2022"
}

Y. Yu, A. Novak, D. Shaver, and E. Merzari. Coupled Simulation of Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) Subjected to Pressurized Thermal Shock (PTS) Using Cardinal. In Proceedings of ATH. 2022.

@InProceedings{yu_2022,
    author = "Yu, Y. and Novak, A. and Shaver, D. and Merzari, E.",
    title = "{Coupled Simulation of Reactor Pressure Vessel ({RPV}) Subjected to Pressurized Thermal Shock ({PTS}) Using {Cardinal}}",
    booktitle = "{Proceedings of ATH}",
    year = "2022"
}