Beam Mode Expansion of Corrugated Conical Horns with Phase Correcting Lens: Application to Radioastronomy Receivers

A classical radioastronomy receiver is fed with a corrugated horn and an independent lens, both placed in a cryostat to lower the noise temperature. The beam is focused and directed using a combination of elliptical and plane mirrors. This paper proposes modifying the initial feeding system by placing the lens onto the horn aperture, thereby allowing a size reduction of the horn and lens, and a simplification of their mechanical design. The profiled lens is shaped to correct the phase error on the horn aperture. A quasi-optical model of the horn-plus-lens system has been developed using a Beam Mode Expansion (BME). Results using both a hyperbolic-planar lens and a spherical-elliptical lens, as well as results obtained by using Geometrical Optics (GO) with a Kirchoff–Huygens integration to get the far-field pattern, have been compared with measurements. As a direct application, a full focusing system for the new 40-m radiotelescope at the “Centro Astronómico de Yebes” is presented for the 22, 30 and 45 GHz bands. This paper has developed a QO model for a corrugated conical horn with a phase-correcting lens. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Calculating Internal Avalanche Velocities from Correlation with Error Analysis

Velocities inside avalanches have been calculated for many years by calculatingthe cross-correlation between opto-electronic sensors using a method pioneered by inlinecite Nishimura et al. and Dent et al. Their approachhas been widely adopted but there has been little discussion of the optimal designof such instruments and the best analysis techniques. This paper discusses some ofthe different sources of error that arise and how these can be mitigated. A statisticalframework that describes such instruments is developed and used to quantify the errors.     

SANICLAY: simple anisotropic clay plasticity model

SANICLAY is a new simple anisotropic clay plasticity model that builds on a modification of an earlier model with an associated flow rule, in order to include simulations of softening response under undrained compression following K_o consolidation. Non‐associativity is introduced by adopting a yield surface different than the plastic potential surface. Besides, the isotropic hardening of the yield surface both surfaces evolve according to a combined distortional and rotational hardening rule, simulating the evolving anisotropy. Although built on the general premises of critical state soil mechanics, the model induces a critical state line in the void ratio–mean effective stress space, which is a function of anisotropy. To ease interpretation, the model formulation is presented firstly in the triaxial stress space and subsequently, its multiaxial generalization is developed systematically, in a form appropriate for implementation in numerical codes. The SANICLAY is shown to provide successful simulation of both undrained and drained rate‐independent behaviour of normally consolidated sensitive clays, and to a satisfactory degree of accuracy of overconsolidated clays. The new model requires merely three constants more than those of the modified Cam clay model, all of which are easily calibrated from well‐established laboratory tests following a meticulously presented procedure. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Latitudinal transport by barotropic waves in Titan's stratosphere.: II. Results from a coupled dynamics-microphysics-photochemistry GCM

We present a 2D general circulation model of Titan's atmosphere, coupling axisymmetric dynamics with haze microphysics, a simplified photochemistry and eddy mixing. We develop a parameterization of latitudinal eddy mixing by barotropic waves based on a shallow-water, longitude-latitude model. The parameterization acts locally and in real time both on passive tracers and momentum. The mixing coefficient varies exponentially with a measure of the barotropic instability of the mean zonal flow. The coupled GCM approximately reproduces the Voyager temperature measurements and the latitudinal contrasts in the distributions of HCN and C₂H₂, as well as the main features of the zonal wind retrieved from the 1989 stellar occultation. Wind velocities are consistent with the observed reversal time of the North-South albedo asymmetry of 5 terrestrial years. Model results support the hypothesis of a non-uniform distribution of infrared opacity as the cause of the Voyager temperature asymmetry. Transport by the mean meridional circulation, combined with polar vortex isolation may be at the origin of the latitudinal contrasts of trace species, with eddy mixing remaining restricted to low latitudes most of the Titan year. We interpret the contrasts as a signature of non-axisymmetric motions.