Bloodhound SSC

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Bloodhound SSC

Post by J.D. »

Not sure if this is the best place for this but here goes:

http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In 1997 World Land Speed record holder Richard Noble and his team went to Black Rock dry lake in Nevada and set a land speed record of 763mph/1228kmh with Thrust SSC. That equated to Mach 1.02 average, making it the first time a LSR had been in excess of the speed of sound.

Now they're back with Bloodhound SSC, named after a missile. Kind of appropriate really, since the team's chief designer Ron Ayers is a retired missile engineer. This vehicle is designed for 1,050mph/1690kmh or Mach 1.4. If they achieve this, Bloodhound SSC will be the fastest vehicle of any kind at sea level, since even the venerable F-111 wasn't that fast at low altitude.

The driver is RAF pilot Andy Green who drove Thrust SSC back in '97.

Noble has done this really well. He has sold the project as a major effort to get kids to study engineering. This time they have managed to attract sponsorship (and my name will be on the tail, along with many others). One of the Universities has contributed the bulk of the engineering study, especially the aerodynamics. This is a major stumbling block. Noble's first vehicle was 7mph short of disaster and he was lucky to survive it. Thrust SSC was more refined but still pretty crude. By the end of its life it was falling to bits with panels having to be replaced at the rear, having been loosened by constant exposure to shock waves. They have come up with some neat solutions and I like the way they have set up the shock and splitter for the engine intake. It's a novel approach.

Power is a big issue too. Thrust SSC used two Rolls Royce Spey afterburning turbofans from an ex-RAF Phantom. They were good for 20,000lbs of thrust each and swallowed fuel at a prodigious rate. Total equivalent at 763mph is about 81,000hp.

The new vehicle will have a 20,000lb thrust EJ-200 from a Eurofighter and a hybrid rocket engine which develops 25,000lb thrust. Equivalent horsepower at target speed is about 133,000 in a vehicle which is about half the weight of Thrust SSC and with better aerodynamics.

To feed the rocket engine the team have managed to get hold of an 800hp Cosworth F1 engine to use as a fuel pump. This is not unusual; the Space Shuttle Main Engine uses a 70,000hp turbopump - basically a jet engine to pump fuel - to feed it. The rocket engine is a hybrid design, chosen because of it's throttle capability and its relative safety compared with other types.

The vehicle is well into its construction phase now and should start making its first runs in early 2012. Record attempt will be in South Africa later that year.

[youtube] [/youtube]
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

Post by Johnny X »

The question is.... will the cockpit have the room for Andy Greens' huge cojones :eyepop:
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

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Andy's update:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13839670" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can follow it on Facebook if you care to.
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

Post by Johnny X »

Some interesting reading there, even down to clearing the "track"
There is good news from the engineering team. For the past several months, we have been working to develop a "positive yaw static margin" for the car. In simple terms this means making the fin big enough to keep the car's pointy-end forwards when it is at high speed.
Now..... isn't that what a steering wheel is for :eek:
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

Post by pab »

Johnny X wrote:Now..... isn't that what a steering wheel is for :eek:
Not at that speed!
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

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Definitely not at that speed, not entirely anyway.

Thrust SSC used to yaw quite violently at 450-550mph. Andy Green used to have to apply full lock correction to bring it back on track. At high subsonic speeds, the stability of the machine is affected by a lot of things, including the symmetry of the paint.

[youtube] [/youtube]
Andy Green wrote:Man that was hard work!
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

Post by Johnny X »

Johnny X wrote:Now..... isn't that what a steering wheel is for :eek:
Tongue firmly in cheek :rolleyes: ...... actually interesting to read that the wing helps stability from 300 up to the planned top speed... below 300, I guess that's what the steering wheel is for ;)
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

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An interesting explanation from aerodynamicist Ron Ayers:

[youtube] [/youtube]
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

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This is the fuel pump for hybrid rocket motor. It provides no motive power for the vehicle at all.
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

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haha excellent :D
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

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Andy Green and Chris Harris talking and driving:

[youtube] [/youtube]

The structural and Aerodynamic problems are astronomical. If anyone here "gets" supersonics, you will understand why I get cynical about racing car aero from time to time. Put it this way: at supersonic speeds, air behaves very differently from what it does at subsonic speeds. In some cases it does the reverse of what you expect.

At subsonic speeds, as dynamic pressure increases (going faster), static pressure decreases (enabling a wing to create lift). At supersonic speeds it's the opposite. Shock waves, which you don't even experience until you get close to critical Mach number, become a serious problem because they need to be controlled. This is why the underbody shape is so important and why the vehicle will destroy the surface as it passes over it.

Andy explains it a lot better than I can.
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

Post by wobblysauce »

This is the rest/full CG bit from that video.
[youtube] [/youtube]

And an updated infographic.
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

Post by J.D. »

Jet car for sale.

Built by Craig Breedlove. Low km's, only rolled once...

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/10/fo ... w-mileage/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

Post by durbster »

Twenty tonnes of drag at 1,000mph.

That is astonishing.
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

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durbster wrote:Twenty tonnes of drag at 1,000mph.

That is astonishing.
Physics tends to throw stuff like that up all the time.... :nod:

It's astonishing how lackadaisical Andy Green seems to be when discussing the project, things that make you and I and Monkey Harris go..... WTF !! seem to be every day run of the mill stuff to him. I'm glad I never wound up in his gun sights.

It'll be amazing if they pull it off (Fnarr)
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

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durbster wrote:Twenty tonnes of drag at 1,000mph.

That is astonishing.
Drag increases with the square of the velocity. This is what an awful lot of people don't understand. It's the reason why racing cars have terminal speeds. A lot of people think that going faster is just a matter of a couple more neddies under the bonnet or sinking the welly a bit deeper. To double your speed you need four times the power.

From a human perspective it is also the reason why you have a top speed on a bike or when you're running.

Drag has a number of different varieties too: parasite drag, form or wave drag, base drag (supersonics)... the problems are nearly endless.

There are even problems with paint symmetry.
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

Post by DarrenM »

J.D. wrote:This is the fuel pump for hybrid rocket motor. It provides no motive power for the vehicle at all.
Which is a cosworth F1 engine :eek:

http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/project/ca ... rth-ca2010" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

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DarrenM wrote:
J.D. wrote:This is the fuel pump for hybrid rocket motor. It provides no motive power for the vehicle at all.
Which is a cosworth F1 engine :eek:

http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/project/ca ... rth-ca2010" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
You can hear it here at about 2 minutes :)

http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/news/blood ... ocket-test" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

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DarrenM wrote:
J.D. wrote:This is the fuel pump for hybrid rocket motor. It provides no motive power for the vehicle at all.
Which is a cosworth F1 engine :eek:

http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/project/ca ... rth-ca2010" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In terms of rocket motors, it's a pretty small fuel pump.

The Saturn F1 engine used a 55,000 hp turbo pump and the three SSME on the Space Shuttle gave a combined total of about 70,000hp.

Funny how these things happen. The Coventry Climax F1 was descended from a water pump for fire engines.
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

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Rolls-Royce are now formally involved:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22507584" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Prior to this, the Bloodhound project had the loan of an engine (from the MOD) which had been retired from service. Now they get three development engines; two in running order and one for spare parts.
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

Post by J.D. »

I love this stuff.

How the lower rear chassis was bonded and the problems which needed to be overcome:

http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/news/lower ... ve-testing" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And here are some more factoids:

Image
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

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An interesting read about the development of the reduction gearbox for the rocket engine's fuel pump:

http://www.theengineer.co.uk/home/blog/ ... 73.article" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This had to be designed from scratch as nobody has ever attempted to build a fuel pump powered by a Cosworth F1 engine before.
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

Post by J.D. »

The fuel pump is in:

Image

Image

Final assembly was expected to be finished around mid-September but I'm not sure it's still on that schedule.
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

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Top Gear article about "the office":

http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/bloo ... -2014-6-16" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Bloodhound SSC

Post by Duke »

The engineering alone is just mind boggling... let alone making it then strapping yourself into this creation...

[youtube] [/youtube]

[youtube] [/youtube]
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