Biosphere 2 Ocean Wave Flume

As a part of the coral resilience research program at Biosphere 2, artificial suspended reefs called Coral Reef Arks are being implemented as an innovative solution to significantly improve coral growth and survival relative to traditional restoration (>80% vs. 42% after 3 years). The technology behind Arks includes biomimetic fractal-based designs, inspired by natural structures to optimize surface area for coral attachment and hydrodynamic stability. In the Biosphere 2 Ocean, a 2.6-million-liter coral reef mesocosm whose environment can be precisely manipulated, Arks will undergo further testing and design iteration in a controlled environment. A wave flume shall be constructed to test Ark designs at scale for ocean storm conditions. The flume will be validated using previously collected data for the 2V icosahedron design from wind tunnel testing and computational fluid dynamics modeling.