Computational methods for industrial radiation measurement applications

Computational methods have been used with considerable success to complement radiation measurements in solving a wide range of industrial problems. The almost exponential growth of computer capability and applications in the last few years leads to a open-quotes black boxclose quotes mentality for radiation measurement applications. If a black box is defined as any radiation measurement device that is capable of measuring the parameters of interest when a wide range of operating and sample conditions may occur, then the development of computational methods for industrial radiation measurement applications should now be focused on the black box approach and the deduction of properties of interest from the response with acceptable accuracy and reasonable efficiency. Nowadays, increasingly better understanding of radiation physical processes, more accurate and complete fundamental physical data, and more advanced modeling and software/hardware techniques have made it possible to make giant strides in that direction with new ideas implemented with computer software. The Center for Engineering Applications of Radioisotopes (CEAR) at North Carolina State University has been working on a variety of projects in the area of radiation analyzers and gauges for accomplishing this for quite some time, and they are discussed here with emphasis on current accomplishments