Noise abatement schemes for shielded canyons

Access to quiet areas in cities is important to avoid adverse health effects due to road traffic noise. Most urban areas which are or can become quiet (L_A,eq < 45 dB) are shielded from direct road traffic noise. By transfer paths over roof level, many road traffic noise sources contribute to the level in these shielded areas and noise abatement schemes may be necessary to make these areas quiet. Two real life shielded courtyards in Göteborg have been selected as reference cases for a numerical investigation of noise abatement schemes. The selected areas are modelled as canyons with a road traffic noise source modelled outside the canyon by a finite incoherent line source, which is more realistic than both a coherent and an incoherent line source of infinite length. The equivalent sources method has been used for the calculations. For all studied noise abatement schemes in the shielded canyon, the reductions are largest for the lower canyon observer positions. Façade absorption is the most effective when placed in the upper part of the canyon and can typically yield a reduction of 4 dB(A). Constructing 1 m wide walkways with ceiling absorption reduces the level typically by 3 dB(A). These effects are most effective for narrower canyons. For treatments at the canyon roof, reductions are independent of the canyon observer position and amount to 4 dB(A) for a 1 m tall screen and 2 dB(A) for a grass covering of a saddle roof. Downward refracting conditions increase the levels for the lower canyon observer positions and higher frequencies. For sources located in canyons, abatement schemes therein are more effective for noise reduction in the shielded canyon than similar abatement schemes in the shielded canyon itself, given that all contributing source canyons are treated.     

The 2.5-dimensional equivalent sources method for directly exposed and shielded urban canyons

When a domain in outdoor acoustics is invariant in one direction, an inverse Fourier transform can be used to transform solutions of the two-dimensional Helmholtz equation to a solution of the three-dimensional Helmholtz equation for arbitrary source and observer positions, thereby reducing the computational costs. This previously published approach [D. Duhamel, J. Sound Vib. 197, 547-571 (1996)] is called a 2.5-dimensional method and has here been extended to the urban geometry of parallel canyons, thereby using the equivalent sources method to generate the two-dimensional solutions. No atmospheric effects are considered. To keep the error arising from the transform small, two-dimensional solutions with a very fine frequency resolution are necessary due to the multiple reflections in the canyons. Using the transform, the solution for an incoherent line source can be obtained much more efficiently than by using the three-dimensional solution. It is shown that the use of a coherent line source for shielded urban canyon observer positions leads mostly to an overprediction of levels and can yield erroneous results for noise abatement schemes. Moreover, the importance of multiple facade reflections in shielded urban areas is emphasized by vehicle pass-by calculations, where cases with absorptive and diffusive surfaces have been modeled.     

Grossräumige magnetische abschirmungen

Many applications in physics and medicine require environments without magnetic interference fields; e.g., the sensitive recording of EEGs in buildings with high power supplies such as clinics, hospitals and other institutions. The only reliable method is magnetic shielding with materials of high permeability.For the design of large scale shielded rooms with cubic shape an estimation of the shielding factor for the cube is developed out of the shielding factor for the quadratic cylinder and the ballistically measured demagnetization factor of the cube.The construction of a shielded room (which one may enter) at the Institut für Arbeitswissenschaft at Darmstadt and the methods of reaching very small effective air gaps between the sheets of MUMETALL® are described.Such a shielded facility, fitted with a special coil-system, is appropriate for generating homogeneous fields of definite values and direction in a large volume.     

Excess attenuation for sound propagation over an urban canyon

Because quiet areas in dense urban environments are important to well-being, the prediction of sound propagation to shielded urban areas is an ongoing research focus. Sound levels in shielded areas, such as canyons between rows of buildings, are strongly influenced by distant sources. Therefore, propagation factors such as metrology, screening, and intermediate canyons—as occur between a source canyon and a receiver canyon—must be addressed in an engineering propagation model. Though current models address many important propagation factors, engineering treatment of a closed urban canyon, subject to multiple internal reflections, remains difficult.A numerical investigation of sound propagation across the open tops of intermediate urban canyons has been performed, using the parabolic equation and equivalent sources methods. Results have been collected for various canyon geometries, and the influences of multiple canyons, canyon/rooftop absorption, variable rooftop height, wind gradient, and correlated versus uncorrelated source models have been investigated. Resulting wideband excess attenuation values ranged from −1 dB to −4 dB per canyon, and were fairly constant with frequency in many useful cases. By characterizing the excess attenuation of canyons intermediate to the source and receiver, the influence of these intermediate canyons could be addressed simply, without the overhead of a detailed numerical calculation.     

Calculation of electric fields induced by body and head motion in high-field MRI

In modern magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), patients are exposed to strong, nonuniform static magnetic fields outside the central imaging region, in which the movement of the body may be able to induce electric currents in tissues which could be possibly harmful. This paper presents theoretical investigations into the spatial distribution of induced electric fields and currents in the patient when moving into the MRI scanner and also for head motion at various positions in the magnet. The numerical calculations are based on an efficient, quasi-static, finite-difference scheme and an anatomically realistic, full-body, male model. 3D field profiles from an actively shielded 4T magnet system are used and the body model projected through the field profile with a range of velocities. The simulation shows that it possible to induce electric fields/currents near the level of physiological significance under some circumstances and provides insight into the spatial characteristics of the induced fields. The results are extrapolated to very high field strengths and tabulated data shows the expected induced currents and fields with both movement velocity and field strength.     

非平衡磁控溅射系统离子束流磁镜效应模型

为了研究非平衡磁控溅射沉积系统的等离子体特性，采用常规磁控溅射靶和同轴约束磁场构成非平衡磁控溅射沉积系统.在放电空间不同的轴向位置，Ar放电，02Pa和150V偏压条件下，采用圆形平面离子收集电极，测量不同约束磁场条件下的饱和离子束流密度.研究结果表明，在同轴磁场作用下，收集电极的离子束流密度能达到饱和值9mA/cm2左右，有利于在沉积薄膜的过程中产生离子轰击效应.根据磁流体理论分析了同轴约束磁场形成的磁镜效应和对放电过程的影响机理.实验与模型计算结果的比较表明，模型从理论上表达了同轴磁场约束对非平衡磁控溅射等离子体特性的影响规律. 关键词： 等离子体 金属薄膜/非磁性 磁控溅射 磁镜     

Fixed poles, t-channel unitarity,and rising cross-sections

If the Pomeron is a fixed pole, it must be “shielded” from t-channel unitarity by a special type of cut. We show how to obtain such a cut. There are no arbitrary parameters between the cut and the pole, and definite predictions of rising cross-sections, shrinkage and (ReF)/(ImF) result. These are found to be in good agreements with high energy data. Previously we obtained a very similar cut (with similar fits), but we no longer require use of an exotic trajectory.     

Alpha cluster states in 16O

A very successful cluster-core model for the rotational bands of light nuclei has been extended to treat excited core states. The resulting coupled-channels problem has been solved for the ${}^{16}\text{O }{}^{12}\text{C + α}$ system. As well as the known + ve and ? ve parity bands many new levels are predicted and compared with experiment. The agreement between theory and experiment is very good both for the excitation energies and the decay properties. We predict the positions of two low-spin non-natural parity levels with E_x < 20 MeV and the positions of many high-spin states. In particular, we explain why the 8⁺ level seen in α-transfer at 22.5 MeV could not be found in the α-scattering cross sections and predict a second 8⁺ at 24.4 MeV. We discuss how the levels may be regarded as members of rotational bands and determine the terminating J-values for these bands. Finally we show that the usual rotational model would be a poor approximation for the cluster bands of ¹⁶O.     

超声相控阵距离幅度曲线计算方法

超声相控阵偏转聚焦声场能量分布不均匀,造成不同位置的缺陷回波幅度差异,针对该缺陷量化问题,提出超声相控阵系统距离幅度曲线理论计算方法。在非近轴近似声场模型的基础上,结合缺陷散射模型来建立相控阵系统测量模型,再利用该方法来预测不同位置横通孔缺陷的回波信号,进而获得信号幅度随位置的变化曲线。分析对比了不同偏转聚焦声束理论计算结果与实验测量结果,两者幅度在焦点附近具有较好的一致性,偏差在5%以内,验证了超声测量模型计算方法的有效性。      

Very high energy neutrinos

A sky survey with neutrinos may considerably extend our understanding of cosmic phenomena. Due to the low interaction cross section of neutrinos with matter and due to the high cosmic ray background the detector must be very large (of the order of 1 km³) and must be shielded. These new devices consist of a network of photo-tubes which are deployed in the depth of the ocean, of a lake or of the ice of South Pole. The detection of the Cherenkov light emitted by muons produced in muon neutrino interactions with the matter surrounding the detector will allow the reconstruction of the neutrino direction with an angular resolution of the order or lower than one degree. Several projects are underway. Their status will be reviewed in this paper.