Development Status of the Virtual Habitat (V-HAB) Simulation System

The dynamic life support system simulation Virtual Habitat (V-HAB) has been under development at the Technical University of Munich since 2006. The MATLAB®-based software dynamically simulates life support systems and their subsystems, as well as their interactions with a model of the crew metabolism. This paper presents the structure and capabilities of V-HAB in its current development status. The first version of V-HAB, completed in 2011, focused on the flow of matter between the different components of a life support system and was validated by correlating simulation results with flight data from the International Space Station. Since then the software was completely refactored and new capabilities were added. These include an interactive and expandable database of matter properties, a thermal domain to enable the depiction of all forms of heat transfer and several new flow rate solvers for both gases and liquids. Using these new features, existing models were upgraded, new models were created, and all were validated using flight data from various human spaceflight missions and ground test data. The paper describes the overall structure and functionality of V-HAB, elaborates on the new features mentioned above in greater detail and provides an outlook onto the future developments planned for the simulation system.