AN IDEAL MARRIAGE: PROJECTED VIRTUAL REALITY NUMERICAL MODELS THAT KEEP IT REAL

摘要

The benefit of Projected Virtual Reality is immediately apparent and obvious to everyone who has seen a demonstration of the technology. While Projected Virtual Reality is visually stunning and achieves a level of reality that lends the technology immediately to facility familiarization, the capability of immersive walk-through begs the question of what the next logical step should be. Keeping in mind that decades have been spent, as well as many millions of dollars, in developing numeric models that represent physical real-world phenomenon and materials, the next logical step is to marry high-fidelity numeric models with 3-D graphics models. The result is a new level of realism in immersive computer graphics that could revolutionize every aspect of nuclear facility planning, design, evaluation, and test. Leveraging already developed and trusted numerical models in a graphically rich and cognitively stimulating virtual environment invites the imagination of experienced engineers to lofty heights and will bring a greater understanding and insight to the public in the realm of nuclear power and the safeguards that are engaged to protect nuclear assets. The work presented in this paper focuses on the mating of numerical models of various nuclear material types with a commonly utilized portal monitor modeled in 3-D. The interaction of the two models (i.e. numeric and 3-D) in an interactive virtual simulation and the resulting virtual experience will be assessed for value added and future design & test implications for safeguards systems.