Integrated Multiple Effects Software for Nuclear Physics Applications

Design, analysis, and computer modeling of hardware for nuclear physics accelerators is a complex process, usually involving different software for different physical aspects of the same hardware. For example, the electromagnetic modeling of RF sources, waveguides, couplers, and cavities is handled by one piece of software, while the heat load analysis of the same components are handled by completely different software. The use of separate software tools for modeling the same hardware has several disadvantages: (1) duplication of effort because the same hardware must be specified in different software packages, (2) difficulties in moving data from one package to another, (3) complexity of the design and analysis iteration cycle, and (4) the overall speed of the design cycle. These difficulties are best addressed with a software package that analyzes multiple effects, and such a package, VORPAL, has been designed for modern parallel computing platforms. This project will develop a thermal modeling capability, which now is lacking in VORPAL. Commercial Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee: A new thermal capability in VORPAL and should provide immediate benefits to the RF, accelerator, and microwave industries. Virtually any high-power RF application has thermal design constraints, which could be addressed with this new technology.