Mathematical and numerical validation of the simplified spherical harmonics approach for time-dependent anisotropic-scattering transport problems in homogeneous media

Abstract

In this work, we extend the solid harmonics derivation, which was used by Ackroyd et al to derive the steady-state SP$_N$ equations, to transient problems. The derivation expands the angular flux in ordinary surface harmonics but uses harmonic polynomials to generate additional surface spherical harmonic terms to be used in Galerkin projection. The derivation shows the equivalence between the SP$_N$ and the P$_N$ approximation. Also, we use the line source problem and McClarren's "box" problem to demonstrate such equivalence numerically. Both problems were initially proposed for isotropic scattering, but here we add higher-order scattering moments to them. Results show that the difference between the SP$_N$ and P$_N$ scalar flux solution is at the roundoff level.