Simulations on the thermal and mechanical performance of the rotating target system of accelerator-driven neutron source for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy(BNCT)

The development of an accelerator-based BNCT facility, X-BNCT, at Xi'an Jiaotong University was introduced. The 30 mA protons were accelerated to 2.8 MeV by a linear RFQ accelerator, then the lithium target was bombarded to produce neutrons required for treatment through 7Li(p, n)7Be reaction, and a large amount of energy was deposited on the target. To remove the heat on the target, the design and analysis of the rotating target system was discussed in this paper. The channels with a small size in the target flap were studied and an interlayer was added to avoid the problem of hydrogen embrittlement. The heat transfer simulation was carried out with Gaussian beam or uniform beam in the rotating target system by the CFD method. The maximum temperatures of lithium were lower than the melting point, indicating the advancement of the rotating target structure in cooling. And it was concluded that the uniform scheme should be considered even for the rotating target system. Finally, the stress analysis of each component of the rotating target in the process of rotation was simulated, and the results showed that the design met the material requirements.