22 research outputs found
Impact of crystallite size on the performance of a beryllium reflector
Beryllium reflectors are used at spallation neutron sources in order to
enhance the low-energy flux of neutrons emanating from the surface of a cold
and thermal moderator. The design of such a moderator/reflector system is
typically carried out using detailed Monte-Carlo simulations, where the
beryllium reflector is assumed to behave as a poly-crystalline material. In
reality, however, inhomogeneities in the beryllium could lead to discrepancies
between the performance of the actual system when compared to the modeled
system. The dependence of the total cross section in particular on crystallite
size, in the Bragg scattering region, could influence the reflector
performance, and if such effect is significant, it should be taken into account
in the design of the moderator/reflector system. In this paper, we report on
the preliminary results of using cross-section libraries, which include
corrections for the crystallite size effect, in spallation source neutronics
calculations.Comment: ICANS-XXII
Simulating neutron transport in long beamlines at a spallation neutron source using Geant4
The transport of neutrons in long beamlines at spallation neutron sources
presents a unique challenge for Monte-Carlo transport calculations. This is due
to the need to accurately model the deep-penetration of high-energy neutrons
through meters of thick dense shields close to the source and at the same time
to model the transport of low-energy neutrons across distances up to around 150
m in length. Typically, such types of calculations may be carried out with
MCNP-based codes or alternatively PHITS. However, in recent years there has
been an increased interest in the suitability of Geant4 for such types of
calculations. Therefore, we have implemented supermirror physics, a neutron
chopper module and the duct-source variance reduction technique for low-energy
neutron transport from the PHITS Monte-Carlo code into Geant4. In the current
work, we present a series of benchmarks of these extensions with the PHITS
software, which demonstrates the suitability of Geant4 for simulating long
neutron beamlines at a spallation neutron source, such as the European
Spallation Source, currently under construction in Lund, Sweden.Comment: ICANS-XXII
Overcoming High Energy Backgrounds at Pulsed Spallation Sources
Instrument backgrounds at neutron scattering facilities directly affect the
quality and the efficiency of the scientific measurements that users perform.
Part of the background at pulsed spallation neutron sources is caused by, and
time-correlated with, the emission of high energy particles when the proton
beam strikes the spallation target. This prompt pulse ultimately produces a
signal, which can be highly problematic for a subset of instruments and
measurements due to the time-correlated properties, and different to that from
reactor sources. Measurements of this background have been made at both SNS
(ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN, USA) and SINQ (PSI, Villigen, Switzerland). The
background levels were generally found to be low compared to natural
background. However, very low intensities of high-energy particles have been
found to be detrimental to instrument performance in some conditions. Given
that instrument performance is typically characterised by S/N, improvements in
backgrounds can both improve instrument performance whilst at the same time
delivering significant cost savings. A systematic holistic approach is
suggested in this contribution to increase the effectiveness of this.
Instrument performance should subsequently benefit.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures. Proceedings of ICANS XXI (International
Collaboration on Advanced Neutron Sources), Mito, Japan. 201
Impact of crystallite size on the performance of a beryllium reflector
Beryllium reflectors are used at spallation neutron sources in order to enhance the low-energy flux of neutrons emanating from the surface of a cold and thermal moderator. The design of such a moderator/reflector system is typically carried out using detailed Monte-Carlo simulations, where the beryllium reflector is assumed to behave as a poly-crystalline material. In reality, however, inhomogeneities in the beryllium could lead to discrepancies between the performance of the actual system when compared to the modeled system. The dependence of the total cross-section in particular on crystallite size, in the Bragg scattering region, could influence the reflector performance, and if such an effect is significant, it should be taken into account in the design of the moderator/reflector system. In this paper, we report on the preliminary results of using cross-section libraries, which include corrections for the crystallite size effect, in spallation source neutronics calculations
Generation of thermal neutron scattering libraries for liquid para-hydrogen and ortho-deuterium using ring-polymer molecular dynamics
In this paper we present results of combining ring-polymer molecular dynamics with the LEAPR and THEMR modules of NJOY to generate thermal neutron scattering libraries for liquid para-hydrogen and ortho-deuterium. We present the methodology and show that it produces results that are in good agreement with data from both recent available measurements and previous theoretical studies. We also present some simple benchmark Monte-Carlo simulations compared with other available libraries
Benchmarking Geant4 for spallation neutron source calculations
Geant4 is becoming increasingly used for radiation transport simulations of spallation neutron sources and related components. Historically, the code has seen little usage in this field and it is of general interest to investigate the suitability of Geant4 for such applications. For this purpose, we carried out Geant4 calculations based on simple spallation source geometries and also with the the European Spallation Source Technical Design Report target and moderator configuration. The results are compared to calculations performed with the Monte Carlo N Particle extended code. The comparisons are carried out over the full spallation neutron source energy spectrum, from sub-eV energies up to thousands of MeV. Our preliminary results reveal that there is generally good agreement between the simulations using both codes. Additionally, we have also implemented a general weight-window generator for Geant4 based applications and present some results of the method applied to the ESS target model
Simulating neutron transport in long beamlines at a spallation neutron source using Geant4
The transport of neutrons in long beamlines at spallation neutron sources presents a unique challenge for Monte-Carlo transport calculations. This is due to the need to accurately model the deep-penetration of high-energy neutrons through meters of thick dense shields close to the source and at the same time to model the transport of low- energy neutrons across distances up to around 150 m in length. Typically, such types of calculations may be carried out with MCNP-based codes or alternatively PHITS. However, in recent years there has been an increased interest in the suitability of Geant4 for such types of calculations. Therefore, we have implemented supermirror physics, a neutron chopper module and the duct-source variance reduction technique for low- energy neutron transport from the PHITS Monte-Carlo code into Geant4. In the current work, we present a series of benchmarks of these extensions with the PHITS software, which demonstrates the suitability of Geant4 for simulating long neutron beamlines at a spallation neutron source, such as the European Spallation Source, currently under construction in Lund, Sweden
Benchmarking shielding simulations for an accelerator-driven spallation neutron source
The shielding at an accelerator-driven spallation neutron facility plays a critical role in the performance of the neutron scattering instruments, the overall safety, and the total cost of the facility. Accurate simulation of shielding components is thus key for the design of upcoming facilities, such as the European Spallation Source (ESS), currently in construction in Lund, Sweden. In this paper, we present a comparative study between the measured and the simulated neutron background at the Swiss Spallation Neutron Source (SINQ), at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Villigen, Switzerland. The measurements were carried out at several positions along the SINQ monolith wall with the neutron dosimeter WENDI-2, which has a well-characterized response up to 5 GeV. The simulations were performed using the Monte-Carlo radiation transport code Geant4, and include a complete transport from the proton beam to the measurement locations in a single calculation. An agreement between measurements and simulations is about a factor of 2 for the points where the measured radiation dose is above the background level, which is a satisfactory result for such simulations spanning many energy regimes, different physics processes and transport through several meters of shielding materials. The neutrons contributing to the radiation field emanating from the monolith were confirmed to originate from neutrons with energies above 1 MeV in the target region. The current work validates Geant4 as being well suited for deep-shielding calculations at accelerator-based spallation sources. We also extrapolate what the simulated flux levels might imply for short (several tens of meters) instruments at ESS
Application of automated weight windows to spallation neutron source shielding calculations using Geant4
Benchmarking shielding simulations for an accelerator-driven spallation neutron source
The shielding at an accelerator-driven spallation neutron facility plays a critical role in the performance of the neutron scattering instruments, the overall safety, and the total cost of the facility. Accurate simulation of shielding components is thus key for the design of upcoming facilities, such as the European Spallation Source (ESS), currently in construction in Lund, Sweden. In this paper, we present a comparative study between the measured and the simulated neutron background at the Swiss Spallation Neutron Source (SINQ), at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Villigen, Switzerland. The measurements were carried out at several positions along the SINQ monolith wall with the neutron dosimeter WENDI-2, which has a well-characterized response up to 5 GeV. The simulations were performed using the Monte-Carlo radiation transport code Geant4, and include a complete transport from the proton beam to the measurement locations in a single calculation. An agreement between measurements and simulations is about a factor of 2 for the points where the measured radiation dose is above the background level, which is a satisfactory result for such simulations spanning many energy regimes, different physics processes and transport through several meters of shielding materials. The neutrons contributing to the radiation field emanating from the monolith were confirmed to originate from neutrons with energies above 1 MeV in the target region. The current work validates Geant4 as being well suited for deep-shielding calculations at accelerator-based spallation sources. We also extrapolate what the simulated flux levels might imply for short (several tens of meters) instruments at ESS