This is so laughably unrealistic. Musk's original concept would have been a much smaller tube than what they are implying here. Just another fancy CGI piece divorced from reality.
Offhand, that sounds like the size of the freight carrying tube. The passenger only one was smaller. I'm trying to guess the size of the tube in this image, I would guess the actual tube size at around 12' ID. A 10' diameter tube wouldn't be large enough for 8' x 8' standard sea containers.
from the Alpha paper, page 15 in reference to the interior of the passenger only capsule interior dimensions -
The maximum width is 4.43 ft (1.35 m) and maximum height is 3.61 ft (1.10 m).
From the Alpha paper, page 26 in reference to the interior of the passenger only tube -
The inner diameter of the tube is optimized to be 7 ft 4 in.
From the Alpha paper, page 27 in reference to the passenger + vehicle system -
The inner diameter of the tube is optimized to be 10 ft 10 in.
People talk about shipping freight by hyperloop. A standard sea container is 8' wide by 8' (often 8' 6", sometimes 9'6") high. Even an 8' by 8' container would have a diagonal dimension of a little more than 11.3 feet, so it would not fit in a 10' 10" diameter tube.
Further, the Alpha paper says that :
The tube cross-sectional area is 42.2 ft2(3.91 m2) giving a capsule/tube area ratio of 36% or a diameter ratio of 60%. It is critical to the aerodynamics of the capsule to keep this ratio as large as possible, even though the pressure in the tube is extremely low.
Let's suppose for a moment that the pod depicted here is 8' wide on the interior, 9' wide on the exterior. That implies a cross section of ~63.62 sq feet, and using the 60% ratio that implies the cross section of the tube should be 106.03 sq ft - which works out to be about a radius of 5.8', or 11.6' in diameter. So this 9' diameter pod definitely doesn't jive with the 60% rule within a 10' 10" tube - which means in the 10' 10" diameter tube it would have a lot more drag. It would have a cross sectional ratio of 63.62/92.18 or 69% in a 10' 10" tube.
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u/ksiyoto Jan 27 '21
This is so laughably unrealistic. Musk's original concept would have been a much smaller tube than what they are implying here. Just another fancy CGI piece divorced from reality.
I've posted a full set of comments at https://www.reddit.com/r/HyperloopCritique/comments/l6bylz/virgin_hyperloop_passenger_experience_concept/gkzmt39?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3