A 1D Monoenergetic Neutron Transport Benchmark in an Infinite Medium

Analytical or semi-analytical benchmarks for the neutron transport equation are relatively infrequent. Some may argue they are no longer necessary because of the enormous computing power and computational technology that is now available. While to some extent true, they can still provide valuable code verification and also serve to teach theoretical and numerical transport methods not taught by executing MATLAB, MAPLE or MATHEMATICA programs or Monte Carlo simulations. The focus of this presentation is on a new analytical solution technique for the solution of the 1D, monoenergetic Green’s function for neutron transport. In this formulation, we consider the analytical solution to a three–term recurrence for flux moments resulting in a semi–analytical benchmark. We then apply the benchmark to assess the accuracy of the PN approximation leading to a rather unexpected result.