Publications de Alessandro Scolaro

Preliminary Sensitivity Analysis of Time-Dependent Code Outputs in Fuel Performance Models Using OFFBEAT for Future Calibration

Mathieu Hursin, Alessandro Scolaro, Edoardo Luciano Brunetto

Fuel performance codes are essential for predicting fuel rod behavior in nuclear reactors. These codes comprise a complex system of models with empirical constants that require calibration against experimental data. To support this calibration, this study ...

American Nuclear Society2025

Cell-Wise Temperature and Deformation Reactivity Feedback Modeling in Heat Pipe-Cooled Microreactors

Alessandro Scolaro

The compact design of microreactors can potentially lead to a strong interdependence between neutronics and thermo-mechanics, making the development of coupling methodologies essential to quantify the importance of such effects. This study introduces a hig ...

American Nuclear Society2025

Development of a dynamic-mesh porosity transport model for multi-dimensional fuel performance codes

Andreas Pautz, Alessandro Scolaro, Edoardo Luciano Brunetto

The porosity redistribution within nuclear fuel pellets exposed to high power ratings plays a critical role in the thermo-mechanical behavior of fast reactor fuel. Traditional fuel performance codes predict porosity migration through advection-dominated tr ...

2025

PuMMA blind benchmark: Performance of high plutonium content MOX fuel under irradiation

Carlo Fiorina, Alessandro Scolaro, Edoardo Luciano Brunetto

This paper presents the results of the first phase of the benchmark exercise in the PuMMA project, aimed at extending the reliability of fuel performance codes for Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuels with high plutonium content. The exercise involved the simulation of ...

2025

Analysing hydrogen behaviour in liner claddings using OFFBEAT fuel performance code

Alessandro Scolaro

Hydrogen generated during the waterside corrosion of zirconium claddings can diffuse within the material, forming hydrides that alter the mechanical properties of the claddings. These hydrides may lead to detrimental effects such as delayed hydride crackin ...

2025

Advances in the modeling and simulation of NTPs using OpenFOAM and OpenModelica

Alessandro Scolaro, Thomas Arthur Louis Joseph Guilbaud

American Nuclear Society2025

In-Memory, Fully-Parallel Coupling of GeN-Foam and OFFBEAT: Towards a New Milestone in High-Fidelity, Finite-Volume Nuclear Reactor Simulation

Mathieu Hursin, Alessandro Scolaro, Thomas Arthur Louis Joseph Guilbaud

The design and safety analysis of advanced fuel materials and innovative Gen-IV reactor concepts, with their distinct physical and engineering requirements compared to conventional reactors, has often been the main drive behind the development of modern mu ...

American Nuclear Society2025

Full core study of the KIWI-B-4E Nuclear Thermal Propulsion system using OpenMC and GeN-Foam

Alessandro Scolaro, Thomas Arthur Louis Joseph Guilbaud

Nuclear Thermal Propulsion systems are one of the technologies to unlock interplanetary travel in the solar system and there is currently an increasing demand for accurately simulating such systems. The present paper investigates the KIWI-B-4E reactor, the ...

2024

Comparison of Bayesian Model Calibration Techniques for Future Application to Fuel Performance Behavior Models

Mathieu Hursin, Alessandro Scolaro

This paper explores data assimilation methods in the context of Bayesian Calibration for fuel performance models. It compares deterministic and stochastic approaches, concentrating on the Generalized Linear Least Squares (GLLS) method and stochastic techni ...

American Nuclear Society2024

OFFBEAT V&V studies for REBEKA tests on cladding ballooning and burst during LOCA conditions

Alessandro Scolaro

The OpenFOAM Fuel Behaviour Analysis Tool (OFFBEAT), developed jointly by EPFL and PSI in Switzerland, is rapidly gaining recognition as a comprehensive code for multi-dimensional thermo-mechanical fuel behaviour analysis. Like for any novel code, verifica ...

2024