PIMAL: Phantom with Moving Arms and Legs – Version 4.1.0 (NUREG/CR-7243)

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Publication Information

Manuscript Completed: August 2016
Date Published: December 2017

Version 4.1.0 Prepared by: S. Dewji and M. Hiller
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge, TN, USA

PIMAL Development Team:
S. A. Dewji, M. Hiller, M. Bellamy, H. Akkurt¹, D. Wiarda,
G. Kora, and K. Eckerman²
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge, TN, USA

K. Griffin
Nuclear and Radiological Engineering Program Georgia
Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA, USA

¹ Current: Electric Power Research Institute
² ORNL, retired

T.Oxenberg and R. Tadesse, NRC Project Managers
S. Sherbini, NRC Technical Monitor

NRC Job Code V6255

Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington DC 20555-0001

Availability Notice

Abstract

Computational phantoms with articulated arms and legs have been developed to enable radiation dose estimation for male and female receptors in different postures. Using a user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI), the PIMAL (Phantom wIth Moving Arms and Legs) software can be employed to adjust the posture of a phantom, generate a corresponding input file for the Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP®) radiation transport code, and perform the radiation transport simulations for the dose calculations in MCNP®. The MCNP® code can be run natively from the PIMAL interface or externally in the MCNP® command prompt via the generated MCNP® PIMAL input file.

Before PIMAL 4.0, previous versions consisted of a single (hermaphrodite) phantom model. PIMAL 4.1.0 now includes a separate male and female stylized phantom with articulated limbs, in addition to housing the most recent International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) Publication 110 reference adult male and female voxel phantoms (no articulation). Both internal and external radionuclide sources can be simulated in PIMAL via a dropdown menu in the GUI. For external sources, the user can select the ICRP's standard external exposure geometries (AP, PA, LLAT, RLAT, or ISO), in addition to a point source, from the menu options.

PIMAL 4.1.0 contains an improved user interface. The design of the sliders to control the articulation of the limbs is connected with the textbox input, with the bounding conditions of limb articulation included. Source modes (i.e., photon, neutron) for Monte Carlo simulation have been pre-programmed with the source input (photon, neutron, x-ray, radionuclide) to simplify the definition of the radiation source.

This user manual describes the updates to PIMAL 4.1.0, in addition to aiding the user in installing PIMAL, exploring the geometry articulation and visualization capabilities, and radiation source definitions, in addition to providing sample tutorials for the PIMAL user for estimating organ doses.