China is set to break its own record in hypergravity research with a colossal new centrifuge that can spin multi-tonne samples at unmatched intensities.
The machine, known as CHIEF1900, was built by Shanghai Electric Nuclear Power Group and shipped to Zhejiang University in eastern China on December 22 for installation. Once up and running, it will allow researchers to compress space and time, recreating catastrophic events such as dam failures and earthquakes inside a laboratory, according to the university.
With a capacity of 1,900 g·tonne – a unit that combines gravitational acceleration (g) and sample mass in tonnes – CHIEF1900 will become the most powerful centrifuge ever built for scientific research. It will surpass CHIEF1300, which came online in September, with a capacity of 1,300 g·tonne and holds the world record.
Both machines are part of the Centrifugal Hypergravity and Interdisciplinary Experiment Facility (CHIEF), a national laboratory 15 metres (49 feet) beneath the university campus to minimise vibration and ensure stable operation.
CHIEF1300 dethroned the long-time record holder operated by the US Army Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg, Mississippi, which has a capacity of around 1,200 g·tonne. That is in contrast to a household washing machine which rarely exceeds 2 g·tonne during a spin cycle.
Approved in 2021 with a budget of 2 billion yuan (US$285 million), the CHIEF complex is part of China’s broader effort to expand cutting-edge research infrastructure and promote international collaboration. The facility is open to users from universities, research institutes and industries – both domestic and overseas.
All objects on Earth are subject to gravity and the centrifugal force induced when spinning. By generating forces hundreds or thousands of times stronger than Earth’s gravity, machines such as CHIEF can compress time and distance, making it possible to study phenomena that would otherwise take decades or span kilometres, all within a lab.
For example, to assess the structural stability of a dam 300 metres (984 feet) tall, scientists can build a three-metre model and spin it at 100g. This replicates the same stress levels the full-scale dam would experience in the real world.
Hypergravity experiments also offer insights into how high-speed rail tracks might resonate with the ground or how pollutants migrate through soil over millennia – scenarios that are nearly impossible to study in real time.
Building centrifuges at this scale pushed engineers into uncharted territory, the university said in September. With extreme speeds, longer mechanical arms and complex operating conditions, many components had to be developed from scratch.
To meet the challenge, Zhejiang University assembled a multidisciplinary team – including experts in civil engineering, automation, thermodynamics and environmental science – to design and build the CHIEF systems.
Heat was one of the biggest hurdles. At high rotational speeds, the centrifuge generates enormous heat that can threaten system stability. Engineers developed a vacuum-based temperature control system, using the world’s largest flange diameter, which combines vacuum pumping, glacier coolant and forced-air ventilation to safely dissipate heat.
“We aim to create experimental environments that span milliseconds to tens of thousands of years, and atomic to [kilometre] scales – under normal or extreme conditions of temperature and pressure,” said Chen Yunmin, CHIEF’s chief scientist and a professor at Zhejiang University.
In a single experiment, CHIEF can replicate kilometre-scale ground deformation, simulate long-term pollutant transport or generate thousands of new material samples.
“It gives us the chance to discover entirely new phenomena or theories,” Chen said. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
