Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Computer Codes”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,729 records · Page 96

Nuclear Safety [Vol. 36, No. 2, July-December 1995]

Nuclear Safety is a journal that covers significant issues in the field of nuclear safety. Its primary scope is safety in the design, construction, operation, and decommissioning of nuclear power reactors worldwide and the research and analysis activities that promote this goal, but it also encompasses the safety aspects of the entire nuclear fuel cycle, including fuel fabrication, spent-fuel processing and handling, and nuclear waste disposal, the handling of fissionable materials and radioisotopes, and the environmental effects of all these activities. Table of Contents for this issue follows. THE CHORNOBYL ACCIDENT: 195 The Chornobyl Accident Revisited, Part III: Chernobyl Source Term Release Dynamics and Reconstruction of Events During the Active Phase, A. R. Sich; GENERAL SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS: 218 Second ANS Workshop on the Safety of Soviet-Designed Nuclear Power Plants, R. A. Bari; 234 Elements of a Nuclear Criticality Safety Program, C. M. Hopper; 243 Rickover, Excellence, and Criticality Safety Programs, R. E. Wilson; ACCIDENT ANALYSIS: 249 Transient Analysis of the PIUS Advanced Reactor Design with the TRAC-PF1/MOD2 Code, B. E. Boyack, J. L Steiner, S. C. Harmony, H. J. Stumpf, and J. F. Lime; 278 The Hierarchy-By-Interval Approach to Identifying Important Models that Need Improvement in Severe-Accident Simulation Codes, T. J. Heames, M. Khatib-Rahbar, J. E. Kelly, R. P. Jenks-Johnson, and Y.-S. Chen; 290 RELAP5/MOD3 Code Coupling Model, R. P. Martin; 299 Missiles Caused by Severe Pressurized-Water Reactor Accidents, R. Krieg; DESIGN FEATURES: 310 Validation of COMMIX with Westinghouse AP-600 PCCS Test Data, J. G. Sun, T. H. Chien, J. Ding, and W T. Sha; ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS: 321 Spent Nuclear Fuel Characterization for a Bounding Reference Assembly for the Receiving Basin for Off-Site Fuel, S. D. Kahook, R. L. Garrett, L. R. Canas, and M J. Beckum; OPERATING EXPERIENCES: 332 Reactor Shutdown Experience, Compiled by J. W. Cletcher; U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION INFORMATION AND ANALYSES: 335 Reactor Coolant System Blowdown at Wolf Creek on September 17, 1994, J. V. Kauffman and S. L. Israel; RECENT DEVELOPMENTS: 344 Reports, Standards, and Safety Guides, D. S. Oueener; 349 Proposed Rule Changes as of June 30, 1995; ANNOUNCEMENTS: 320 Symposium on Acceptability of Risk From Radiation—Application to Manned Space Flight; 320 24th DOE/NRC Nuclear Air Cleaning and Treatment Conference; 361 Radiation Biology and Radiation Protection— Modern Developments and Tendencies in Radiation Biology; 362 1997 IEEE Sixth Conference on Human Factors and Power Plants; 354 The Authors; 360 Reviewers of Nuclear Safety, Vol. 36.

05 NUCLEAR FUELS↗

TRACE and TRAC-BF1 benchmark against Leibstadt plant data during the event inadvertent opening of relief valves

In framework of introducing TRACE code to transient analyses system codes for Leibstadt Power Plant (KKL), a conversion process of existing TRAC-BF1 model to TRACE has been started within KKL. In the first step, TRACE thermal-hydraulic model for KKL has been developed based on existing TRAC-BF1 model. In order to assess the code models a simulation of plant transient event is required. In this matter simulations of inadvertent opening of 8 relief valves event have been performed. The event occurs at KKL during normal operation, and it started when 8 relief valves open resulting in depressurization of the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV). The reactor was shutdown safely by SCRAM at low level. The high pressure core spray (HPCS) and the reactor core isolation cooling (RCIC) have been started manually in order to compensate the level drop. The remaining water in the feedwater (FW) lines flashes due to saturation conditions originated from RPV depressurization and refills the reactor downcomer. The plant boundary conditions have been used in the simulations and the FW flow rate has been adjusted for better prediction. The simulations reproduce the plant data with good agreement. It can be concluded that the TRAC-BF1 existing model has been used successfully to develop the TRACE model and the results of the calculations have shown good agreement with plant recorded data. Beside the modeling assessment, the TRACE and TRAC-BF1 capabilities to reproduce plant physical behavior during the transient have shown satisfactory results. The first step of developing KKL model for TRACE has been successfully achieved and this model is further developed in order to simulate more complex plant behavior such as Turbine Trip. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Using a Simple Binomial Model to Assess Improvement in Predictive Capability: Sequential Bayesian Inference, Hypothesis Testing, and Power Analysis

We present a Bayesian statistical methodology for identifying improvement in predictive simulations, including an analysis of the number of (presumably expensive) simulations that will need to be made in order to establish with a given level of confidence that an improvement has been observed. Our analysis assumes the ability to predict (or postdict) the same experiments with legacy and new simulation codes and uses a simple binomial model for the probability, {theta}, that, in an experiment chosen at random, the new code will provide a better prediction than the old. This model makes it possible to do statistical analysis with an absolute minimum of assumptions about the statistics of the quantities involved, at the price of discarding some potentially important information in the data. In particular, the analysis depends only on whether or not the new code predicts better than the old in any given experiment, and not on the magnitude of the improvement. We show how the posterior distribution for {theta} may be used, in a kind of Bayesian hypothesis testing, both to decide if an improvement has been observed and to quantify our confidence in that decision. We quantify the predictive probability that should be assigned, prior to taking any data, to the possibility of achieving a given level of confidence, as a function of sample size. We show how this predictive probability depends on the true value of {theta} and, in particular, how there will always be a region around {theta} = 1/2 where it is highly improbable that we will be able to identify an improvement in predictive capability, although the width of this region will shrink to zero as the sample size goes to infinity. We show how the posterior standard deviation may be used, as a kind of 'plan B metric' in the case that the analysis shows that {theta} is close to 1/2 and argue that such a plan B should generally be part of hypothesis testing. All the analysis presented in the paper is done with a general beta-function prior for {theta}, enabling sequential analysis in which a small number of new simulations may be done and the resulting posterior for {theta} used as a prior to inform the next stage of power analysis.

42 ENGINEERING↗

SU-E-T-784: Using MLC Log Files for Daily IMRT Delivery Verification

Purpose: To verify daily intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatments using multi-leaf collimator (MLC) log files. Methods: The MLC log files from a NovalisTX Varian linear accelerator were used in this study. The MLC files were recorded daily for all patients undergoing IMRT or volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT). The first record of each patient was used as reference and all records for subsequent days were compared against the reference. An in house MATLAB software code was used for the comparisons. Each MLC log file was converted to a fluence map (FM) and a gamma index (γ) analysis was used for the evaluation of each daily delivery for every patient. The tolerance for the gamma index was set to 2% dose difference and 2mm distance to agreement while points with signal of 10% or lower of the maximum value were excluded from the comparisons. Results: The γ between each of the reference FMs and the consecutive daily fraction FMs had an average value of 99.1% (ranged from 98.2 to 100.0%). The FM images were reconstructed at various resolutions in order to study the effect of the resolution on the γ and at the same time reduce the time for processing the images. We found that the comparison of images with the highest resolution (768×1024) yielded on average a lower γ (99.1%) than the ones with low resolution (192×256) (γ 99.5%). Conclusion: We developed an in-house software that allows us to monitor the quality of daily IMRT and VMAT treatment deliveries using information from the MLC log files of the linear accelerator. The information can be analyzed and evaluated as early as after the completion of each daily treatment. Such tool can be valuable to assess the effect of MLC positioning on plan quality, especially in the context of adaptive radiotherapy.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Qualification of CASMO5 / SIMULATE-3K against the SPERT-III E-core cold start-up experiments

SIMULATE-3K is a three-dimensional kinetic code applicable to LWR Reactivity Initiated Accidents. S3K has been used to calculate several international recognized benchmarks. However, the feedback models in the benchmark exercises are different from the feedback models that SIMULATE-3K uses for LWR reactors. For this reason, it is worth comparing the SIMULATE-3K capabilities for Reactivity Initiated Accidents against kinetic experiments. The Special Power Excursion Reactor Test III was a pressurized-water, nuclear-research facility constructed to analyze the reactor kinetic behavior under initial conditions similar to those of commercial LWRs. The SPERT III E-core resembles a PWR in terms of fuel type, moderator, coolant flow rate, and system pressure. The initial test conditions (power, core flow, system pressure, core inlet temperature) are representative of cold start-up, hot start-up, hot standby, and hot full power. The qualification of S3K against the SPERT III E-core measurements is an ongoing work at Studsvik. In this paper, the results for the 30 cold start-up tests are presented. The results show good agreement with the experiments for the reactivity initiated accident main parameters: peak power, energy release and compensated reactivity. Predicted and measured peak powers differ at most by 13%. Measured and predicted reactivity compensations at the time of the peak power differ less than 0.01 $. Predicted and measured energy release differ at most by 13%. All differences are within the experimental uncertainty. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Assessment of PCMI Simulation Using the Multidimensional Multiphysics BISON Fuel Performance Code

Since 2008, the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has been developing a next-generation nuclear fuel performance code called BISON. BISON is built using INL’s Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment, or MOOSE. MOOSE is a massively parallel, finite element-based framework to solve systems of coupled non-linear partial differential equations using the Jacobian-FreeNewton Krylov (JFNK) method. MOOSE supports the use of complex two- and three-dimensional meshes and uses implicit time integration, which is important for the widely varied time scales in nuclear fuel simulation. MOOSE’s object-oriented architecture minimizes the programming required to add new physics models. BISON has been applied to various nuclear fuel problems to assess the accuracy of its 2D and 3D capabilities. The benchmark results used in this assessment range from simulation results from other fuel performance codes to measurements from well-known and documented reactor experiments. An example of a well-documented experiment used in this assessment is the Third Risø Fission Gas Project, referred to as “Bump Test GE7”, which was performed on rod ZX115. This experiment was chosen because it allows for an evaluation of several aspects of the code, including fully coupled thermo-mechanics, contact, and several nonlinear material models. Bump Test GE7 consists of a base-irradiation period of a full-length rod in the Quad-Cities-1 BWR for nearly 7 years to a burnup of 4.17% FIMA. The base irradiation test is followed by a “bump test” of a sub-section of the original rod. The bump test takes place in the test reactor DR3 at Risø in a water-cooled HP1 rig under BWR conditions where the power level is increased by about 50% over base irradiation levels in the span of several hours. During base irradiation, the axial power profile is flat. During the bump test, the axial power profile changes so that the bottom half of the rod is at approximately 50% higher power than at the base irradiation level, while the power at the top of the rod is at about 20% of the base irradiation power level. 2D BISON simulations of the Bump Test GE7 were run using both discrete and smeared pellet geometry. Comparisons between these calculations and experimental measurements are presented for clad diameter and elongation after the base irradiation and clad profile along the length of the test section after the bump test. Preliminary comparisons between calculations and measurements are favorable, supporting the use of BISON as an accurate multiphysics fuel simulation tool.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Application of 3D Code IBSimu for Designing an H{sup -}/D{sup -} Extraction System for the Texas A and M Facility Upgrade

A three dimensional ion optical code IBSimu is being developed at the University of Jyvaeskylae. So far the plasma modelling of the code has been restricted to positive ion extraction systems, but now a negative ion plasma extraction model has been added. The plasma model has been successfully validated with simulations of the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) ion source extraction both in cylindrical symmetry and in full 3D, also modelling electron beam dumping and ion beam tilt. A filament-driven multicusp ion source has been installed at the Texas A and M University Cyclotron Institute for production of H{sup -} and D{sup -} beams as a part of the facility upgrade. The light ion beams, produced by the ion source, are accelerated with the K150 cyclotron for production and reacceleration of rare isotopes. The extraction system for the ion source was designed with IBSimu. The extraction features a water-cooled puller electrode with a permanent magnet dipole field for dumping the co-extracted electrons and a decelerating Einzel lens for adjusting the beam focusing for further beam transport. The ion source and the puller electrode are tilted at 4 degree angle with respect to the beam line. The extraction system can handle H{sup -} and D{sup -} beams with final beam energies from 5 keV to 15 keV using the same geometry, only adjusting the electrode voltages. So far, 24 {mu}A of H{sup -} and 15 {mu}A of D{sup -} have been extracted from the cyclotron.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

NA-42 TI Shared Software Component Library FY2011 Final Report

The NA-42 TI program initiated an effort in FY2010 to standardize its software development efforts with the long term goal of migrating toward a software management approach that will allow for the sharing and reuse of code developed within the TI program, improve integration, ensure a level of software documentation, and reduce development costs. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has been tasked with two activities that support this mission. PNNL has been tasked with the identification, selection, and implementation of a Shared Software Component Library. The intent of the library is to provide a common repository that is accessible by all authorized NA-42 software development teams. The repository facilitates software reuse through a searchable and easy to use web based interface. As software is submitted to the repository, the component registration process captures meta-data and provides version control for compiled libraries, documentation, and source code. This meta-data is then available for retrieval and review as part of library search results. In FY2010, PNNL and staff from the Remote Sensing Laboratory (RSL) teamed up to develop a software application with the goal of replacing the aging Aerial Measuring System (AMS). The application under development includes an Advanced Visualization and Integration of Data (AVID) framework and associated AMS modules. Throughout development, PNNL and RSL have utilized a common AMS code repository for collaborative code development. The AMS repository is hosted by PNNL, is restricted to the project development team, is accessed via two different geographic locations and continues to be used. The knowledge gained from the collaboration and hosting of this repository in conjunction with PNNL software development and systems engineering capabilities were used in the selection of a package to be used in the implementation of the software component library on behalf of NA-42 TI. The second task managed by PNNL is the development and continued maintenance of the NA-42 TI Software Development Questionnaire. This questionnaire is intended to help software development teams working under NA-42 TI in documenting their development activities. When sufficiently completed, the questionnaire illustrates that the software development activities recorded incorporate significant aspects of the software engineering lifecycle. The questionnaire template is updated as comments are received from NA-42 and/or its development teams and revised versions distributed to those using the questionnaire. PNNL also maintains a list of questionnaire recipients. The blank questionnaire template, the AVID and AMS software being developed, and the completed AVID AMS specific questionnaire are being used as the initial content to be established in the TI Component Library. This report summarizes the approach taken to identify requirements, search for and evaluate technologies, and the approach taken for installation of the software needed to host the component library. Additionally, it defines the process by which users request access for the contribution and retrieval of library content.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Variational-average-atom-in-quantum-plasmas (VAAQP) code and virial theorem: Equation-of-state and shock-Hugoniot calculations for warm dense Al, Fe, Cu, and Pb

The numerical code VAAQP (variational average atom in quantum plasmas), which is based on a fully variational model of equilibrium dense plasmas, is applied to equation-of-state calculations for aluminum, iron, copper, and lead in the warm-dense-matter regime. VAAQP does not impose the neutrality of the Wigner-Seitz ion sphere; it provides the average-atom structure and the mean ionization self-consistently from the solution of the variational equations. The formula used for the electronic pressure is simple and does not require any numerical differentiation. In this paper, the virial theorem is derived in both nonrelativistic and relativistic versions of the model. This theorem allows one to express the electron pressure as a combination of the electron kinetic and interaction energies. It is shown that the model fulfills automatically the virial theorem in the case of local-density approximations to the exchange-correlation free-energy. Applications of the model to the equation-of-state and Hugoniot shock adiabat of aluminum, iron, copper, and lead in the warm-dense-matter regime are presented. Comparisons with other approaches, including the inferno model, and with available experimental data are given. This work allows one to understand the thermodynamic consistency issues in the existing average-atom models. Starting from the case of aluminum, a comparative study of the thermodynamic consistency of the models is proposed. A preliminary study of the validity domain of the inferno model is also included.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Assessment of transition fuel cycle performance with and without a modified-open fuel cycle

The impacts of a modified-open fuel cycle (MOC) option as a transition step from the current once-through cycle (OTC) to a full-recycle fuel cycle (FRC) were assessed using the nuclear systems analysis code DANESS. The MOC of interest for this study was mono-recycling of plutonium in light water reactors (LWR-MOX). Two fuel cycle scenarios were evaluated with and without the MOC option: a 2-stage scenario with a direct path from the current fleet to the final FRC, and a 3-stage scenario with the MOC option as a transition step. The FRC reactor (fast reactor) was assumed to deploy in 2050 for both scenarios, and the MOC reactor in the 3-stage scenario was assumed to deploy in 2025. The last LWRs (using either UOX or MOX fuels) come online in 2050 and are decommissioned by 2110. Thus, the FRC is achieved after 2110. The reprocessing facilities were assumed to be available 2 years prior to the deployment of the MOC and FRC reactors with maximum reprocessing capacities of 2000 tHM/yr and 500 tHM/t for LWR-UOX and LWR-MOX used nuclear fuels (UNFs), respectively. Under a 1% nuclear energy demand growth assumption, both scenarios were able to sustain a full transition to the FRC without delay. For the 3-stage scenario, the share of LWR-MOX reactors reaches a peak of 15% of installed capacity, which resulted in 10% lower cumulative uranium consumption and SWU requirements compared to the 2-stage scenario during the transition period. The peak UNF storage requirement decreases by 50% in the 3-stage scenario, largely due to the earlier deployment of the reprocessing plants to support the MOC fuel cycle. (authors)

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

MODULES FOR EXPERIMENTS IN STELLAR ASTROPHYSICS (MESA): PLANETS, OSCILLATIONS, ROTATION, AND MASSIVE STARS

We substantially update the capabilities of the open source software package Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA), and its one-dimensional stellar evolution module, MESA star. Improvements in MESA star's ability to model the evolution of giant planets now extends its applicability down to masses as low as one-tenth that of Jupiter. The dramatic improvement in asteroseismology enabled by the space-based Kepler and CoRoT missions motivates our full coupling of the ADIPLS adiabatic pulsation code with MESA star. This also motivates a numerical recasting of the Ledoux criterion that is more easily implemented when many nuclei are present at non-negligible abundances. This impacts the way in which MESA star calculates semi-convective and thermohaline mixing. We exhibit the evolution of 3-8 M{sub Sun} stars through the end of core He burning, the onset of He thermal pulses, and arrival on the white dwarf cooling sequence. We implement diffusion of angular momentum and chemical abundances that enable calculations of rotating-star models, which we compare thoroughly with earlier work. We introduce a new treatment of radiation-dominated envelopes that allows the uninterrupted evolution of massive stars to core collapse. This enables the generation of new sets of supernovae, long gamma-ray burst, and pair-instability progenitor models. We substantially modify the way in which MESA star solves the fully coupled stellar structure and composition equations, and we show how this has improved the scaling of MESA's calculational speed on multi-core processors. Updates to the modules for equation of state, opacity, nuclear reaction rates, and atmospheric boundary conditions are also provided. We describe the MESA Software Development Kit that packages all the required components needed to form a unified, maintained, and well-validated build environment for MESA. We also highlight a few tools developed by the community for rapid visualization of MESA star results.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Long non-coding RNA CCAT1 promotes glioma cell proliferation via inhibiting microRNA-410

Background and aim: Long non-coding RNAs have been confirmed to play a critical role in various cancers. In the present study, the effect of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) CCAT1 on glioma cell proliferation and its potential mechanism were investigated. Methods and results: Real-time PCR results showed that lncRNA-CCAT1 expression was significantly upregulated in glioma cancer tissues and cell lines compared with controls. After inhibiting CCAT1 expression in glioma cell line U251 with siRNA-CCAT1 (si-CCAT1), the cell viability and cell colony formation were decreased, the cell cycle was arrested in G1 phase, and the cell apoptosis was increased. As reported in bioinformatics software starbase2.0, a total of 22 microRNAs were potentially targeted by CCAT1. It was confirmed that miR-410 was altered most by si-CCAT1. After up-regulating CCAT1 expression in U251 cells, miR-410 level was decreased. Luciferase reporter assay confirmed that CCAT1 targeted miR-410. Correlation analysis showed that CCAT1 expression was negatively related to miR-410 expression in glioma cancer tissues. In addition, down-regulation of miR-410 reversed the inhibitory effect of si-CCAT1 on glioma proliferation. Conclusion: These data demonstrated that lncRNA-CCAT1 promoted glioma cell proliferation via inhibiting miR-410, providing a new insight about the pathogenesis of glioma proliferation. - Highlights: • lncRNA-CCAT1 expression was significantly upregulated in glioma cancer tissues and cell lines. • Correlation analysis showed that CCAT1 expression was negatively related to miR-410 expression in glioma cancer tissues. • Down-regulation of miR-410 reversed the inhibitory effect of si-CCAT1 on glioma proliferation.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

SU-E-T-235: Data Mining for Evaluating Treatment Performances Over a Large Quantity of Data to Monitor and Improve SBRT Workflow

Purpose: To quality assure a large quantity of retrospective treatment cases for treatment performances by randomly sampling is inefficient. Here we provide a method to efficiently monitor and investigate the QA of SBRT workflow over Mosaiq. Methods: The code developed with Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 2008R2 and VBA was used for retrieving and sorting data from Mosaiq (version 2.3–2.6 during 2012–2015). SBRT patients were filtered by fractional dose over 350cGy and total fraction number less than 6, which SBRT prescriptions were defined. The quality assurance on the SBRT workflow was focused on the treatment deliveries such as patient positioning setup, CBCT indicated offsets and couch shifted corrections. The treatment delivery were done by Varian Truebeam systems and the record/verify by Mosaiq. Results: Total 82 SBRT patients corresponding to 103 courses and 854 CBCT images were found by the retrieval query. Most centers record daily pre-treatment (Pre-Tx: before treatment shift) image-guided shifts along treatment course for inter-fraction motion record, and it is useful to also verify it with post-treatment imaging (Post-Tx: after treatment CBCT verification) to verify intra-fraction motion. Analyzing the details of daily recorded shifts can reveals the information of patient-setup and staff’s record/verify behaviors. 3 examples were provided as solid evidences and on-going rectification for preventing future mistakes. Conclusions: The report gave feasible examples for inspector to verify a large amount of data during site investigation. This program can also be extended to a scheduled data mining with software to periodical analyze the timely records in Mosaiq, for example, a various control charts for different QA purposes. As the current trend of automation in radiation therapy field, the data mining would be a necessary tool in the future, just as the automatic plan quality evaluation has been under development in Eclipse.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Validation of CONTAIN-LMR code for accident analysis of sodium-cooled fast reactor containments

CONTAIN-LMR 1 is an analytical tool for the containment performance of sodium cooled fast reactors. In this code, the modelling for the sodium fire is included: the oxygen diffusion model for the sodium pool fire, and the liquid droplet model for the sodium spray fire. CONTAIN-LMR is also able to model the interaction of liquid sodium with concrete structure. It may be applicable to different concrete compositions. Testing and validation of these models will help to qualify the simulation results. Three experiments with sodium performed in the FAUNA facility at FZK have been used for the validation of CONTAIN-LMR. For pool fire tests, calculations have been performed with two models. The first model consists of one gas cell representing the volume of the burn compartment. The volume of the second model is subdivided into 32 coupled gas cells. The agreement between calculations and experimental data is acceptable. The detailed pool fire model shows less deviation from experiments. In the spray fire, the direct heating from the sodium burning in the media is dominant. Therefore, single cell modeling is enough to describe the phenomena. Calculation results have reasonable agreement with experimental data. Limitations of the implemented spray model can cause the overestimation of predicted pressure and temperature in the cell atmosphere. The ability of the CONTAIN-LMR to simulate the sodium pool fire accompanied by sodium-concrete reactions was tested using the experimental study of sodium-concrete interactions for construction concrete as well as for shielding concrete. The model provides a reasonably good representation of chemical processes during sodium-concrete interaction. The comparison of time-temperature profiles of sodium and concrete shows, that the model requires modifications for predictions of the test results. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

MO-F-CAMPUS-I-01: A System for Automatically Calculating Organ and Effective Dose for Fluoroscopically-Guided Procedures

Purpose: A system was developed that automatically calculates the organ and effective dose for individual fluoroscopically-guided procedures using a log of the clinical exposure parameters. Methods: We have previously developed a dose tracking system (DTS) to provide a real-time color-coded 3D- mapping of skin dose. This software produces a log file of all geometry and exposure parameters for every x-ray pulse during a procedure. The data in the log files is input into PCXMC, a Monte Carlo program that calculates organ and effective dose for projections and exposure parameters set by the user. We developed a MATLAB program to read data from the log files produced by the DTS and to automatically generate the definition files in the format used by PCXMC. The processing is done at the end of a procedure after all exposures are completed. Since there are thousands of exposure pulses with various parameters for fluoroscopy, DA and DSA and at various projections, the data for exposures with similar parameters is grouped prior to entry into PCXMC to reduce the number of Monte Carlo calculations that need to be performed. Results: The software developed automatically transfers data from the DTS log file to PCXMC and runs the program for each grouping of exposure pulses. When the dose from all exposure events are calculated, the doses for each organ and all effective doses are summed to obtain procedure totals. For a complicated interventional procedure, the calculations can be completed on a PC without manual intervention in less than 30 minutes depending on the level of data grouping. Conclusion: This system allows organ dose to be calculated for individual procedures for every patient without tedious calculations or data entry so that estimates of stochastic risk can be obtained in addition to the deterministic risk estimate provided by the DTS. Partial support from NIH grant R01EB002873 and Toshiba Medical Systems Corp.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

SU-G-JeP4-01: An Assessment of a Microsoft Kinect V2 Sensor for Voluntary Breath-Hold Monitoring in Radiotherapy

Purpose: To determine whether the Microsoft Kinect Version 2 (Kinect v2), a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) depth sensors designed for entertainment purposes, were robust to the radiotherapy treatment environment and could be suitable for monitoring of voluntary breath-hold compliance. This could complement current visual monitoring techniques, and be useful for heart sparing left breast radiotherapy. Methods: In-house software to control Kinect v2 sensors, and capture output information, was developed using the free Microsoft software development kit, and the Cinder creative coding C++ library. Each sensor was used with a 12m USB 3.0 active cable. A solid water block was used as the object. The depth accuracy and precision of the sensors was evaluated by comparing Kinect reported distance to the object with a precision laser measurement across a distance range of 0.6m to 2.0 m. The object was positioned on a high-precision programmable motion platform and moved in two programmed motion patterns and Kinect reported distance logged. Robustness to the radiation environment was tested by repeating all measurements with a linear accelerator operating over a range of pulse repetition frequencies (6Hz to 400Hz) and dose rates 50 to 1500 monitor units (MU) per minute. Results: The complex, consistent relationship between true and measured distance was unaffected by the radiation environment, as was the ability to detect motion. Sensor precision was < 1 mm and the accuracy between 1.3 mm and 1.8 mm when a distance correction was applied. Both motion patterns were tracked successfully with a root mean squared error (RMSE) of 1.4 and 1.1 mm respectively. Conclusion: Kinect v2 sensors are capable of tracking pre-programmed motion patterns with an accuracy <2 mm and appear robust to the radiotherapy treatment environment. A clinical trial using Kinect v2 sensor for monitoring voluntary breath hold has ethical approval and is open to recruitment. The authors are supported by a National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Career Development Fellowship (CDF-2013-06-005). Microsoft Corporation donated three sensors. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the National Institute for Health Research or the Department of Health.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Effects of breast-air and breast-lung interfaces on the dose rate at the planning target volume of a MammoSite catheter for Yb-169 and Ir-192 HDR sources

Purpose: To study the effects of the breast-air and breast-lung interfaces on the absorbed dose within the planning target volume (PTV) of a MammoSite balloon dose delivery system as well as the effect of contrast material on the dose rate in the PTV. Methods: The Monte Carlo MCNP5 code was used to simulate dose rate in the PTV of a 2 cm radius MammoSite balloon dose delivery system. The simulations were carried out using an average female chest phantom (AFCP) and a semi-infinite water phantom for both Yb-169 and Ir-192 high dose rate sources for brachytherapy application. Gastrografin was introduced at varying concentrations to study the effect of contrast material on the dose rate in the PTV. Results: The effect of the density of the materials surrounding the MammoSite balloon containing 0% contrast material on the calculated dose rate at different radial distances in the PTV was demonstrated. Within the PTV, the ratio of the calculated dose rate for the AFCP and the semi-infinite water phantom for the point closest to the breast-air interface (90 deg.) is less than that for the point closest to the breast-lung interface (270 deg.) by 11.4% and 4% for the HDR sources of Yb-169 and Ir-192, respectively. When contrast material was introduced into the 2 cm radius MammoSite balloon at varying concentrations, (5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%), the dose rate in the AFCP at 3.0 cm radial distance at 90 deg. was decreased by as much as 14.8% and 6.2% for Yb-169 and Ir-192, respectively, when compared to that of the semi-infinite water phantom with contrast concentrations of 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%, respectively. Conclusions: Commercially available software used to calculate dose rate in the PTV of a MammoSite balloon needs to account for patient anatomy and density of surrounding materials in the dosimetry analyses in order to avoid patient underdose.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

ZND Verification Tests for Reactive Burn Models in FLAG

The ZND theory, named after Zeldovich, von Neumann, and Doering, provides a simple model for one-dimensional ideal steady-state detonation. It assumes that the detonation wave front starts with a shock that is a discontinuous jump and is followed by a finite-length reaction zone. Reactive burn (also called reactive flow) models are based on ZND theory, as they model the shock initiation and detonation process with a finite reaction rate. The ZND wave propagation test is essentially the only available test case where an analytic solution exists for verification of reactive burn models in numerical codes. However, there are extensions and variants of the ZND test that have been devised for verification of multidimensional flows. The objective of this work is to provide verification of the reactive burn models currently implemented in the Lagrangian hydrocode FLAG and investigate the influence of mesh resolution, artificial viscosity models, and the Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) Euler relaxer on the simulation results. The burn models of interest are the Wescott-Stewart-Davis (WSD) model, the Scaled Uniform Reactive Flow (SURF) model (specifically with the SURFplus model extension), and the Arrhenius shock temperature state dependent WSD (AWSD) model. Previously, Ralph Menikoff has used ZND tests for verification of the SURF and SURFplus models in the Eulerian hydrocode xRAGE. The ZND tests here are somewhat different than the approach by Menikoff. In particular, we use a piston-driven ZND detonation wave (via a prescribed constant velocity boundary condition) in a Lagrangian framework whereas Menikoff had a ZND wave followed by a invariant rarefaction wave. The xRAGE simulations were carried out on uniform grids and adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) grids. Although AMR was recently implemented in FLAG and now fully functional for 2D simulations, it will not be evaluated with ZND tests at this time. Some work has been done previously for validating the reactive burn models in FLAG. For example, the validation studies of SURF with shock-to-detonation (SDT) tests, cylinder tests, and gap-stick tests. Further validation of the AWSD, WSD, and SURF models is described in for SDT, multi-shock, cylinder, and corner-turning tests. Recently, a large parameter study with approximately twenty SDT tests was performed to validate the AWSD, WSD, SURF, and SURFplus models while also investigating mesh resolution and artificial viscosity settings. To the best of our knowledge, the current work represents the first documented verification of these burn models in FLAG. The reader should note that many of the tables and figures in this report use units of cm/g/µs, which are the default units for FLAG. However, some lengths and velocities are expressed in µm and mm/µs, respectively, which are typical units for detonation analyses.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗