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The solution of coupled neutronic/thermal hydraulic nuclear reactor calculations requires the treatment of the nonlinear feedback induced by the thermal hydraulic dependence of the neutron cross sections. As a result of these nonlinearities, current solution techniques often diverge during the iteration process. These instabilities arise due to the low level of coupling achieved by these methods between the neutronic and thermal hydraulic components. In this work, this solution method is labeled the Decoupled Iteration (DI) method, and this technique is examined in an effort to improve its efficiency and stability. An examination of the DI method also serves to provide insight into the development of more highly coupled iteration methods. After the examination of several possible iteration procedures, two techniques are developed which achieve both a higher degree of coupling and stability. One such procedure is the Outer Iteration Coupling (OIC) method, which combines the outer iteration of the multigroup diffusion calculation with the controlling iteration of the thermal hydraulic calculations. The OIC method appears to be stable for all cases, while maintaining a high level of efficiency. Another iteration procedure developed is the Modified Axial Coupling (MAC) procedure, which couples the neutronic and thermal hydraulic components at the level of the axial position within the coolant channel. While the MAC method does achieve the highest level of coupling and stability, the efficiency of this technique is less than that of the other methods examined. Several characteristics of these coupled calculation methods are examined during the investigation. All methods are shown to be relatively insensitive to thermal hydraulic operating conditions, while the dependence upon convergence criteria is quite significant. It is demonstrated that the DI method does not converge for arbitrarily small convergence criteria, which is a result of a non-asymptotic solution approximation by the DI method. This asymptotic quality is achieved in the coupled methods. Thus, not only do the OIC and MAC techniques converge for small values of the relevant convergence criteria, but the computational expense of these methods is a predictable function of these criteria. The degree of stability of the iterative techniques is enhanced by a higher level of coupling, but the efficiency of these methods tends to decrease as a higher degree of coupling is achieved. This is apparent in the diminished efficiency of the MAC procedure. Seeking an optimum balance of efficiency and stability, the OIC technique is demonstrated to be the optimum method for coupled neutronic/thermal hydraulic reactor calculations. / Graduation date: 1994

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