Comparison of Concrete Containing Barite and Graphite Powder against Gamma-ray and MCNP Code

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Civil Eng. Dept, college of eng. University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

2 Civil Engineering,Technical College,University of Guilan,rasht,iran

Abstract

Concerning the development of nuclear technology in the world and the use of this technology in the industry and medical centers, the attention of countries to this topic and investment in this area has greatly increased. In this research, concrete was made in two series. In the first series, barite powder was replaced with 10, 25, 50, 75 and 100 percent as sand replacement, and in the second series, barite powder with the percentages as mentioned earlier and 10 percent graphite powder was prepared. In the present study, the amount of cement 400 kg/m3 and water to cement ratio of 0.4 and additives have been added to the concrete containing 10% micro-silica. The mechanical properties of these concrete were determined such as compressive strength and tensile strength. Their effect was also tested as a protection against gamma radiation using the CS-137 source and then examined by comparing the MCNP simulation code by Monte Carlo method. The results indicated that a sample containing 10% barite powder plus 10% graphite powder could be an optimal amount of protection against gamma rays. Also, the comparison of experimental results with the MCNP code showed a fairly good agreement, and the trend of its increasing and decreasing was almost the same.

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