Browsing by Author "Rehmeier, Jacob"
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Item Capillary Provision of Water and Nutrients to Plants Grown in Microgravity(2020 International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2020-07-31) Nabity, James; Pitts, Ray; Rehmeier, Jacob; Weislogel, Mark; Escobar, Christine; Shaffer, Brett; Escobar, AdamPassive provision of water and nutrients for the growth of plants in microgravity environmental systems can effectively be accomplished through the exploitation of capillary forces in various geometries, such as a network of wetted open interior corners. Provided the Concus-Finn condition is satisfied, capillary flows may be established along conduits that consist of simple interior corners (or ‘wedges’). A numerical free surface solver tool was employed to predict capillary flow of water to inform the design and construction of test articles for use in drop tower experiments. In addition, single and parallel flow path configurations were investigated with consideration for harvesting duckweed, a micro-flowering plant, in a microgravity environment. We report the effects of material, surface conditions, and interior corner half-angle on capillary performance. Titanium, glass and polymeric materials with factory, machined, and shot peened surfaces were used in experiments with deionized water and duckweed. The results guided the advanced development of micro-plant growth beds.