Sharif Digital Repository

In this study, new method for NAA purposes at 30 kW Isfahan MNSR is suggested. An algorithm based on ANN is proposed to quantitatively predict the unknown elements with no need standard sample. A three-layer feed-forward ANN with back-propagation algorithm has been used to determine concentration of selenium and fluorine in Multiple Sclerosis patients and healthy people blood samples. Predicted concentration of elements show good agreement between new method and experiment results. The correlation coefficient between the experimentally determined and predicted values are 0.99104 and 0.99364, respectively. This method is a rapid and precise approach for elemental analysis. © 2022, Akadémiai... 

In this study, the Geant4 toolkit is utilized to present a new approach for simulation of the D-T interaction. The neutron production cross-section and the energy/angle distribution of neutrons produced as the D-T data libraries are incorporated in the Geant4, and their performance is evaluated. The spectra shape of the produced neutrons of the D-T interaction simulated by the Geant4 show good agreement compared to the results of the comparative codes (i.e. MCUNED, ENEA-JSI, and DDT). However, some differences are observed, especially, in angular range of 90-95 degrees. The reason for these differences as well as the results of the proposed approach in comparison with the results of the... 

In this study, in order to maximize the reaction rate of neutron activation (NA), an approach using combination of the MCNP code, the feed-forward neural network with the Bayesian regularization (FFNN-BR) learning algorithm, and the genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed. The MCNP code calculates the reaction rates based on the different moderator dimensions/ target positions. The calculated reaction rates with appropriate features (i.e. RT, R2S, and Z2S) are applied for training of the FFNN-BR. The trained neural network is utilized for estimating the reaction rates of the generated individuals by the GA. The results show that the trained neural network estimates the reaction rates with... 

The alkaline treatment condition plays a crucial role in governing the ultimate properties of flax fibers. In this study, flax fibers were modified with mild alkalization and severe mercerization conditions to give fundamental insight into how the molecular-scale changes in cell wall fine structure and cellulose supramolecular structure can affect the macroscopic properties of fibers. SEM, FTIR, XRD, TGA, and DSC techniques were employed to characterize the variations in morphology, composition, crystalline structure, and thermal properties of fibers. Also, tensile tests evaluated their reinforcing performance in polypropylene-based composites. The results indicated that alkalization in 5%... 

In an attempt to explore the significance of transport theory in neutron noise, localization of a noise source by Green's function based on transport theory is investigated. There are considerable differences between Green's functions based on diffusion and transport, such as small dimensions, near edges, high heterogeneity medium and high-frequency source of perturbation. These differences are expected to significantly impact unfolding, reconstruction, and identification of the neutron noise source. Improvement in noise source unfolding methods is essential in terms of safety aspects and reactor performance enhancement. Since gaining the ability to monitor nuclear reactor based on noise... 

The purpose of the present study is to develop the neutron diffusion solver and neutron noise simulator based on the Boundary Element Method (BEM). The 2-D, 2-G neutron/adjoint diffusion equation and corresponding neutron/adjoint noise equation were solved using the mentioned method. The developed neutron static and noise simulator based on the finite element method gives accurate results when the more number of the elements is used. The motivation of the present research is to use the boundary element method to reduce the computational cost. The boundary element method attempts to use the given boundary conditions to fit boundary values into the integral equation, rather than values... 

In this study, the SD-HACNEM (Sharif Dynamic - High order Average Current Nodal Expansion Method) neutron noise simulator in two energy groups using a second-order flux expansion method for two-dimensional rectangular X Y-geometry has been developed. In the first step, the calculations were performed for the steady state and results of ACNEM (Average Current Nodal Expansion Method) and HACNEM (High order Average Current Nodal Expansion Method) were examined and compared. To solve the problem, the power iteration algorithm has been used to calculate the distribution of neutron flux and neutron multiplication factor by considering the coarse-mesh (each fuel assembly one node). To validate the... 

Proton therapy (PT) is an emerging external beam radiation therapy characterized by superior dose distribution compared to conventional modalities. In the present study, an optimal GATE model was developed and then validated for a double scattering proton nozzle based on the previously constructed model. To this aim, a double scattering treatment nozzle was modeled in the GATE platform. To accelerate the GATE simulations, a virtual range modulation wheel (vRMW) and a variance reduction technique (VRT) were implemented. Proton beam flatness, symmetry, and delivery efficiency, secondary neutron dose, and dosimetric performance were characterized through a set of GATE simulations. The findings... 

The safety and optimal performance of nuclear reactors require online monitoring in the core. The present paper describes a method that avoids the solution of the time-dependent neutron diffusion equation, and it uses online readings of the fixed in-core neutron detectors to reconstruct the three-dimensional (3D) neutron flux distribution. The essential idea of the nodal synthesis method is the separation of time and space-dependence of the neutron flux distribution. The time-dependent section of the flux distribution is determined by in-core neutron detector readings, and the space-dependent section is obtained from pre-computed harmonics of the neutron diffusion equation. In online... 

Applying the available neutron flux for medical and industrial purposes is the most important application of research reactors. The neutron radiography system is used for non-destructive testing (NDT) of materials so that it is one of the main applications of nuclear research reactors. One of these research reactors is the 5 MW pool-type light water research reactor of Tehran (TRR). This work aims to investigate on materials and location of the beam tube (BT) of the TRR radiography system to improve the index parameters of BT. Our results showed that a through-type BT with 20 cm thick carbon neutron filter, 1.2 cm and 9.4 cm of the diameter of inlet (D1) and output (D2) BT, respectively... 

In this paper a probabilistic methodology based on core nodalization is proposed to estimate the core power in the presence of xenon oscillation. A time-dependent Monte Carlo neutron transport code named MCSP-NOD is developed for dynamic analysis in arbitrary 3D geometries to simulate xenon oscillations as well as sub-critical condition with feedbacks. The new code is based on the approach adopted in MCNP-NOD which was previously introduced as a tool for core transient analysis using the MCNPX platform. As before, the core is divided into nodes of arbitrary dimensions, and all terms of the transport equation e.g. interaction rates, leakage ratio are estimated using the MC techniques.... 

Low temperature combustion potentially can improve engine efficiency coupled with the benefits of low nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter emissions, and vice versa high unburned hydrocarbon and carbon oxide emissions through in-cylinder fuel reactions. In this survey, the experiments were carried out using a modified one-cylinder reactivity controlled compression ignition engine, dual-fueled diesel/compressed natural gas and biodiesel/CNG, to investigate the effects of direct injection strategies on the engine combustion efficiency and emission characteristics. Different ratios of biodiesel blends at different premixed ratios were applied to the dual-fuel engine. The results showed that... 

In the present study, simulation of a direct geometry spectrometer for neutron Time-of-Flight (nTOF) is performed based on the Monte Carlo method to calculate the energy spectrum of the neutron source. To this end, the ability to simulate the simultaneous emission (such as the simultaneous emission of the neutron and gamma particles from the241Am-9Be neutron source) and the neutron Pulse Height Distribution (nPHD) were added to the MCNPX computer code. In addition, a post-processing software was developed to analyze the massive amounts of the data in the output of the PTRAC card. The application of the nTOF as a direct method to calculate the neutron spectrum eliminates the error induced by... 

Proton beam therapy (PBT) is a modern external beam radiation therapy characterized by superior dose distribution. Small field PBT refers to the treatment of tumor sizes less than 7 cm in diameter. In this study, a fast and accurate GATE model was developed and then validated for a small field scattering PBT delivery. To this aim, a fixed single scattering nozzle was modeled in the GATE platform. To accelerate the GATE simulations, a variance reduction technique (VRT) was also incorporated by ignoring the tracking of the secondary particles having a range below a predefined cutoff. In addition, the influence of collimator material on the model performance was evaluated. Beam uniformity,... 

Given the importance and complexity of the three-dimensional (3D) neutron transport equation solution, in the current research, a new Modular Ray Tracing (MRT) Algorithm and 3D characteristic kernel for heterogeneous structures are presented. Improvement of memory management and cache coherency are achieved to some acceptable level. Also, parallel implementation of transport algorithm utilizing OpenMP, cause significant reduction in runtime. To validate our Algorithm, first, a self-constituted pin cell and a lattice arrangement are modeled and results are compared with Monte-Carlo simulation. Second, the well-known 3D benchmark, Takeda model one and two, are investigated and results compared... 

Porphyrins are organic compounds that continue to attract much theoretical interest, and have been called the “pigments of life”. They have a wide role in photodynamic and sonodynamic therapy, along with uses in magnetic resonance, fluorescence and photoacoustic imaging. There is a vast range of porphyrins that have been isolated or designed, but few of them have real clinical applications. Due to the hydrophobic properties of porphyrins, and their tendency to aggregate by stacking of the planar molecules they are difficult to work with in aqueous media. Therefore encapsulating them in nanoparticles (NPs) or attachment to various delivery vehicles have been used to improve delivery... 

The safety and optimal performance of nuclear reactors require online monitoring in the core. The present paper describes a method that avoids the solution of the time-dependent neutron diffusion equation, and it uses online readings of the fixed in-core neutron detectors to reconstruct the three-dimensional (3D) neutron flux distribution. The essential idea of the nodal synthesis method is the separation of time and space-dependence of the neutron flux distribution. The time-dependent section of the flux distribution is determined by in-core neutron detector readings, and the space-dependent section is obtained from pre-computed harmonics of the neutron diffusion equation. In online... 

Elemental analysis can be performed using obtained gamma-ray spectrum of the sample under study. In this work, simple Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) neural network models are proposed for analyzing a gamma-ray emitting sample using whole information of its obtained gamma-ray spectrum. Elemental analysis is performed in two fields of study using 3 × 3 inch NaI(Tl) detectors: Radio-Isotope Identification (RIID) and Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation Analysis (PGNAA). The gamma-ray point sources are used for an empirical study in RIID field, while a Monte Carlo simulation study is considered for determining chlorine and water content of crude oil using combination of PGNAA technique and a MLP model.... 

One of the well-known online monitoring techniques used for quality control of bulk samples is Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation Analysis (PGNAA). PGNAA suffers from the so-called matrix effect problems such as density, thickness and moisture content of the sample under study. In this work, an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model is introduced to deal with these effects. The required spectra for training and testing the proposed ANN model are obtained by Monte Carlo simulation of the gamma-ray spectra recorded in a PGNAA online analyzer system used in cement factories. The gamma-ray spectra related to given set of density, thickness and moisture content are corrected channel-to-channel using... 

The neutron velocity selector is a device used to produce a monochromatic neutron beam with continuous flux. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the sensitivity of the transmission factor and resolution of a multiblade neutron velocity selector to the various parameters using the McStas software. To this end, two instruments were created using the Arm, Progress_bar, Source_simple, DivMonitor, L_monitor, Guide_channeled and V_selector components of the McStas software. The used V_selector component to simulate the multiblade neutron velocity selector was created by considering three assumptions: 1. The absorption of colliding neutrons to selector blades, 2. No interaction of...