Diseno de un prototipo demostrador para la competicion 2018 SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition
The current Final Degree Thesis is about the aerodynamic study required for the design process of the prototype which has been proposed by Hyperloop UPV team from the "Universitat Politecnica de Valencia" for the "III SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition" using the geometry created by the design department of the team. In the first introductory chapter, the history of this new transport named Hyperloop is summarized, a feasibility study is carried out in order to compare Hyperloop with other transports and to know its economy effects. Moreover, the university competition organized by SpaceX and its several procedures are explained. Finally, the previous researches and the goals of the project are described. After the exposition of the theoretical notions needed to understand the current research, the aerodynamic preprocessing of the study is carried out. For this purpose, a simplified geometry and a mesh have been created. In addition, a boundary layer study, a mesh independence study and a domain independence study are shown. Then, the aerodynamic results of the prototype are calculated in a steady analysis using the CFD software ANSYS Fluent 18.2 R (c) The aerodynamic coefficients which define this geometry are obtained as well. The aerodynamic forces (drag and lift) and the pitch moment are calculated in a parametric study depending on the velocity of the prototype and the internal pressure of the tube. In addition, the relation between this internal pressure and the maximum velocity of the prototype are obtained introducing the aerodynamic coefficients in the dynamic simulator. This maximum velocity is the most relevant parameter to win the competition. The internal pressure is just decided by SpaceX in the moment of the competition. In the last part of the CFD, the issue about if the inverted configuration of the fairing is more efficient than the original configuration is solve and how it might affect the maximum velocity. Three experimental tests have been carried out in a wind tunnel using a scalable 1:10 model of the prototype. In the first test, white smoke has been injected at low velocity in order to see the generated vortexes and the turbulent wake within a scalable methacrylate tube. In the next test, several measurements are obtained at middle velocity. In the last test, the maximum velocity of the wind tunnel is reached without the methacrylate tube due to flutter problems. Finally, the final results of the computational study and the experimental tests are compared and the conclusions of the project are obtained with the aim of getting a final and concluding solution of the study. The research ends presenting a estimation of the cost of the aerodynamic study.