https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-021-01594-7
Regular Article
Comparison of variance reduction methods in shielding problems with source multiplication
1
Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, Service d’études des réacteurs et de mathématiques appliquées, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
2
Technicatome, Safety & Power Plant Process - DI/SPN/NRC, Aix en Provence, France
Received:
22
February
2021
Accepted:
20
May
2021
Published online:
29
May
2021
The solution of the Boltzmann equation for particle transport is the central problem of radiation shielding. When the solution is attempted using Monte Carlo methods, the use of variance reduction techniques is unavoidable, because the probability that a source particle reaches the detector is, by construction, very small. This paper presents a comparative study of a few state-of-the-art variance reduction techniques in the context of problems with source multiplication, e.g. in the presence of fissile material. This slightly unusual setting is found to be intractable for some variance reduction techniques. Based on our simulation results, we formulate specific recommendations for the treatment of this class of problems.
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021
