Homogenization of a neutronic critical diffusion problem with drift

In this paper we study the homogenization of an eigenvalue problem for a cooperative system of weakly coupled elliptic partial differential equations, called the neutronic multigroup diffusion model, in a periodic heterogeneous domain. Such a model is used for studying the criticality of nuclear reactor cores. In a recent work in collaboration with Gregoire Allaire, it is proved that, tinder a symmetry assumption, the first eigenvector of the multigroup system in the periodicity cell controls the oscillatory behaviour of the solutions, whereas the global trend is asymptotically given by a homogenized diffusion eigenvalue problem. It is shown here that when this symmetry condition is not fulfilled, the asymptotic behaviour of the neutron flux, corresponding to the first eigenvector of the multigroup system, is dramatically different. This result enables to consider new types of geometrical configurations in practical nuclear reactor core computations.