Computer Simulation of the Cool Down of the ATLAS Liquid Argon Barrel Calorimeter

The ATLAS electromagnetic barrel calorimeter consists of a liquid argon detector with a total mass of 120 tonnes. This highly complicated structure, fabricated from copper, lead, stainless steel and glass-fiber reinforced epoxy will be placed in an aluminum cryostat. The cool down process of the detector will be limited by the maximum temperature differences accepted by the composite structure so as to avoid critical mechanical stresses. A computer program simulating the cool down of the detector by calculating the local heat transfer throughout a simplified model has been developed. The program evaluates the cool down time as a function of different contact gasses filling the spaces within the detector