Optimization of Full-Core Reactor Simulations on Summit

Abstract

Nek5000/RS, a highly-performant open-source spectral element code, has recently achieved an unprecedented milestone in the simulation of nuclear reactors: the first full core computational fluid dynamics simulations of reactor cores, including pebble beds with 352,625 pebbles and 98M spectral elements (51 billion gridpoints), advanced in less than 0.25 seconds per Navier-Stokes timestep. The authors present performance and optimization considerations necessary to achieve this milestone when running on all of Summit. These optimizations led to a fourfold reduction in time-to-solution, making it possible to perform high-fidelity simulations of a single flow-through time in less than six hours for a full reactor core under prototypical conditions.