Benchmarking Heavy Ion Transport Codes FLUKA, HETC-HEDS MARS15, MCNPX, and PHITS (original) (raw)

Features of Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS) version 3.02

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology

We have upgraded many features of the Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS) and released the new version as PHITS3.02. The accuracy and the applicable energy ranges of the code were greatly improved and extended, respectively, owing to the revisions to the nuclear reaction models and the incorporation of new atomic interaction models. Both condense history and track-structure methods were implemented to handle the electron and positron transport, although the latter is reliable only for simulations in liquid water. In addition, several usersupportive functions were developed, such as new tallies to efficiently obtain statistically better results, radioisotope source-generation function, and software tools useful for applying PHITS to medical physics. Owing to the continuous improvement and promotion of the code, the number of registered users has exceeded 3,000, and it is being used in diverse areas of study, including accelerator design, radiation shielding and protection, medical physics, and cosmic-ray research. In this paper, we summarize the basic features of PHITS3.02, especially those of the physics models and the functions implemented after the release of PHITS2.52 in 2013.

Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System, PHITS, version 2.52

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 2013

An upgraded version of the Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System, PHITS2.52, was developed and released to the public. The new version has been greatly improved from the previously released version, PHITS2.24, in terms of not only the code itself but also the contents of its package, such as the attached data libraries. In the new version, a higher accuracy of simulation was achieved by implementing several latest nuclear reaction models. The reliability of the simulation was improved by modifying both the algorithms for the electron-, positron-, and photon-transport simulations and the procedure for calculating the statistical uncertainties of the tally results. Estimation of the time evolution of radioactivity became feasible by incorporating the activation calculation program DCHAIN-SP into the new package. The efficiency of the simulation was also improved as a result of the implementation of shared-memory parallelization and the optimization of several time-consuming algorithms. Furthermore, a number of new user-support tools and functions that help users to intuitively and effectively perform PHITS simulations were developed and incorporated. Due to these improvements, PHITS is now a more powerful tool for particle transport simulation applicable to various research and development fields, such as nuclear technology, accelerator design, medical physics, and cosmic-ray research.

PHITS—a particle and heavy ion transport code system

Radiation Measurements, 2006

The paper presents a summary of the recent development of the multi-purpose Monte Carlo Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System, PHITS. In particular, we discuss in detail the development of two new models, JAM and JQMD, for high energy particle interactions, incorporated in PHITS, and show comparisons between model calculations and experiments for the validations of these models. The paper presents three applications of the code including spallation neutron source, heavy ion therapy and space radiation. The results and examples shown indicate PHITS has great ability of carrying out the radiation transport analysis of almost all particles including heavy ions within a wide energy range.

Development of heavy ion transport Monte Carlo code

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 2001

We measured angular energy spectra of secondary neutrons from large Cu and Pb targets bombarded by 400 MeV/nucleon Fe ions to obtain the benchmark data for the newly-developed heavy ion transport Monte Carlo code HETC-CYRIC. The HETC-CYRIC code is made by incorporating a heavy ion reaction calculation routine, which consists of the HIC code, the SPAR code, and the Shen's formula, into the hadron transport Monte Carlo code HETC-3STEP. The results calculated with the HETC-CYRIC were compared with the measured data and the HETC-CYRIC gave good agreement with the experiment.

Benchmark study of particle and heavy-ion transport code system using shielding integral benchmark archive and database for accelerator-shielding experiments

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology

To validate the accuracy of the general-purpose Monte Carlo Particle and Heavy-Ion Transport code System (PHITS), a benchmark study of the recent version (version 3.24) of PHITS has been conducted using neutron-shielding experiments listed in the Shielding Integral Benchmark Archive and Database (SINBAD). Five neutron sources were selected, which are generated from (1) 43-and 68-MeV proton-induced reaction on a thin lithium target, (2) 52-MeV protoninduced reaction on a thick graphite target, (3) 590-MeV proton-induced reaction on a thick lead target, (4) 500-MeV proton-induced reaction on a thick tungsten target, and (5) 800-MeV proton-induced reaction on a thick tantalum target. For all these cases, overall agreements between the experimental and calculated results were satisfactory to simulate neutron-and proton-induced reactions up to 200 MeV when using the Japanese evaluated nuclear data library JENDL-4.0/HE; however, using default settings in the code system made discrepancies between the results in neutron production and scatterings in shielding materials with energies lower than 100 MeV. The present study revealed that it is preferable to use JENDL-4.0/HE in the PHITS calculation.

Towards a heavy-ion transport capability in the MARS 15 code

Radiation Protection Dosimetry, 2005

In order to meet the challenges of new accelerator and space projects and further improve modelling of radiation effects in microscopic objects, heavy-ion interaction and transport physics have been recently incorporated into the MARS15 Monte Carlo code. A brief description of new modules is given in comparison with experimental data.

Development of General-Purpose Particle and Heavy Ion Transport Monte Carlo Code

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 2002

The high-energy particle transport code NMTC/JAM, which has been developed at JAERI, was improved for the high-energy heavy ion transport calculation by incorporating the JQMD code, the SPAR code and the Shen formula. The new NMTC/JAM named PHITS (Particle and Heavy-Ion Transport code System) is the first general-purpose heavy ion transport Monte Carlo code over the incident energies from several MeV/nucleon to several GeV/nucleon.

Simulations of an accelerator-based shielding experiment using the particle and heavy-ion transport code system PHITS

Advances in Space Research, 2005

In order to estimate the biological effects of HZE particles, an accurate knowledge of the physics of interaction of HZE particles is necessary. Since the heavy ion transport problem is a complex one, there is a need for both experimental and theoretical studies to develop accurate transport models. RIST and JAERI (Japan), GSI (Germany) and Chalmers (Sweden) are therefore currently developing and bench marking the General-Purpose Particle and Heavy-Ion Transport code System (PHITS), which is based on the NMTC and MCNP for nucleon/meson and neutron transport respectively, and the JAM hadron cascade model. PHITS uses JAERI Quantum Molecular Dynamics (JQMD) and the Generalized Evaporation Model (GEM) for calculations of fission and evaporation processes, a model developed at NASA Langley for calculation of total reaction cross sections, and the SPAR model for stopping power calculations. The future development of PHITS includes better parameterization in the JQMD model used for the nucleusnucleus reactions, and improvement of the models used for calculating total reaction cross sections, and addition of routines for calculating elastic scattering of heavy ions, and inclusion of radioactivity and burn up processes. As a part of an extensive bench marking of PHITS, we have compared energy spectra of secondary neutrons created by reactions of HZE particles with different targets, with thicknesses ranging from <1 to 200 cm. We have also compared simulated and measured spatial, fluence and depth-dose distributions from different high energy heavy ion reactions. In this paper, we report simulations of an accelerator-based shielding experiment, in which a beam of 1 GeV/n Fe-ions has passed through thin slabs of polyethylene, Al, and Pb at an acceptance angle up to 4°.