Hyperloop: Not so fast

NASA engineers have also released an optimization framework for the Hyperloop concept as well. It&#x27;s completely open-source and written in Python. Docs here: <a href="http://openmdao-plugins.github.io/Hyperloop/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;openmdao-plugins.github.io&#x2F;Hyperloop&#x2F;</a><p>Their baseline optimization focuses on 5 subsystems: Compressor Cycle Analysis, Pod Geometry, Tube Flow Limitations, Tube Wall Temperature, and Mission Analysis<p>Initial results indicate that the concept is still very viable. However, due to very tight coupling between the tube and vehicle size, the tube size will need to be around twice as large as originally proposed by the Tesla&#x2F;SpaceX team to reach the proposed speeds.<p>Feel free to download the entire analysis and play with it yourself, without purchasing several expensive toolboxes from MATLAB!

I remember hearing an interview with a civil engineer about why highways have all these &quot;unnecessary&quot; curves in them. Why can&#x27;t engineers build highways that are more direct and straight?<p>After going on a bit about requirements for different kinds of terrain, the kind of strata the road needs to go on etc. and how those were difficult and expensive to surmount (so curves were often chosen to deal with it instead of a more expensive solution). He lamented that the <i>most</i> difficult and expensive aspect of new road construction was right of way through existing developments and other properties. Most of the curves we experience on highways are apparently the result of somebody, or a block of people, simply not wanting to give up their land.

Passengers are much more sensitive to vertical acceleration than horizontal. Repeated 1g swings from -0.5 to 0.5 g would make this thing a vomit comet. Would be interesting to see this analysis done with normal limits for high speed rail design, instead of Elon&#x27;s chosen 0.5g limit.<p>Edit: HS2 in Britain, for instance, is being designed with a maximum of around 0.01g vertical acceleration. If Elon&#x27;s has figured out how to get passengers to handle 50x that much, he could save them a lot of money.

Despite the headline, which I&#x27;m going to assume was added by an editor, the article is positive about the hyperloop prospects.

Maybe someone can convince China to develop the technology. They already have 6,200 miles of high-speed rail, on their way to 10,000 miles.<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_in_China" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;High-speed_rail_in_China</a><p>Their Shanghai Maglev only cost $1.2 billion.<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Maglev_Train" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Shanghai_Maglev_Train</a><p>China is clearly interested in building a 21st century transportation infrastructure. Beijing to Shangai is 800 miles. Perfect for 700 mph hyperloop.

Another article of the blog is about the modelisation of the Hyperloop vehicule (+environment): <a href="http://blogs.mathworks.com/seth/2013/11/07/hyperloop-model-architecture-we-want-your-feedback/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blogs.mathworks.com&#x2F;seth&#x2F;2013&#x2F;11&#x2F;07&#x2F;hyperloop-model-a...</a> It can be read as an introduction to Model Based Design. It shows for instance the interest of handling variants to test either different hardware concepts or different level of representativity.

Personally I&#x27;m still worried about the claustrophobia issues. And I&#x27;m not even really claustrophobic.<p>There&#x27;s just something about being in a small seat in a concrete tube with no exit for 100&#x27;s of miles that really freaks me out.

Article assumes that the hyperloop can&#x2F;would follow existing highways. Considering the cost of diverting traffic during construction, it seems unlikely you could build it for anything close to the advertised $6 billion while following existing highways.<p>Also, the structure would need to be tall (or short) enough to bypass highway bridges and overpasses...

A fun article and exercise but a bit suspect since the only image of a difficult turn is not one the hyperloop is actually scheduled to take (the design document linked shows the route continuing straight along HWY 238 at that point). But the next turn north along 880 looks tricky (it looks like there might be some room at the school, cemetery and empty lots to smooth it out a bit).

My only objection to Hyperloop is that it&#x27;s so damned <i>ugly</i>. What ought to be an inspirational feat of engineering looks, under the proposed pillar design, like an elevated oil pipeline. I can&#x27;t imagine anyone wanting to look at it, let alone having it blight their property.<p>It&#x27;s a shame they haven&#x27;t proposed a graceful cable-stayed structure.

This reminds me of the Red Bull X1 out of GT5. I remember going round a hairpin at 250km&#x2F;h, that&#x27;s bound to snap your neck.