Interfacing Design Code and Simulation Code for Biological Shielding

The purpose of this project is to continue developing tools to match existing Computer Assisted Design (CAD) software to Geant4 with a special view to shielding simulations for NASA. Geant4 is a particle transport and interaction simulation toolkit,originally developed to help with Monte Carlo simulations of high energy physics experiments. It represents decades of development and is the standard tool for experimental particle physics simulations. In another SBIR Phase I project AES had already established its level of suitability for the simulation of space radiation shielding to protect astronauts. Geant4, however, represents geometry in its own format which is not immediately compatible with standard CAD programs which generally lack critical information for radiation simulation such as composition of materials. Based on experience in Phase I, we plan to continue developing an XML framework plus associated tools supporting both CAD (STEP) format and Geant4, plus a rich variety of extensions which offer significant flexibility in terms of the ability to track accounting, assembly, quality, and countless other parameters with no interference with the main physics/engineering tasks. This could prove invaluable in attempts to better understand equipment and mission failures, optimize maintenance and repair schedules, and generally improve reliability.