Simulation and optimization of gamma-ray linear attenuation coefficients of barite concrete shields

The remarkable increment in radioactivity risks of today's industrial world is required to the efficient design of shielding structures. In the present study, the optimal design parameters of barite concrete shields for providing the highest gamma radiation shielding capability were researched by using a hybrid technique of the Box-Behnken Design based response surface method and Particle Swarm Optimization. Barite aggregate fraction, water-to-cement ratio and cement content of the shields were limited as 0:100 (by weight), 0.30:0.70 (by weight) and 200:600 (kg/m3) in the optimization problem, respectively. The regression equation derived from the regression learning process presented an excellent correlation to define the XCOM linear attenuation coefficients. A nonlinear response surface fitted to the regression equation was used as the validation of the PSO results obtained from MATLAB. The results of this study have shown that the proposed method provides satisfactory predictions for the barite concrete radiation-shielding capability depending on the design parameters. In addition, it was found that the linear attenuation coefficient could be increased by 102% by the design of the best shield according to the poorest mixture.