Hands-on session:

MCNP5 practical examples

Special Topics:
Device Modeling
 Example 1: Problem statement
• Mono-energetic 10 MV
planar photon source
• Cubic water phantom at
water 10 cm from the source, 10
phantom cm each side
• Find exit spectrum
• Calculate depth dose
source
with 1 cm steps
 Example 1: Steps
z
• Setup coordinate system
• Identify all cells in your
geometry (do not forget
problem boundary)
• Specify surface cards
• Specify material cards
• Specify cell cards (do not
forget to define outer
y space)
source
• Add source cards
x • Add tally cards
• Add cut-off cards
 Example 1: Input file using lattice
Water phantom
c Cell cards
c Water phantom
1 1 -1.0 2 -1 4 -3 5 -6 fill=1 imp:p,e 1
c Lattice call for dose deposition
10 1 -1.0 2 -1 4 -3 5 -10 lat=1 u=1 imp:p,e 1
c Air around
100 2 -0.001293 (101 -102 -100) #1 imp:p,e 1
c Void cell
999 0 -101:102:100 imp:p=0 imp:e=0

c Surface cards
c Water phantom
1 px 5
2 px -5
3 py 5
4 py -5
5 pz 10
6 pz 20
c Lattice cell
10 pz 11
c Cylinder around the problem
100 cz 9
101 pz -0.1
102 pz 25
 Example
c Data cards
1: Input file – Data cards
mode p e
c Materials
m1 1000. 2 8000. 1 $Water
m2 7014. -0.755636 $air (US S. Atm at sea level)
8016. -0.231475 18000. -0.012889
c Source cards
sdef pos=0 0 0 x=d1 y=d2 z=0 erg=10 par=2 $
si1 -6 6
sp1 0 1
si2 -6 6
sp2 0 1
c Tallies
F1:p 6
e1 1 99i 10 $ Energy spectrum, step 0.1 MV
*F8:p (10<10[0:0 0:0 -9:0]) $Depth dose tally
cut:e j 0.1 $100 keV (default is 1 keV)
cut:p j 0.01 $10 keV (default is 1 keV)
PHYS:P 4j 1 $turns off Doppler broadening
nps 1000000
 Example 1: Planar mono-
directional source
c Source cards
sdef pos=0 0 0 x=d1 y=d2 z=0 vec=0 0 1 dir=1 erg=10 par=2
si1 -6 6
sp1 0 1
si2 -6 6
sp2 0 1

Plane dimensions in x
and y directions are
defined as distributions
 Checking geometry with Vised
Vised – graphical interface for MCNP used for:
• Visualization of input file geometry (cells and
surfaces) in 2D and 3D
• Verification of source through particle tracking
• Plotting tallies
• Can be used for input file creation, particularly in
case of complex geometries. However:
– No source or tally definition capabilities
– No cut cards definition capabilities
– Define surfaces, cells, and materials
 Running MCNP
• To run open MCNP command window,
change directory to the location of your
input file and type:
mcnp5 i=iFile <o=oFile r=rFile>
• After run is finished – get two files
– Output file (outp) – text file with tallies, etc.
– Run file (runtpe) – binary file; can be used to
restart simulation, add more histories, re-
generate output, plot tallies in Vised
 Other run options
• Interrupt: Ctrl+C
– Choice of s (status), m (mcplot), q (quit), k (kill)
• Restart after ‘q’ or any other termination if run has
not finished
mcnp5 c r=rFile <o=oFile >
• Add number of histories with CONTINUE
command (create input file, NPS new#)
mcnp5 c i=iCont r=rFile <o=oFile >
• Regenerate lost output with CONTINUE (create
input file, NPS –1)
• iCont file consists of just 2 lines + blank line:
CONTINUE CONTINUE
NPS 10000 NPS -1
 Statistical checks
• MCNP performs 10 statistical checks on each tally
– Mean behavior
– Relative error R (value, decrease, decrease rate)
– Variance of variance VOV (value, decrease, decrease rate)
– Figure of merit FOM (value, behavior)
– Probability density functional PDF slope
• For each check: ‘desired’, ‘observed’, ‘passed?’
• Simple guidelines
– R<0.1
– run simulation until all checks pass
 Example 2: Input file using
Water phantom
c Cell cards
c Water phantom cells
transformations
1 1 -1.0 2 -1 4 -3 5 -10 imp:p,e 1
2 like 1 but trcl=1
3 like 1 but trcl=2
4 like 1 but trcl=3
c Air around
100 2 -0.001293 (101 -102 -100) #1#2#3#4 imp:p,e 1
c Void cell
999 0 -101:102:100 imp:p,e=0

c Surface cards
c Water phantom
1 px 5
2 px -5
3 py 5
4 py -5
5 pz 10
10 pz 11
c Cylinder around the problem
100 cz 9
101 pz -0.1
102 pz 25
 Example 2: Input file – Data cards
c Data cards
mode p e
c Materials
m1 1000. 2 8000. 1 $Water
m2 7014. -0.755636 $air (US S. Atm at sea level)
8016. -0.231475 18000. -0.012889
c Transformations
tr1 0 0 1
tr2 0 0 2
tr3 0 0 3
c Source cards
sdef pos=0 0 0 x=d1 y=d2 z=0 erg=10 par=2 $
si1 -6 6
sp1 0 1
si2 -6 6
sp2 0 1
c Tallies
F1:p 6
e1 1 99i 10 $ Energy spectrum, step 0.1 MV
*F8:p 1 2 3 4 $Depth dose tally
….
 Example 3: Macrobodies
Provide a simplified way of defining surfaces. Example:
BOX: Arbitrarily oriented orthogonal box (all corners are 90°).
BOX Vx Vy Vz A1x A1y A1z A2x A2y A2z A3x A3y A3z
where Vx Vy Vz = x,y,z coordinates of corner
A1x A1y A1z = vector of first side
A2x A2y A2z = vector of second side
A2x A3y A3z = vector of third side

Example:
BOX –1 –1 –1 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2
a cube centered at the origin, 2 cm on a side, sides parallel to
the major axes.
 Example 3: Input file using
macrobodies
Water phantom
c Cell cards c Surface cards
c Water phantom c Water phantom
1 1 -1.0 -7 fill=1 imp:p,e 1 $ 7 box -5 -5 10 10 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 10
c Lattice call for dose deposition c Lattice cell
10 1 -1.0 -10 lat=1 u=1 imp:p,e 1 10 box -5 -5 10 10 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 1
c Air around c Cylinder around the problem
100 2 -0.001293 -103 #1 imp:p,e 1 103 rcc 0 0 -0.1 0 0 25 9
c Void cell
999 0 103 imp:p=0 imp:e=0