LIGHTWEIGHT MANUFACTURING
The hyperloop is more than just a pipe dream.
Here, Benjamin Stafford, materials science specialist at Matmatch, ponders the design considerations for engineers developing the next generation of transportation systems
H
uman kind has come a long way since the days of travelling on foot. The 20th century, in particular, saw
a signifi cant number of developments and improvements to land and air transportation. Today, automotive and aviation
manufacturers are under increasing pressure to reduce harmful emissions and meet global targets to tackle climate change. In addition to creating faster and more effi cient transportation modes, like those we’re seeing with the advances in the electrifi cation of both cars and planes, governments have another issue to address. Our roads, airports and ports are congested. Countries like Mexico, Thailand and Indonesia currently rank as having cities with the highest traffi c-related congestion but there are few ideas on how to reduce it. Well, that was the case before Elon Musk’s 2012 revelation of the hyperloop. Hyperloop is an ultra-high-speed
transportation ecosystem, made up of a system of tubes that pods can travel through free of air resistance and friction. It works by replicating high altitudes in a low- pressure environment inside the tube system by removing most of the air with vacuum
pumps, which drastically reduces the drag forces. Due to the ultra-low aerodynamic
drag, the pods can glide at airline speeds for long distances, providing rapid transit across densely populated regions. In the US for example, a hyperloop could enable travel from New York to Washington DC in less than 30 minutes. Its estimated that the hyperloop’s pods will be able to travel at around 600 miles per hour, carrying up to 16 passengers. Member of the Delft University of
Technology’s Hyperloop team, Mark Geuze, described the hyperloop as “being able to connect cities, making it more effi cient than a plane, but as convenient as a train.” While projects like Virgin Hyperloop One Systems and Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) are working to make Musk’s concept a reality, there are still some elements of design that need refi ning. For the hyperloop to be two to three times faster than existing high-speed rail and magnetic levitation trains, and ten to fi fteen times faster than traditional rail, design and mechanical engineers are looking to materials used in the aerospace industry for inspiration. This is because the
hyperloop needs to be constructed
with robust materials that are light and able
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