LHC Cleaning Efficiency with Imperfections

The performance reach of the LHC depends on the magnitude of beam losses and the achievable cleaning efficiency of its collimation system. The ideal performance reach for the nominal Phase 1 collimation system is reviewed. However, unavoidable imperfections affect any accelerator and can further deteriorate the collimation performance. Multiple static machine and collimator imperfections were included in the LHC tracking simulations. Error models for collimator jaw flatness, collimator setup accuracy, the LHC orbit and the LHC aperture were set up, based to the maximum extent possible on measurements and results of experimental beam tests. It is shown that combined “realistic” imperfections can reduce the LHC cleaning efficiency by about a factor 11 on average

Beam Commissioning Plan For LHC Collimation

The Large Hadron Collider extends the present state-of-the-art in stored beam energy by 2-3 orders of magnitude. A sophisticated system of collimators is implemented along the 27 km ring and mainly in two dedicated cleaning insertions, to intercept and absorb unavoidable beam losses which could induce quenches in the superconducting (sc) magnets. 88 collimators for the two beams are initially installed for the so called Phase 1. An optimized strategy for the commissioning of this considerable number of collimators has been defined. This optimized strategy maximizes cleaning efficiency and tolerances available for operation, while minimizing the required beam time for collimator setup and ensuring at all times the required passive machine protection. It is shown that operational tolerances from collimation can initially be significantly relaxed

Dry granular flows: micromechanical interpretation of impacts on rigid obstacles.

The evaluation of impact forces exerted by flowing granular masses on rigid obstacles is of fundamental importance for the assessment of the associated risk and for the design of protection measures. A number of formulae are available in the literature for the maximum impact force; most of them are based on oversimplifying hypotheses about the behaviour of the granular material. For practical applications, formulations based on either hydrodynamic or elastic body models are often employed. These formulations require the use of empirical correcting factors. In order to better understand the impact mechanics, the authors have recently performed an extensive numerical campaign by using a Discrete Element approach (PFC3D code), where a dry granular mass is represented as a random distribution of rigid spherical particles. A new design formula, combining the hydrodynamic and elastic body theories, has been proposed on the base of the results obtained at the macroscopic scale. The parameters of the formula have been correlated with geometrical factors, namely front inclination and flow height. In this paper, the same DEM model is further used in order to investigate the relationship between the evolution with time of the impact force and the micromechanics of the granular mass. In particular, information about contact forces and particle velocities will be discussed and critically compared with macroscopic results. In order to progressively introduce the complexity of the impact phenomenon, three geometrical conditions are considered: a) vertical front, confined flow; b) vertical front, free surface flow; c) inclined front, free surface flow

Scenarios for Beam Commissioning of the LHC collimation system

A system of collimators has been designed to protect the superconducting LHC magnets against quench and damage from the high intensity proton beams. The considerable number of collimators and the resulting number of degrees of freedom for their set-up require a well prepared commissioning strategy. Efficiency studies for various implementations of the LHC collimation system have been performed, taking into account the evolution in optics and beam intensity according to the LHC commissioning schedule. This paper explains the present plans for the setup sequence of collimators

Results of the studies on energy deposition in IR6 superconducting magnets from continuous beam loss on the TCDQ system

A single sided mobile graphite diluter block TCDQ, in combination with a two-sided secondary collimator TCS and an iron shield TCDQM, will be installed in front of the superconducting quadrupole Q4 magnets in IR6, in order to protect it and other downstream LHC machine elements from destruction in the event of a beam dump that is not synchronised with the abort gap. The TCDQ will be positioned close to the beam, and will intercept the particles from the secondary halo during low beam lifetime. Previous studies (1-4) have shown that the energy deposited in the Q4 magnet coils can be close to or above the quench limit. In this note the results of the latest FLUKA energy deposition simulations for Beam 2 are described, including an upgrade possibility for the TCDQ system with an additional shielding device. The results are discussed in the context of the expected performance levels for the different phases of LHC operation

Studies on combined momentum and betatron cleaning in the LHC

Collimation and halo cleaning for the LHC beams are performed separately for betatron and momentum losses, requiring two dedicated insertions for collimation. Betatron cleaning is performed in IR7 while momentum cleaning is performed in IR3. A study has been performed to evaluate the performance reach for a combined betatron and momentum cleaning system in IR3. The results are presented

High-throughput microfluidic platform for adherent single cells non-viral gene delivery

The widespread use of gene therapy as a therapeutic tool relies on the development of DNA-carrying vehicles devoid of any safety concerns. In contrast to viral vectors, non-viral gene carriers show promise in this perspective, although their low transfection efficiency leads to the necessity to carry out further optimizations. In order to overcome the limitations of traditional macroscale approaches, which mainly consist of time-consuming and simplified models, a microfluidic strategy has been developed to carry out transfection studies on single cells in a high-throughput and deterministic fashion. A single cell trapping mechanism has been implemented, based on the dynamic variation of fluidic resistances. For this purpose, we designed a round-shaped culture chamber integrated with a bottom trapping junction, which modulates the hydraulic resistance. Several layouts of the chamber were designed and computationally validated for optimization of the single cell trapping efficacy. The optimized chamber layout was integrated in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic platform presenting two main functionalities: (i) 288 chambers for trapping single cells, and (ii) a serial dilution generator with chaotic mixing properties, able to deliver to the chambers both soluble factors and non-diffusive particles (i.e., polymer/DNA complexes, polyplexes) under spatio-temporally controlled chemical patterns. The devices were experimentally validated and allowed the trapping of individual human glioblastoma–astrocytoma epithelial-like cells (U87-MG) with a trapping efficacy of about 40%. The cells were cultured within the device and underwent preliminary transfection experiments using 25 kDa linear polyethylenimine (lPEI)-based polyplexes, confirming the potentiality of the proposed platform for the future high-throughput screening of gene delivery vectors and for the optimization of transfection protocols

Microfluidic Platform for Adherent Single Cell High-Throughput Screening

This paper was presented at the 4th Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2014), which was held at University College, London, UK. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Italian Union of Thermofluiddynamics, IPEM, the Process Intensification Network, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Heat Transfer Society, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group, and the Energy Institute, ASME Press, LCN London Centre for Nanotechnology, UCL University College London, UCL Engineering, the International NanoScience Community, www.nanopaprika.eu.Traditionally, in vitro investigations on biology and physiology of cells rely on averaging the responses eliciting from heterogeneous cell populations, thus being unsuitable for assessing individual cell behaviors in response to external stimulations. In the last years, great interest has thus been focused on single cell analysis and screening, which represents a promising tool aiming at pursuing the direct and deterministic control over cause-effect relationships guiding cell behavior. In this regard, a high-throughput microfluidic platform for trapping and culturing adherent single cells was presented. A single cell trapping mechanism was implemented based on dynamic variation of fluidic resistances. A round-shaped culture chamber (Φ=250μm, h=25μm) was conceived presenting two connections with a main fluidic path: (i) an upper wide opening, and (ii) a bottom trapping junction which modulates the hydraulic resistance. Several layouts of the chamber were designed and computationally validated for the optimization of the single cell trapping efficacy. The optimized chamber layouts were integrated in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic platform presenting two main functionalities: (i) 288 chambers for trapping single cells, and (ii) a chaoticmixer based serial dilution generator for delivering both soluble factors and non-diffusive molecules under spatio-temporally controlled chemical patterns. The devices were experimentally validated and allowed for trapping individual U87-MG (human glioblastoma-astrocytoma epithelial-like) cells and culturing them up to 3 days

Operational Experience with a LHC Collimator Prototype in the CERN SPS

A full-scale prototype of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) collimator was installed in 2004 in the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) and has been extensively used for beam tests, for control tests and also LHC simulation benchmarking during four years of operation. This operational experience has been extremely valuable in view of the final LHC implementation as well as for estimating the LHC operational scenarios, most notably to establish procedures for the beam-based alignment of the collimators with respect to the circulating beam. These studies were made possible by installing in the SPS a first prototype of the LHC beam loss monitoring system. The operational experience gained at the SPS and the lessons learnt for the LHC operation are presented