Should the sources have a method `get_neutron_rate` ?

fusion-energy / openmc-plasma-source

Creates a plasma source as an openmc.source object from input parameters that describe the plasma

MIT License

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Should the sources have a method `get_neutron_rate` ? #62

Open RemDelaporteMathurin opened 2 years ago

RemDelaporteMathurin commented 2 years ago

The sources should maybe have a method to compute the neutron rate in neutron/s .

usage could be

from openmc_plasma_source import FusionPointSource

my_source = FusionPointSource(.....)

neutron_rate = my_source.get_neutron_rate(fusion_power=1e9)  # for 1 GW

shimwell commented 2 years ago

Sounds useful for steady state machines, not sure how this would work for pulsed machines

RemDelaporteMathurin commented 2 years ago

Ah yes I guess the neutron rate would be in n/s or n/shot.

Anyway the calculation is the same isn't it? for SS machines, the input is the fusion power in J/s (W) for pulsed machines it's in J/pulse

shimwell commented 2 years ago

I'm just not sure if we need to separate keywords or not, happy to go along with your vision here

RemDelaporteMathurin commented 2 years ago

I think it will just have to be described in the docstrings. It's still a fusion power in both cases, the unit of time changes that's all.