Historical volume estimation and a structured method for calculating habitable volume for in-space and surface habitats

作者：Simon M^*; Bobskill M R; Wilhite A

来源：Acta Astronautica, 2012, 80: 65-81.

DOI：10.1016/j.actaastro.2012.04.041

• Habitable volume
• Volume
• Pressurized volume
• Numerical method
• Spacecraft design
• Interior
• Habitat
• Requirements
• Gravity environment
• Mission duration
• Habitability
• Utility
• Boolean test
• Collision detection
• Accessibility

Habitable volume is an important spacecraft design figure of merit necessary to determine the required size of crewed space vehicles, or habitats. In order to design habitats for future missions and properly compare the habitable volumes of future habitat designs with historical spacecraft, consistent methods of both defining the required amount of habitable volume and estimating the habitable volume for a given layout are required. This paper provides a brief summary of historical habitable volume requirements and describes the appropriate application of requirements to various types of missions, particularly highlighting the appropriate application for various gravity environments. Then the proposed "Marching Grid Method", a structured automatic, numerical method to calculate habitable volume for a given habitat design, is described in detail. This method uses a set of geometric Boolean tests applied to a discrete set of points within the pressurized volume to numerically estimate the functionally usable and accessible space that comprises the habitable volume. The application of this method to zero gravity and nonzero gravity environments is also discussed. This proposed method is then demonstrated by calculating habitable volumes using two conceptual-level layouts of habitat designs, one for each type of gravity environment. These include the US Laboratory Module on ISS and the Scenario 12.0 Pressurized Core Module from the recent NASA Lunar Surface Systems studies. Results of this study include a description of the effectiveness of this method for various resolutions of the investigated grid, and commentary highlighting the use of this method to determine the overall utility of interior configurations for automatically evaluating interior layouts. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

• 出版日期2012-12