Computational modeling of a ventilation concept for a lunar habitat laboratory

Abstract

Human spaceflight demands systems like habitats that provide a livable environment for humans on long duration missions on other planets. This challenge includes the layout of several life support subsystems according to comfort criteria, including air management and the ventilation of supply air. A main goal of the ventilation system is to ensure a comfortable room climate with fresh air while being able to remove waste heat of other habitat systems. In this project we propose a ventilation distribution for a habitat laboratory using the design of MaMBA (Moon and Mars Base Analog) as an example geometry. We evaluate its performance with different exhaust configurations and boundary conditions via numerical simulations with OpenFOAM 6s’ buoyantBoussinesqPimpleFoam solver. Comfort criteria are set according to literature values to ensure a good mixing of the supply and ambient air with a low probability of uncomfortable drafts. First results showed that a cooling system with only one cooling loop, the room ventilation, does not provide an acceptable solution. Therefore a secondary cooling loop, rack ventilation, is proposed. It absorbs the heat of the electrical devices like the scientific instruments, inside the racks, and releases heated air at the rack's bottom in the direction of the room exhaust vents. The combination of two cooling loops can fulfill most of the comfort criteria and should therefore be integrated in the design of the habitat's ventilation system.