Computer-generated rear view of the Bloodhound SSC. Courtesy of Curventa.
Click thumbnail to view larger version.
Imagine a rocket with wheels – that’s what engineers all over England are joining forces to build in hopes of breaking the world’s land speed record.
They hope to do it with the Bloodhound SSC, a vehicle in development that is intended to travel at Mach 1.4 – 1,000 miles per hour. This is 30 percent faster than any land vehicle has traveled. Richard Noble, former holder of the record and head of the vehicle’s design team; current record holder Andy Green; and Paul Drayson, British science minister, have teamed up and tapped the engineering and technology skills of several groups to design the new land speed vehicle.
But traveling fast enough to break the sound barrier and then some on land requires much different research and technology than what was used in early generations of land speed vehicles.
“Breaking world land speed records is no longer about strapping on an engine onto a buggy and pointing it at the horizon,” said Drayson. “Today, the application of new and exciting science and technology is the only way to achieve results. Britain has a wonderful heritage of rising to the challenge and this exciting project will see that continue.”
Aside from breaking the record, another goal of the project is to interest young people in the engineering and technological fields. In England – as well as in North America – there is a developing shortage of engineers when we need more of these experts.
“The whole point of doing this is not just to create a fast car,” said Dr. Ben Evans, part of the aerodynamics team at Swansea University working on the Bloodhound SSC. “We live in a carbon economy and lots of the issues we face will require engineers and scientists to solve them – part of this project is to inspire young people.”
Evans’ team has been working on the airflow data that helped determine the car’s shape. While the Bloodhound’s predecessor, the Thrust SSC, was also a supersonic car, it was only supersonic for a few seconds. The Bloodhound will create shockwaves for much longer – shockwaves that will create a sonic boom. How these forces interact with the ground just inches from the vehicle (the shockwaves created by jets are sent into the air) will impact the vehicle.
Researchers know it will create spray drag, which is when the shockwaves “eat” the dessert floor that the car races on. This throws sand into the air around the car and affects the car’s air intake.
Britain’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL), Atomic Weapons Establishment, and Fluid Gravity Engineering are working together to design the Bloodhound’s wheels, which will have to be able to rotate 10,500 rotations per minute to achieve the desired speed. Aside from standing up to the wear and tear from sand and stones while spinning at such speeds, the tires must also be light. Though working on such a specific part, these engineers needed to understand how the entire car functions.
“When you’re traveling at 1,000 mph, you don’t want to be worrying about your motor holding out or whether your tires are up to it,” said Brian Chapman, project leader for NPL.
Engineers from the University of Leeds and the company Instrumental are working on the electronic control unit for the fuel pump, which will move one ton of concentrated hydrogen peroxide to fuel the hybrid rocket engine that will work with the jet engine from a Typhoon fighter plane.
The Bloodhound SSC’s organizers hope to achieve its goal in 2011. To learn more about the project and its progress, visit the project Web site: http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/.