Mohammed Mahdi Abdulla, Seraj Alzhrani, Khalid A. Juhany
DOI Number XXX-YYY-ZZZ
Conference Number HiSST-2022-386
High-speed moving vehicles in a tube with pressures similar to those experienced in aircraft at their
maximum altitude are investigated and presented. Although the concept resembles Hyperloop, the
pressure level investigated here is much higher and safer than that suggested by the Hyperloop, and
therefore, the system design is markedly different. The vehicle’s aerodynamic drag reduces with lower
operating pressures, blockage ratios, and flow Mach number. Most of the publications addressed and
studied the blocked model. However, the role of flow ingestion is not well studied. This paper analyzed
the ingestion effect on the flow field, power, and drag using multi-dimensional analysis utilizing the
Method of Characteristics (1-D) and Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (URANS) with 𝑘 − 𝜔
SST turbulence model for the 2-D and 3-D numerical models. A comparison between the blocked and
ingested models was performed for various ranges of Mach number (0.3 to 0.8) and blockage ratios
(0.3 to 0.7) to assess the performance of a wide range of design spaces. The attained results have
shown a significant reduction of piston effect, elimination of chocking condition, and providing the
required thrust levels to propel the vehicle along the tube. Interestingly, the analysis revealed a power
savings of approximately 90% when ingestion was employed with a vehicle speed corresponding to
M=0.6 at an operating pressure of 10 kPa.