Energy, Shading and Daylighting Analysis for the Austin Bergstrom International Airport Terminal

Our firm was under contract with the City of Austin, Texas to perform energy analysis and analysis of the daylighting potential within the New Austin Bergstrom International Airport Terminal. Design of the Passenger Terminal Facility for the New Austin Airport included large glass areas for viewing arriving and departing planes, the sky, and the surrounding terrain. The glass was envisioned to provide quality natural lighting for the terminal during daylight hours in order to improve the quality of the space and save energy throughout the usable life of the terminal. For the glass to achieve the design goals, adverse qualities were minimized and beneficial qualities must be enhanced. Using computer simulation, we studied the shading devices on the south clearstories to maximize the daylight and minimize problems of direct gain in a large commercial space. The study also included analysis of skylights above the baggage claim, indirect lighting of major spaces within the airport, and the controls of the artificial lights for integrating the efficient use of the available daylight. The energy, shading, and daylighting analysis includes analysis of a mix of low and high volume spaces. The daylight sources include glass walls, clearstories, and skylights

Energy, Shading and Daylighting Analysis for the Austin Bergstrom International Airport Terminal

Our firm was under contract with the City of Austin, Texas to perform energy analysis and analysis of the daylighting potential within the New Austin Bergstrom International Airport Terminal. Design of the Passenger Terminal Facility for the New Austin Airport included large glass areas for viewing arriving and departing planes, the sky, and the surrounding terrain. The glass was envisioned to provide quality natural lighting for the terminal during daylight hours in order to improve the quality of the space and save energy throughout the usable life of the terminal. For the glass to achieve the design goals, adverse qualities were minimized and beneficial qualities must be enhanced. Using computer simulation, we studied the shading devices on the south clearstories to maximize the daylight and minimize problems of direct gain in a large commercial space. The study also included analysis of skylights above the baggage claim, indirect lighting of major spaces within the airport, and the controls of the artificial lights for integrating the efficient use of the available daylight. The energy, shading, and daylighting analysis includes analysis of a mix of low and high volume spaces. The daylight sources include glass walls, clearstories, and skylights

A measurement of CMB cluster lensing with SPT and DES year 1 data

Clusters of galaxies gravitationally lens the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, resulting in a distinct imprint in the CMB on arcminute scales. Measurement of this effect offers a promising way to constrain the masses of galaxy clusters, particularly those at high redshift. We use CMB maps from the South Pole Telescope Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (SZ) survey to measure the CMB lensing signal around galaxy clusters identified in optical imaging from first year observations of the Dark Energy Survey. The cluster catalogue used in this analysis contains 3697 members with mean redshift of z¯ = 0.45. We detect lensing of the CMB by the galaxy clusters at 8.1σ significance. Using the measured lensing signal, we constrain the amplitude of the relation between cluster mass and optical richness to roughly 17 per cent precision, finding good agreement with recent constraints obtained with galaxy lensing. The error budget is dominated by statistical noise but includes significant contributions from systematic biases due to the thermal SZ effect and cluster miscentring

Planck 2013 results. XX. Cosmology from Sunyaev-Zeldovich cluster counts

We present constraints on cosmological parameters using number counts as a function of redshift for a sub-sample of 189 galaxy clusters from the Planck SZ (PSZ) catalogue. The PSZ is selected through the signature of the Sunyaev--Zeldovich (SZ) effect, and the sub-sample used here has a signal-to-noise threshold of seven, with each object confirmed as a cluster and all but one with a redshift estimate. We discuss the completeness of the sample and our construction of a likelihood analysis. Using a relation between mass $M$ and SZ signal $Y$ calibrated to X-ray measurements, we derive constraints on the power spectrum amplitude $\sigma_8$ and matter density parameter $\Omega_{\mathrm{m}}$ in a flat $\Lambda$CDM model. We test the robustness of our estimates and find that possible biases in the $Y$--$M$ relation and the halo mass function are larger than the statistical uncertainties from the cluster sample. Assuming the X-ray determined mass to be biased low relative to the true mass by between zero and 30%, motivated by comparison of the observed mass scaling relations to those from a set of numerical simulations, we find that $\sigma_8=0.75\pm 0.03$, $\Omega_{\mathrm{m}}=0.29\pm 0.02$, and $\sigma_8(\Omega_{\mathrm{m}}/0.27)^{0.3} = 0.764 \pm 0.025$. The value of $\sigma_8$ is degenerate with the mass bias; if the latter is fixed to a value of 20% we find $\sigma_8(\Omega_{\mathrm{m}}/0.27)^{0.3}=0.78\pm 0.01$ and a tighter one-dimensional range $\sigma_8=0.77\pm 0.02$. We find that the larger values of $\sigma_8$ and $\Omega_{\mathrm{m}}$ preferred by Planck's measurements of the primary CMB anisotropies can be accommodated by a mass bias of about 40%. Alternatively, consistency with the primary CMB constraints can be achieved by inclusion of processes that suppress power on small scales relative to the $\Lambda$CDM model, such as a component of massive neutrinos (abridged).Comment: 20 pages, accepted for publication by A&

Lawson criterion for ignition exceeded in an inertial fusion experiment

For more than half a century, researchers around the world have been engaged in attempts to achieve fusion ignition as a proof of principle of various fusion concepts. Following the Lawson criterion, an ignited plasma is one where the fusion heating power is high enough to overcome all the physical processes that cool the fusion plasma, creating a positive thermodynamic feedback loop with rapidly increasing temperature. In inertially confined fusion, ignition is a state where the fusion plasma can begin "burn propagation" into surrounding cold fuel, enabling the possibility of high energy gain. While "scientific breakeven" (i.e., unity target gain) has not yet been achieved (here target gain is 0.72, 1.37 MJ of fusion for 1.92 MJ of laser energy), this Letter reports the first controlled fusion experiment, using laser indirect drive, on the National Ignition Facility to produce capsule gain (here 5.8) and reach ignition by nine different formulations of the Lawson criterion