“CHAPTER 5” DIFFUSION THEORY

¹ University of Arizona, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
² Texas A&M University, Department of Nuclear Engineering

Ganapol@cowboy.ame.arizona
Tsvetkov@tamu.edu

Published online: 22 February 2021

Abstract

In many nuclear reactor physics texts (excluding Elmer Lewis’s recent text however), “Chapter 5” is dedicated to diffusion theory; hence, the title of this submission. Here, we will investigate analytical solutions to the most basic form of the monoenergetic 1D stationary diffusion equation. The intuitive approach taken radically departs from the usual method of solving the diffusion equation. In particular, we consider a general setting such that the method accommodates all solutions to the monoenergetic diffusion equations in 1D plane and curvilinear geometries. This is not your father’s diffusion theory and, for this reason, we anticipate it will eventually become the classroom standard.