PSIgroup | Site / The ATLAS Experiment Upgrade projects of UJ

ATLAS is one of two giant multi-purpose detectors at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) of CERN, and the largest volume particle detector ever constructed. UJ is involved in various ways in research at ATLAS This wiki page mentions some of the projects where UJ is contributing through Engineering Science to ATLAS

Humidity Monitory in the ATLAS Upgrade of the ITk

There is no commercial solution for radiation hard humidity sensors. ATLAS, U Sannio, UJ and UNISA are partnering to develop this as a solution that is implemented in ATLAS, it is First of a Kind (FOAK) and represents innovation. In addition, it operates in conditions of extreme dryness and sub zero temperatures down to -60C.

Materials
- PhD Thesis of Gaia Berruti, Uni Sannio (Italy) "Radiation tolerant fiber optic humidity sensors for High Energy Physics Applications"
- Recent Publication of the performance of FOS Sensors in the ATLAS ID "Fiber optic sensors in the ATLAS Inner Detector, Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research, A 1029 (2022) 166470"
- ATLAS Internal Documents (Closed to ATLAS Members) - See presentations to the FDR
- General Thesis Fibre Bragg Grating and Long Period Grating Sensors in Polymer Optical Fibres

Continuum Fluid Dynamics simulation of the ATLAS Inner Tracker

The Humidity Sensors planned for the ITK Upgrade are expensive and therefore there are constraints on the number that can be deployed. This will also require the available sensors to be optimally positioned. The expected performance of the sensors needs to be well understood, considering that their role could evolve from monitoring to interlock. Accordingly, there needs to be a Computational Model Simulation of the dry nitrogen gas fluid flow in the ITK volumes. This simulation must include diffusion modelling of an additional chemical species, for example, water vapour from leaks. The aim is to understand the spatial region protected by a sensor, dead spaces of low atmosphere renewal rates and timescales for the propagation of vapours from leak events to sensors. The simulation must therefore be validated and benchmarked in terms of accuracy of geometry, materials, thermal sources and sinks. It needs the capacity to model multiple gaseous chemical species and also multi-phase capacity, incorporating the modelling of known leak rates at specific sites, and also anticipated hazard and accident modelling.

Radiation Hard Humidity Sensing.

Here the goal is - "keep ATLAS dry !". This must be done in a very low temperature environment, where the dew point should not get higher that -55C. Furthermore, the sensors must survive harsh radiation environments, an integral of 9MGray over their lifetime. Novel fibre optic sensors, using Long Period Grating (LPG) technology have been developed for this purpose. The development, deployment and commissioning of these sensors in ATLAS is a joint project of CERN, the University of Sannio and UJ.