Optimal shielding design for minimum materials cost or mass
- Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ (United States). Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL)
The mathematical underpinnings of cost optimal radiation shielding designs based on an extension of optimal control theory are presented, a heuristic algorithm to iteratively solve the resulting optimal design equations is suggested, and computational results for a simple test case are discussed. A typical radiation shielding design problem can have infinitely many solutions, all satisfying the problem's specified set of radiation attenuation requirements. Each such design has its own total materials cost. For a design to be optimal, no admissible change in its deployment of shielding materials can result in a lower cost. This applies in particular to very small changes, which can be restated using the calculus of variations as the Euler-Lagrange equations. Furthermore, the associated Hamiltonian function and application of Pontryagin's theorem lead to conditions for a shield to be optimal.
- Research Organization:
- Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 1256374
- Report Number(s):
- PPPL-5200 REV
- Journal Information:
- Nuclear Technology, Vol. 192, Issue 3; ISSN 0029-5450
- Publisher:
- American Nuclear Society (ANS)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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