The water cycle in closed ecological systems: Perspectives from the Biosphere 2 and Laboratory Biosphere systems

To achieve sustainable, healthy closed ecological systems requires solutions to challenges of closing the water cycle – recycling wastewater/irrigation water/soil medium leachate and evaporated water and supplying water of required quality as needed for different needs within the facility. Engineering Biosphere 2, the first multi-biome closed ecological system within a total airtight footprint of 12,700 m² with a combined volume of 200,000 m³ with a total water capacity of some 6 × 10⁶ L of water was especially challenging because it included human inhabitants, their agricultural and technical systems, as well as five analogue ecosystems ranging from rainforest to desert, freshwater ecologies to saltwater systems like mangrove and mini-ocean coral reef ecosystems. By contrast, the Laboratory Biosphere – a small (40 m³ volume) soil-based plant growth facility with a footprint of 15 m² – is a very simplified system, but with similar challenges re salinity management and provision of water quality suitable for plant growth. In Biosphere 2, water needs included supplying potable water for people and domestic animals, irrigation water for a wide variety of food crops, and recycling and recovering soil nutrients from wastewater. In the wilderness biomes, providing adequately low salinity freshwater terrestrial ecosystems and maintaining appropriate salinity and pH in aquatic/marine ecosystems were challenges. The largest reservoirs in Biosphere 2 were the ocean/marsh with some 4 × 10⁶ L, soil with 1 to 2 × 10⁶ l, primary storage tank with 0 to 8 × 10⁵ L and storage tanks for condensate and soil leachate collection and mixing tanks with a capacity of 1.6 × 10⁵ L to supply irrigation for farm and wilderness ecosystems. Other reservoirs were far smaller – humidity in the atmosphere (2 × 10³ L), streams in the rainforest and savannah, and seasonal pools in the desert were orders of magnitude smaller (8 × 10⁴ L). Key technologies included condensation from humidity in the air handlers and from the glass space frame to produce high quality freshwater, wastewater treatment with constructed wetlands and desalination through reverse osmosis and flash evaporation were key to recycling water with appropriate quality throughout the Biosphere 2 facility. Wastewater from all human uses and the domestic animals in Biosphere 2 was treated and recycled through a series of constructed wetlands, which had hydraulic loading of 0.9–1.1 m³ day⁻¹ (240–290 gal d⁻¹). Plant production in the wetland treatment system produced 1210 kg dry weight of emergent and floating aquatic plant wetland which was used as fodder for the domestic animals while remaining nutrients/water was reused as part of the agricultural irrigation supply. There were pools of water with recycling times of days to weeks and others with far longer cycling times within Biosphere 2. By contrast, the Laboratory Biosphere with a total water reservoir of less than 500 L has far quicker cycling rapidity: for example, atmospheric residence time for water vapor was 5–20 min in the Laboratory Biosphere vs. 1–4 h in Biosphere 2, as compared with 9 days in the Earth’s biosphere. Just as in Biosphere 2, humidity in the Laboratory Biosphere amounts to a very small reservoir of water. The amount of water passing through the air in the course of a 12-h operational day is two orders of magnitude greater than the amount stored in the air. Thus, evaporation and condensation collection are vital parts of the recycle system just as in Biosphere 2. The water cycle and sustainable water recycling in closed ecological systems presents problems requiring further research – such as how to control buildup of salinity in materially closed ecosystems and effective ways to retain nutrients in optimal quantity and useable form for plant growth. These issues are common to all closed ecological systems of whatever size, including planet Earth’s biosphere and are relevant to a global environment facing increasing water shortages while maintaining water quality for human and ecosystem health. Modular biospheres offer a test bed where technical methods of resolving these problems can be tested for feasibility.     

Design and Simulation of Electro-hydrostatic Actuator with a Built-in Power Regulator

The electro-hydrostatic actuator (EHA) is a kind of power-by-wire (PBW) actuator that converts the electrical power into localized hydraulic power for flight control. By removing the central hydraulic power supply together with hydraulic pipes, an EHA's reliability and efficiency are greatly improved but its frequency width and stiffness decreased. To overcome the drawback, this article proposes a novel structure of EHA associated with a power regulator. Composed of a high-pressure accumulator and a proportional valve, it can store and harness the hydraulic power flexibly according to the changing control requirements. The concept of transferred volume is put forward to estimate the capability of the power regulator. The actuator output position can be kept fixed with a hydraulic lock. The compounded control is specially developed to ensure the actuator system to operate in a correct manner. The simulation results indicate that the new-brand actuator results in efficient expanding of the system frequency width with an optimal power supply.     

收敛-扩张喷管中运用次流推力矢量控制技术的计算研究

采用二阶1TVD格式的有限体积法耦合RNGκ-ε湍流模型和非平衡壁面函数求解二维守恒型雷诺平均N-S方程,数值模拟了运用次流椎力矢量控制技术的二维收敛-扩张喷管中的流动现象。计算结果表明,随着喷管压比的增加,次流喷射所产生的激波向扩张段下游移动,且喷管矢量角不断减小到一固定值;次流压比的增加将导致激波向扩张段上游移动,且喷管矢量角不断增加;次流压比对激波和矢量角的影响比喷管压比更强。     

正庚烷/空气混合气最小点火能量及其影响因素

利用定容弹燃烧系统对正庚烷/空气混合气的最小点火能量进行了实验测量,获得了不同初始条件下正庚烷/空气混合气的最小电火花点火能量。实验结果表明:正庚烷/空气混合气的最小点火能量随当量比的增大先减小后增大。对于初始压力为0.1MPa和初始温度为450K的混合气,最小点火能量在当量比1.1附近达到最小值,为0.3904mJ。实验发现:正庚烷/空气预混气的初始压力和初始温度对最小点火能量有重要的影响,与对火焰传播速度的影响是一致的。分析表明,初始温度和初始压力无论是对最小点火能量还是对火焰传播速度的影响,都与混合气的化学反应速率密切相关,化学反应速率越快,火焰传播速度越大,最小点火能量越小。      

离心式喷嘴充填过程内部流动特性仿真

基于两相界面追踪方法VOF(volume of fluid)模拟了离心式喷嘴充填过程中的内部流动特性。研究了气液界面随时间的变化过程,发现了充填过程中气核收缩和旋转液膜的现象;通过提取气相体积分数等值线的方法计算了充填过程中喷嘴出口液膜厚度和喷雾锥角的变化。结果发现:液膜厚度随出口流量的增大而增大,出口喷雾锥角随出口流量的增大而减小;描述了喷嘴旋流室内的回流现象,分析了充填完成后的压力场和速度场分布,发现在压降和气液作用的共同影响下,中心气核轴向速度沿轴向先增后减。      

不同工况下表面粗糙度对水润滑轴承启动性能的影响

为研究水润滑轴承的瞬态启动过程,联立瞬态压力场、温度场控制方程及主轴运动方程,构建水润滑轴承瞬态启动模型,从主轴运动、润滑性能及轴承温度等方面,分析不同表面粗糙峰高度（1 μm,2 μm及4 μm）下的水润滑轴承启动性能参数变化规律。结果表明：在轴承启动初期主轴发生强烈的瞬间振动,导致膜厚、压力、承载力、摩擦系数等主要参数发生瞬间急剧变化,且主轴振动随表面粗糙峰高度的增大而更加强烈;降低粗糙峰高度可促进水膜承载,使固体接触压力、接触承载力和摩擦系数降低,但最小膜厚也会随之减小;轴承运行中存在某一个转速使得轴承温度达到最高值,而随着粗糙峰高度的增加,该最高温度值及其对应的主轴转速均随之增大,这会加剧轴承高温失效风险。     

基于微结构识别的单向复合材料导热系数预估

以T300碳纤维/环氧树脂基单向复合材料为例,考虑纤维周围间隙缺陷的影响,建立了基于微观图像识别的等效导热系数预估方法.首先利用图像识别技术处理材料微观电镜照片,然后依据纤维体积分数稳定性判据应用几何重构技术建立了代表性单元,并通过在代表性单元（RVE）内部交界面处添加接触热阻的方法引入间隙缺陷的影响,最终利用有限元方法模拟得到等效导热系数（ETC）.研究发现:间隙的位置对等效导热系数影响微弱;随着间隙缺陷占比和厚度的增加,等效导热系数显著降低;间隙缺陷占比大于0.8,无量纲间隙缺陷厚度小于0.15时,单向纤维增韧复合材料的等效导热系数受间隙影响最突出;相对于纤维和基体理想接触的情况,考虑间隙缺陷后,等效导热系数最大降幅可达52.1%.      

Numerical simulations of high enthalpy flows around entry bodies

Ablation flows around entry bodies are at highly nonequilibrium states. This paper presents comprehensive computational fluid dynamics simulations of such hypersonic flow examples.The computational scheme adopted in this study is based on the Navier–Stokes equations, and it is capable of simulating multiple-dimensional, non-equilibrium, chemically reacting gas flows with multiple species. Finite rate chemical reactions, multiple temperature relaxation processes, and ionizations phenomena with electrons are modeled. Simulation results of several hypersonic gas flows over axisymmetric bodies are presented and compared with results in the literature. It confirms that some past treatment of adopting less species for hypersonic flows is acceptable, and the differences from more species and more chemical reactions are not significant.     

有序多孔氧化铝陶瓷微观结构研究

利用扫描电镜(SEM)对模板法制备的有序多孔氧化铝陶瓷的微观结构特征、孔隙结构和晶粒生长进行了研究.结果表明:通过模板法制备的多孔氧化铝陶瓷孔结构均匀、排列有序,孔洞内部相互连通;随着料氧化铝浆固相体积的增加,多孔陶瓷的孔隙率相应降低;孔洞边缘没有出现晶粒的异常生长,与发泡法制备的多孔陶瓷相比,烧结致密度更高.     

收缩段出口型式对水槽流场品质的影响

研究了收缩段出口顶壁型式对表面波的影响，得到了最佳的出口设计，并分析了满流和明流情况下，流场速度，湍流等澡程的发展变化。