A compton scattering technique for wood characteristics using FLUKA Monte Carlo code

Highlights: • Simulations of attenuation and scattering parameters for a variety of woods. • Validation of FLUKA Monte Carlo code by comparing the results with experimental data. • Relative deviations, among experimental and simulated data, found to be less than 3%. • New approach to estimate HVL of composite materials from Compton scattering data. • FLUKA code has been employed as an alternative in estimating wood characteristics for the first time. In many industrial applications, the characteristics of wood are of considerable importance to investigate its composition for several needs in the interest of mankind. This work is based on the use of gamma photons for examining the variety of common woods with density range 0.1722–0.7028 g/cm³. The FLUKA Monte Carlo code has been explored for this purpose in scattering geometry with primary gamma photon energies of 59.5 and 661.6 keV. The validation of the FLUKA code is done with laboratory findings on wood density measurements and a strong correlation (R² ~ 0.9744) has been found between simulations and experimental results. The radiation interaction parameters namely linear attenuation coefficients and half-value layers (HVL) in transmission geometry, for seven types of woods, have also been reported here in addition to Compton scattering based findings. With increase of wood density for the chosen samples, the HVL values decrease from 200 mm to 51 mm and 479 mm–122 mm at incident photon energy 59.5 keV and 661.6 keV respectively. The results obtained here, where the calibration curves are constructed completely by simulations, are fully promising for estimating the parameters important for wood processors and product users. Moreover, the best-fitted mathematical functions relating Compton scattering intensity with HVL (transmission parameter) of selected woods are found to be first order exponential decay in nature. It has been concluded that FLUKA simulation is a convenient and inexpensive method particularly whenever it is hard to set-up the desired laboratory arrangements.