CUBRC scientists perform research and testing in a 600mP3P atmospheric chamber.  The chamber facility is routinely used for BW simulant work, atmospheric simulation, aerosol research, cloud-physics investigations, air pollution and indoor air quality studies.

Key Physical Features:

• The small surface to volume ratio and low lateral diffusion rates reduce loss of aerosol particles to the chamber walls.
• Chemically inert interior paint (fluorinated epoxy-urethane) has low adsorption rates and is stable under UV radiation.
• Charcoal and HEPA filtration systems remove organics and nitrogen oxides as well as reduce ambient particle counts to <10 nuclei/cmP3P.
• Vertical banks of photolysis lamps generate light intensity in the near-UV range that is 50% of mid-day solar radiation at middle latitudes.
• An 8mP3P pyrotechnic chamber adjacent to the large chamber is used for explosives detonation (up to 0.25lb. TNT equivalent), or to burn smokes and obscurants.  By-products can be directed into the large chamber for experiments.

Research and Testing Capabilities:

• Generation and characterization of bio-aerosols using BW simulant organisms to evaluate point and standoff detection devices
• Generation of bio-aerosols in a variety of simulated atmospheric environments (specific geographical regions of interest) to evaluate the performance of biological collectors, triggers, detectors, and identifiers under these controlled conditions
• Creation of typical battlefield conditions (smokes, obscurants, chemicals, exhausts, fuels, environmental pollutants) to evaluate the performance of biological and chemical detectors
• 1.3m3 chamber specifically designed for the evaluation of countermeasure technologies and systems against threat aerosol clouds