A deterministic computational model for the two dimensional electron and photon transport

Abstract

A deterministic (non-statistical) two dimensional (2D) computational model describing the transport of electron and photon typical of space radiation environment in various shield media is described. The 2D formalism is casted into a code which is an extension of a previously developed one dimensional (1D) deterministic electron and photon transport code. The goal of both 1D and 2D codes is to satisfy engineering design applications (i.e. rapid analysis) while maintaining an accurate physics based representation of electron and photon transport in space environment. Both 1D and 2D transport codes have utilized established theoretical representations to describe the relevant collisional and radiative interactions and transport processes. In the 2D version, the shield material specifications are made more general as having the pertinent cross sections. In the 2D model, the specification of the computational field is in terms of a distance of traverse z along an axial direction as well as a variable distribution of deflection (i.e. polar) angles θ where −π/2<θ<π/2, and corresponding symmetry is assumed for the range of azimuth angles (0<φ<2π). In the transport formalism, a combined mean-free-path and average trajectory approach is used. For candidate shielding materials, using the trapped electron radiation environments at low Earth orbit (LEO), geosynchronous orbit (GEO) and Jupiter moon Europa, verification of the 2D formalism vs. 1D and an existing Monte Carlo code are presented.