Aerodynamic Shape Optimisation of Transonic Hyperloop Vehicles
- Academic lead
- Dr Carl Gilkeson, School of Mechanical Engineering, C.A.Gilkeson@leeds.ac.uk
- Co-supervisor(s)
- Prof David Connolly, School of Civil Engineering, D.Connolly@leeds.ac.uk, Dr Andrew Shires, School of Mechanical Engineering, A.Shires@leeds.ac.uk, Dr Natalie Gilkeson, School of Mechanical Engineering, N.Gilkeson@leeds.ac.uk, Dr Benjamin Hinchliffe, MBDA Missile Systems, Senior Aerodynamics Engineer, benjamin.lee.hinchliffe@gmail.com (External), Dr Shahrokh Shahpar, Rolls-Royce Plc, Fellow and Senior Aerothermal Design Specialist, shahrokh.shahpar@rolls-royce.com
- Project themes
- Computational & Analytical Tools, Data-driven methods, Fundamental, Transport
This project concerns the aerodynamic design of Hyperloop vehicles. These vehicles are designed to operate in a low-pressure tube environment (typically 100 pa) with transportation speeds in excess of the upper limit of the transonic regime (Mach 1.2). The project will involve extensive steady-state Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations and there is scope for transient aerodynamics to be investigated. A previous research project has produced a baseline Hyperloop pod shape but it has not been optimised in any way. The main focus of this project is to employ shape optimisation to considerably improve the aerodynamic characteristics by reducing drag and negating the unavoidable flow choking effects within the Hyperloop tunnel.
Design improvements can be realised using machine learning techniques in conjunction with traditional, metamodel-based optimisation approaches. It is envisaged that these will be used together with the powerful Adjoint method to adapt the pod shape and thus identify optimum design characteristics. None of these techniques have been used in this application before so there is great scope to produce novel research and to realise the outstanding potential of Hyperloop. The project is supported by an experienced and broad supervision team including academics and practicing engineers from industry.