Seniors design ARKs for Biosphere 2 coral reefs
Capstone team helps researchers advance ocean restoration with floating geodesic structures.
Interdisciplinary Capstone Team 26022 is helping sustain Biosphere 2’s delicate ocean ecosystem by promoting coral reef growth.
As Craig M. Berge Design Day approaches, College of Engineering seniors are preparing to showcase their yearlong Interdisciplinary Capstone projects to a panel of judges on May 4. One team is testing their project in the Biosphere 2 Ocean.
Mechanical engineering student Yousef Alabiad is leading his team’s efforts in analyzing how different designs for coral reef arks affect circulation patterns among the corals.
ARKs have a lightweight design that helps the structure float midwater.
JPOP Photon
“Our goal is to understand how the structure of the ARK impacts water movement around the coral,” he said. “If we can optimize that flow, it can create a healthier environment for coral growth.”
Wholome Arks partners with Biosphere 2 to advance coral reef restoration research and identify the best methods for coral growth. Coral reefs are declining globally. Since 2019, the Global Reef Monitoring Network found that 14% of the world’s corals disappeared, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported in 2018 that reefs could decline 70-90% if global temperatures continue to rise.
With help from researchers at Biosphere 2 and Wholome Arks, Alabiad and his team are testing their designs in the Biosphere 2 Ocean, a 2.6-million-liter coral reef mesocosm whose environment researchers can precisely control.
Using computational fluid dynamics modeling and testing, the team evaluated water velocity, turbulence and circulation inside the structures. After extensive trial and error, the team developed three potential designs built with PVC plates arranged horizontally and bolted down to serve as an ocean bed for coral.
“Traditional coral reef restoration has about a 42% survival rate after 3 years,” Alabiad said. “Whereas the ARK concepts we are looking at, demonstrate survival rates above 80%.”
For Alabiad, a longtime passion for automotive design and aerodynamics made the project an unexpected fit. What drew him in was the chance to apply those same principles in a water-based ecosystem – where engineering curiosity and conservation aligned.
“We’re the only capstone team working on an underwater project… and that makes it especially exciting,” he said.
