This is a translation of a foreign article, so there may be mistranslations.
https://hothardware.com/news/china-builds-hypergravity-machine-that-creates-100-earths-gravity-in-a-lab
China Builds a Hypergravity Device That Creates 100 Times Earth's Gravity in a Laboratory
China has completed the construction of the world's most powerful hypergravity device. This device is designed to simulate extreme events such as dam collapses or earthquake disasters by creating hypergravity conditions.
Officially named CHIEF1900, this device was delivered to Zhejiang University on December 22. This massive centrifuge, manufactured by Shanghai Electric Nuclear Group, is the core device of the hypergravity and multidisciplinary experimental facility CHIEF. Located 50 feet (approximately 15 meters) underground in Hangzhou to protect from external vibrations, this facility is the result of 2 billion yuan, approximately 285 million dollars, invested in physics and science research and testing.
True to its name, CHIEF1900 has a capacity of 1,900 g-ton, exceeding the previous world record holder CHIEF1300 and surpassing the 1,200 g-ton centrifuge operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. To help with understanding, while a typical household washing machine generates about 2g of force during the spin cycle, this device can apply a force 100 times greater than Earth's gravity to samples weighing several tons.
CHIEF facility in Hangzhou, China.
The primary purpose of this facility is to simulate catastrophic events that are either impossible to observe or too dangerous in the real world. By utilizing hypergravity, researchers can manipulate scaling laws. For example, to test the structural integrity of a 300-meter-high dam, engineers can spin a 3-meter-scale model at 100g, which replicates the internal stresses that the full-size structure would face, allowing observation of potential failure points.
Beyond infrastructure testing, CHIEF1900 allows scientists to fast-forward time. It allows observation of geological processes that normally take tens of thousands of years, such as the migration of pollutants through deep soil or resonance between ground and high-speed rail tracks, in just a fraction of that time. Chen Wenmin, the chief scientist of the project, explained as follows: We aim to create experimental environments under normal or extreme temperature and pressure conditions, ranging from milliseconds to tens of thousands of years and from atomic to kilometer scales.
Clearly, building such a device required overcoming several major technical obstacles. At maximum speed, friction and mechanical movement generate extreme heat that risks melting internal components. To solve this, the team designed a sophisticated vacuum-based cooling system featuring the world's largest flange diameter, combined with cryogenic coolants and a forced ventilation system.
Although this facility serves China's national interests in infrastructure and nuclear safety, Zhejiang University has announced that the laboratory is open to international researchers and industry partners.
▶ Original Source: https://hothardware.com/news/china-builds-hypergravity-machine-that-creates-100-earths-gravity-in-a-lab
