RELAP5-3D Architectural Developments in 2004

Currently, RELAP5 is undergoing a transformation that will replace much of its coding with equivalent structured Fortran 90 coding. Four efforts are underway to modernize the code architecture of RELAP5-3D. These are parallelization, vectorization, code restructuring, and conversion to Fortran 90. The first two improve code run speed via on computer platforms of certain architectures. These code modifications have little effect on normal code performance on non-vector and non-parallel computers because they are mostly done with compiler directives. The third and fourth efforts involve considerable rewriting of the source code. The third code improvement effort addresses code readability and maintainability. These are being greatly enhanced by application of a Fortran code-restructuring tool. The fourth effort is conversion to Fortran 90. The bulk of the coding is being rewritten in Fortran 90. This is a ground up reworking of the coding that begins with completely reorganizing the underlying database and continues with the source code. It will reach every part of RELAP5-3D. Each of these efforts is discussed in detail in a different section. Section 1 relates background information. Section 2 covers the parallelization effort. Section 3 covers the efforts to vectorize the code. Section 4 covers the code restructuring. Section 5 covers the Fortran 90 effort. Outline Background: longevity, maintenance & development, reliability, speed Parallelization: KAI to OpenMP, previous work & current, domain decomposition, done. Vectorization: Speed - Fed init, vectors in PCs, INL Cray SV1, R5 Phant, EXV, results. Code Restructuring: Reason to restructure, study of restruct, For Study: what it does, Fortran 90: Modernization

Architectural Advancements in RELAP5-3D

As both the computer industry and field of nuclear science and engineering move forward, there is a need to improve the computing tools used in the nuclear industry to keep pace with these changes. By increasing the capability of the codes, the growing modeling needs of nuclear plant analysis will be met and advantage can be taken of more powerful computer languages and architecture. In the past eighteen months, improvements have been made to RELAP5-3D [1] for these reasons. These architectural advances include code restructuring, conversion to Fortran 90, high performance computing upgrades, and rewriting of the RELAP5 Graphical User Interface (RGUI) [2] and XMGR5 [3] in Java. These architectural changes will extend the lifetime of RELAP5-3D, reduce the costs for development and maintenance, and improve it speed and reliability

Implementation of a New DTSTEP Algorithm for use in RELAP5-3D and PVMEXEC Completion Report

The PVM Coupling methodology for decomposing a complex model into domains onto which individual programs may be applied has proven effective for solving many multi-physics problems. There have been, from the outset, some detailed and/or long-running models that cause the process to fail. This project addressed the PVM coupling issues surrounding the DTSTEP subroutines on RELAP5-3D and PVMEXEC. Some 25 errors are listed in Tables 1 and 18 and in Section 11. These arise from deficiencies in the floating point calculation and testing of time steps, cumulative time, and time targets. The algorithmic replacement of floating point control of these items with integer based timestepping was developed and implemented. The result of the first phase, undertaken by the INL was that all but three of these issues were resolved. Moreover, two conceptual errors in DTSTEP that were not PVM coupling related were discovered and solved. The final, and most difficult three PVM Bettis User Problems, were solved during the Bettis phase of development and debugging. In 8 months since the conclusion of the project, no further DTSTEP related PVM Coupling errors have been reported

Uncertainty Analysis for RELAP5-3D

In its current state, RELAP5-3D is a 'best-estimate' code; it is one of our most reliable programs for modeling what occurs within reactor systems in transients from given initial conditions. This code, however, remains an estimator. A statistical analysis has been performed that begins to lay the foundation for a full uncertainty analysis. By varying the inputs over assumed probability density functions, the output parameters were shown to vary. Using such statistical tools as means, variances, and tolerance intervals, a picture of how uncertain the results are based on the uncertainty of the inputs has been obtained

Java XMGR

The XMGR5 graphing package [1] for drawing RELAP5 [2] plots is being re-written in Java [3]. Java is a robust programming language that is available at no cost for most computer platforms from Sun Microsystems, Inc. XMGR5 is an extension of an XY plotting tool called ACE/gr extended to plot data from several US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) applications. It is also the most popular graphing package worldwide for making RELAP5 plots. In Section 1, a short review of XMGR5 is given, followed by a brief overview of Java. In Section 2, shortcomings of both tkXMGR [4] and XMGR5 are discussed and the value of converting to Java is given. Details of the conversion to Java are given in Section 3. The progress to date, some conclusions and future work are given in Section 4. Some screen shots of the Java version are shown

RESTRUCTURING RELAP5-3D FOR NEXT GENERATION NUCLEAR PLANT ANALYSIS

RELAP5-3D is used worldwide for analyzing nuclear reactors under both operational transients and postulated accident conditions. Development of the RELAP code series began in 1975 and since that time the code has been continuously improved, enhanced, verified and validated [1]. Since RELAP5-3D will continue to be the premier thermal hydraulics tool well into the future, it is necessary to modernize the code to accommodate the incorporation of additional capabilities to support the development of the next generation of nuclear reactors [2]. This paper discusses the reengineering of RELAP5-3D into structured code

Streamlining of the RELAP5-3D Code

RELAP5-3D is widely used by the nuclear community to simulate general thermal hydraulic systems and has proven to be so versatile that the spectrum of transient two-phase problems that can be analyzed has increased substantially over time. To accommodate the many new types of problems that are analyzed by RELAP5-3D, both the physics and numerical methods of the code have been continuously improved. In the area of computational methods and mathematical techniques, many upgrades and improvements have been made decrease code run time and increase solution accuracy. These include vectorization, parallelization, use of improved equation solvers for thermal hydraulics and neutron kinetics, and incorporation of improved library utilities. In the area of applied nuclear engineering, expanded capabilities include boron and level tracking models, radiation/conduction enclosure model, feedwater heater and compressor components, fluids and corresponding correlations for modeling Generation IV reactor designs, and coupling to computational fluid dynamics solvers. Ongoing and proposed future developments include improvements to the two-phase pump model, conversion to FORTRAN 90, and coupling to more computer programs. This paper summarizes the general improvements made to RELAP5-3D, with an emphasis on streamlining the code infrastructure for improved maintenance and development. With all these past, present and planned developments, it is necessary to modify the code infrastructure to incorporate modifications in a consistent and maintainable manner. Modifying a complex code such as RELAP5-3D to incorporate new models, upgrade numerics, and optimize existing code becomes more difficult as the code grows larger. The difficulty of this as well as the chance of introducing errors is significantly reduced when the code is structured. To streamline the code into a structured program, a commercial restructuring tool, FOR_STRUCT, was applied to the RELAP5-3D source files. The methodology employed follows Dijkstra's structured programming paradigm, which is based on splitting programs into sub-sections, each with single points of entry and exit and in which control is passed downward through the structure with no unconditional branches to higher levels. GO TO commands are typically avoided, since they alter the flow and control of a program’s execution by allowing a jump from one place in the routine to another. The restructuring of RELAP5-3D subroutines is complicated by several issues. The first is use of code other than standard FORTRAN77. The second is restructuring limitations of FOR_STRUCT. The third is existence of pre-compiler directives and the complication of nested directives. Techniques were developed to overcome all these difficulties and more and these are reported. By implementing these developments, all subroutines of RELAP were restructured. Measures of code improvement relative to maintenance and development are presented

Involvement of fast-spiking cells in ictal sequences during spontaneous seizures in rats with chronic temporal lobe epilepsy

Epileptic seizures represent altered neuronal network dynamics, but the temporal evolution and cellular substrates of the neuronal activity patterns associated with spontaneous seizures are not fully understood. We used simultaneous recordings from multiple neurons in the hippocampus and neocortex of rats with chronic temporal lobe epilepsy to demonstrate that subsets of cells discharge in a highly stereotypical sequential pattern during ictal events, and that these stereotypical patterns were reproducible across consecutive seizures. In contrast to the canonical view that principal cell discharges dominate ictal events, the ictal sequences were predominantly composed of fast-spiking, putative inhibitory neurons, which displayed unusually strong coupling to local field potential even before seizures. The temporal evolution of activity was characterized by unique dynamics where the most correlated neuronal pairs before seizure onset displayed the largest increases in correlation strength during the seizures. These results demonstrate the selective involvement of fast spiking interneurons in structured temporal sequences during spontaneous ictal events in hippocampal and neocortical circuits in experimental models of chronic temporal lobe epilepsy

Cortical connectivity maps reveal anatomically distinct areas in the parietal cortex of the rat

Sherpa Romeo green journal; open accessA central feature of theories of spatial navigation involves the representation of spatial relationships between objects in complex environments. The parietal cortex has long been linked to the processing of spatial visual information and recent evidence from single unit recording in rodents suggests a role for this region in encoding egocentric and world-centered frames. The rat parietal cortex can be subdivided into four distinct rostral-caudal andmedial-lateral regions,which includesazonepreviously characterized as secondary visual cortex. At present, very little is known regarding the relative connectivity of these parietal subdivisions. Thus, we set out to map the connectivity of the entire anterior-posterior and medial-lateral span of this region. To do this we used anterograde and retrograde tracers in conjunction with open source neuronal segmentation and tracer detection tools to generate whole brain connectivity maps of parietal inputs and outputs. Our present results show that inputs to the parietal cortex varied significantly along the medial-lateral, but not the rostral-caudal axis. Specifically, retrosplenial connectivity is greater medially, but connectivity with visual cortex, though generally sparse, is more significantlaterally.Finally,basedonconnectiondensity,theconnectivitybetweenparietal cortex and hippocampus is indirect and likely achieved largely via dysgranular retrosplenial cortex. Thus, similar to primates, the parietal cortex of rats exhibits a difference in connectivity along the medial-lateral axis, which may represent functionally distinct areas.Ye

Effects of Cannabinoids on Caffeine Contractures in Slow and Fast Skeletal Muscle Fibers of the Frog

The effect of cannabinoids on caffeine contractures was investigated in slow and fast skeletal muscle fibers using isometric tension recording. In slow muscle fibers, WIN 55,212-2 (10 and 5 μM) caused a decrease in tension. These doses reduced maximum tension to 67.43 ± 8.07% (P = 0.02, n = 5) and 79.4 ± 14.11% (P = 0.007, n = 5) compared to control, respectively. Tension-time integral was reduced to 58.37 ± 7.17% and 75.10 ± 3.60% (P = 0.002, n = 5), respectively. Using the CB1 cannabinoid receptor agonist ACPA (1 μM) reduced the maximum tension of caffeine contractures by 68.70 ± 11.63% (P = 0.01, n = 5); tension-time integral was reduced by 66.82 ± 6.89% (P = 0.02, n = 5) compared to controls. When the CB1 receptor antagonist AM281 was coapplied with ACPA, it reversed the effect of ACPA on caffeine-evoked tension. In slow and fast muscle fibers incubated with the pertussis toxin, ACPA had no effect on tension evoked by caffeine. In fast muscle fibers, ACPA (1 μM) also decreased tension; the maximum tension was reduced by 56.48 ± 3.4% (P = 0.001, n = 4), and tension-time integral was reduced by 57.81 ± 2.6% (P = 0.006, n = 4). This ACPA effect was not statistically significant with respect to the reduction in tension in slow muscle fibers. Moreover, we detected the presence of mRNA for the cannabinoid CB1 receptor on fast and slow skeletal muscle fibers, which was significantly higher in fast compared to slow muscle fiber expression. In conclusion, our results suggest that in the slow and fast muscle fibers of the frog cannabinoids diminish caffeine-evoked tension through a receptor-mediated mechanism