A Study on the Aerodynamic Drag of Transonic Vehicle in Evacuated Tube Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

The characteristics of aerodynamic drag for Transonic Vehicle in Evacuated Tube was investigated using computational fluid dynamics. At first, parametric study on the system was performed according to the Mach number of the vehicle's speed ($Mach_v$), evacuated pressure of the tube ($Pre_t$), and blockage ratio (BR) between the vehicle and tube via axisymmetric flow analysis; the $Mach_v$ ranged from 0.3 to 1.0. The $Pre_t$ was 100, 1,000 and 10,000 Pa and the BR was 0.1, 0.2, and 0.4. In the calculations, the aerodynamic drag of the vehicle was larger when the BR and the pressure became larger. Concerning the $Mach_v$, the drag coefficient ($C_d$) became the maximum when the $Mach_v$ was near the Kantrowitz limit and decreased, which showed the typical transonic flow pattern. Then, three dimensional flow analysis was performed by changing the $Mach_v$ from 0.3 to 1.0 and setting the BR and the $Pre_t$ as 0.34 and 100 Pa, respectively by referring the Hyperloop Alpha documentation. From the calculations, the $C_d$ from three dimensional flow simulations were somewhat larger than those of axisymmetric ones because of the eccentricity of the vehicle inside the tube. However, the pattern of $C_d$ according to the $Mach_v$ was compatible with that of axisymmetric ones.