Book Description

Most of the shields that are designed to protect military equipment or personnel from weapons radiations will contain air-filled holes of some type. They may consist of access ways to accommodate ventilating ducts or other utility pipes, passageways to allow personnel to enter the structure, or distributed voids resulting from the use of nonhomogeneous material in the structure. Since radiation traverses air-filled regions essentially unimpeded, these irregularities in an otherwise adequate shield can represent a serious problem for the shield designer. The most effective method for reducing the amount of radiation that travels through such openings is to design the ducts or passageways so that they do not penetrate straight through the shield, as, for example, ducts which contain one or more bends.