Limitations of the condensed history method for low-energy electrons

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1991 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)

OSTI ID:7261470

Martin, W R ^[1]; Ballinger, C T; Rathkopf, J A

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1. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor (United States)

A systematic evaluation of the conventional, condensed history electron transport methodology has been performed through comparisons with more accurate single-scatter Monte Carlo calculations. These comparisons highlight the inaccuracies associated with the condensed history method and indicate its range of validity. The condensed history method is used in codes such as MCNP4, SANDYL, ETRAN, ITS, and EGS and requires a number of restrictive assumptions about the scattering characteristics to make tractable the analytical solution to the infinite-medium transport equation. Distributions describing electron characteristics after multiple collisions (multiscatter distributions) are constructed from such solutions and serve as the heart of the condensed history codes. A two-level approach is taken to quantify the errors inherent in condensed history. First, conventional condensed history multiscattering distributions in energy and angle are compared directly with analogous distributions generated with a single-scatter Monte Carlo code. This recently developed code directly simulates individual electron interactions. Second, the conventional distributions are replaced in the condensed history code by distributions constructed via a single-scatter Monte Carlo simulation.

• OSTI ID: 7261470
• Report Number(s): CONF-911107--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States) Journal Volume: 63
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

663620* -- Physics of Radiations Other Than Neutrons-- (1992-)
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
ACCURACY
ANALYTICAL SOLUTION
CHARGED-PARTICLE TRANSPORT THEORY
COLLISIONS
COMPUTER CODES
E CODES
ELECTRONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
I CODES
LEPTONS
M CODES
MONTE CARLO METHOD
S CODES
SCATTERING
TRANSPORT THEORY