A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION OF 'IN-AND-DOWN' AND 'IN-AND-UP' RADIATION COMPONENTS

Abstract

An experiment was designed to measure the attenuation afforded by horizontal barriers both above and below ground to radiation that originated from sources lying on the ground surrounding a structure. Measured attenuation factors in the downward direction (in-and-down) agreed fairly well with calculated factors for the two barrier-mass thicknesses (486. and 97.2 psf) investigated. The observed dose rates in the basement of the ceilingless structure agreed fairly well with the existing theory, while large discrepancies between theory and experiment were found in the experiment dealing with the structure basement which had a ceiling. This discrepancy increased with decreasing solid-angle fraction with the theory underestimating the dose rate in the basement by as much as a factor of 3. The experimental results were consistent with past experiments conducted in basement structures in their comparison with theory. A modification to the theory in which a new barrier factor was calculated as a function of the barrier thickness and average solid- angle fraction subtended at the detector by the first-floor external wall agrees quite well with this experiment and past experimental results. The calculated attenuation factors in the upward direction (in-and-up radiation component) underestimated the experimental results for large or infinite fields of contamination, and over-estimated the attenuation afforded by the floor from contamination within 50 feet of the structure walls.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 1966
Accession Number
AD0668935

Entities

People

  • Joseph D. Velletri

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Basements
  • Civil Defense
  • Detectors
  • Dose Rate
  • Dosimeters
  • Experimental Data
  • Far Field
  • Gamma Rays
  • Geometry
  • Ground Level
  • Measurement
  • Radiation
  • Radiation Shielding
  • Scattering
  • Shielding
  • Standards

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Electromagnetic Wave Scattering and Antenna Radiation Engineering
  • Nuclear Civil Defense.