An Extensible Verification and Validation Library with NEAMS Workbench Integration

The DOE has invested heavily in the NEAMS toolkit with a goal of providing researchers and engineers with high fidelity tools that can be used to inform lower-order models for the design, analysis and licensing of advanced nuclear systems and experiments. Given the high stakes nature of nuclear power generation, it is essential that all NEAMS code, including the core tools and end-user driven and written simulations, are verified and validated using the industry best practices.RNET is proposing a verification and validation toolkit that provides the developers and end-users of nu- merical simulation software, including the NEAMS toolkit, with the tools required to create, implement, execute and document a thorough verification and validation plan for all numerical simulations.The Phase I work will develop an initial prototype of the verification and validation toolkit, including the development of a tool for automating the mesh refinement studies, a tool for comparing results from two or more simulations and a prototype graphical user interface (GUI). At the completion of the Phase I project, users will be able to integrate these new tools into an existing code base, run the tests and post-process the results through the GUI.Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: The verification and validation toolkit will be applicable in all forms of numerical simulations. End-users of open-source numerical simulation tools will be attracted to the toolkit as it provides them with a simple GUI through which they can setup, execute and analyze a comprehensive verification and validation plan. Likewise, the developers of numerical simulation software will be attracted to the toolkit because it positions V&V as an integral component of the design process, ultimately reducing the time spent fixing bugs and reducing the time to market. Moreover, by allowing the developers to embed the V&V tools in their codes, the toolkit gives developers a simple method to shipping software with built in support for end-user level V&V.