Bloodhound SSC
Encyclopedia
Bloodhound SSC is the name of a project aiming to break the land speed record
with a pencil-shaped car powered by a jet engine
and a rocket
designed to reach approximately 1000 miles per hour (1,609.3 km/h). It is being developed and built with the intention of breaking the land speed record by the largest ever margin.
If £10 million of sponsorship funding is obtained the construction should be complete by the end of 2012 and the record attempts should take place in early 2013.
in London by Lord Drayson, the Minister of Science in the UK's Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills
, who in 2006 first proposed the project to Richard Noble
and Andy Green
; the two men who between them have held the land speed record for 25 years.
Richard Noble, engineer, adventurer, and former paint salesman,
reached 633 mph (1,019 km/h) driving turbojet-powered car named Thrust 2 across the Nevada
desert in 1983. In 1997, he headed the project to build the Thrust SSC, driven by Andy Green, an RAF pilot, at 763 mi/h, thereby breaking the sound barrier
(in compliance with Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
rules) for the first time ever by a land vehicle.
The task of driving the vehicle will fall to the land speed record holder Wing Commander
Green, who will lie feet-first in the Bloodhound. As the car accelerates from 0-1000 mi/h in 42 seconds, he will experience a force of approximately 2.5g
(two and a half times his bodyweight) and the blood will rush to his head.
To slow down, airbrakes will deploy at 800 mi/h and parachutes at 600 mi/h. Disc brakes will be used below 250 mi/h. As he decelerates, experiencing forces of up to 3g, the blood will drain to his feet and he could black out
. He will practise for this in a stunt aircraft, flying upside-down over the British countryside.
The College of Engineering at Swansea University
has been heavily involved in the design of the vehicle from the start. Professor Oubay Hassan, Professor Ken Morgan and their team have used Computational Fluid Dynamics
(CFD) in order to provide an understanding of the aerodynamic characteristics of the proposed shape, at all speeds, including predicting the likely vertical, lateral and drag forces on the vehicle and its pitch and yaw stability. This technology, originally developed for the aerospace industry, was validated for a land-going vehicle during the design of Thrust SSC. It was this involvement with the previous land speed record that prompted Richard Noble to approach Swansea in April 2007 to see if they could help with this latest challenge. Swansea University's School of the Environment and Society was also enlisted to help determine a new test site for the record as the test site for the Thrust SSC record attempt has become unsuitable.
A prototype Eurojet EJ200
jet engine developed for the Eurofighter and bound for a museum, was donated to the project. This will take the car to 300 mi/h, after which a bespoke hybrid rocket designed by Daniel Jubb
(nicknamed "Rocket Dan"), 26, from Manchester
, who built his first rocket at the age of 5, will boost the car up to 1000 mi/h. A third engine, an 800 hp 2.4 Litre Cosworth CA2010 F1 V8 petrol engine, is used as an auxiliary power unit
and to drive the oxidiser pump for the rocket. The jet engine will provide nine tonnes of thrust and the rocket will add another 12. The Super Sonic Car will have roughly the same power as 180 F1 cars.
The four 36 inches (914.4 mm) diameter wheels will rotate at up to 10,500 rpm and will be machined from solid aluminium
to resist the 50,000 g
centrifugal force
s.
. The site will include an educational centre. A full scale model was exhibited at the 2010 Farnborough International Airshow, when it was announced that Hampson Industries
would begin to build the rear of the car in the first quarter of 2011 and that a deal for the manufacture of the front of the car was due. Chief Engineer Mark Chapman says, "We would hope to be able to shake down the vehicle on a runway in the UK either at the end of 2012 or at the beginning of 2013."
Land speed record
The land speed record is the highest speed achieved by a wheeled vehicle on land. There is no single body for validation and regulation; in practice the Category C flying start regulations are used, officiated by regional or national organizations under the auspices of the Fédération...
with a pencil-shaped car powered by a jet engine
Jet engine
A jet engine is a reaction engine that discharges a fast moving jet to generate thrust by jet propulsion and in accordance with Newton's laws of motion. This broad definition of jet engines includes turbojets, turbofans, rockets, ramjets, pulse jets...
and a rocket
Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
designed to reach approximately 1000 miles per hour (1,609.3 km/h). It is being developed and built with the intention of breaking the land speed record by the largest ever margin.
If £10 million of sponsorship funding is obtained the construction should be complete by the end of 2012 and the record attempts should take place in early 2013.
Development
The project was announced on 23 October 2008 at the Science MuseumScience museum
A science museum or a science centre is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in museology have broadened the range of...
in London by Lord Drayson, the Minister of Science in the UK's Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills
Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills was a UK government department created on 28 June 2007 to take over some of the functions of the Department of Education and Skills and of the Department of Trade and Industry. In June 2009 it was merged into the newly formed Department for...
, who in 2006 first proposed the project to Richard Noble
Richard Noble
Richard Noble, OBE was the holder of the land speed record between 1983 and 1997, and was the project director of ThrustSSC, the vehicle which holds the current land speed record, set at Black Rock Desert, Nevada in 1997....
and Andy Green
Andy Green
Wing Commander Andy D. Green OBE BA RAF is a British Royal Air Force pilot and World Land Speed Record holder.-RAF career:...
; the two men who between them have held the land speed record for 25 years.
Richard Noble, engineer, adventurer, and former paint salesman,
reached 633 mph (1,019 km/h) driving turbojet-powered car named Thrust 2 across the Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
desert in 1983. In 1997, he headed the project to build the Thrust SSC, driven by Andy Green, an RAF pilot, at 763 mi/h, thereby breaking the sound barrier
Sound barrier
The sound barrier, in aerodynamics, is the point at which an aircraft moves from transonic to supersonic speed. The term, which occasionally has other meanings, came into use during World War II, when a number of aircraft started to encounter the effects of compressibility, a collection of several...
(in compliance with Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile is a non-profit association established as the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users...
rules) for the first time ever by a land vehicle.
The task of driving the vehicle will fall to the land speed record holder Wing Commander
Wing Commander (rank)
Wing commander is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries...
Green, who will lie feet-first in the Bloodhound. As the car accelerates from 0-1000 mi/h in 42 seconds, he will experience a force of approximately 2.5g
G-force
The g-force associated with an object is its acceleration relative to free-fall. This acceleration experienced by an object is due to the vector sum of non-gravitational forces acting on an object free to move. The accelerations that are not produced by gravity are termed proper accelerations, and...
(two and a half times his bodyweight) and the blood will rush to his head.
To slow down, airbrakes will deploy at 800 mi/h and parachutes at 600 mi/h. Disc brakes will be used below 250 mi/h. As he decelerates, experiencing forces of up to 3g, the blood will drain to his feet and he could black out
G-LOC
G-LOC, pronounced 'GEE-lock', is the abbreviation of G-force induced Loss Of Consciousness, a term generally used in aerospace physiology to describe a loss of consciousness occurring from excessive and sustained g-forces draining blood away from the brain causing cerebral hypoxia...
. He will practise for this in a stunt aircraft, flying upside-down over the British countryside.
Design
The project is based in what used to be the Maritime Heritage Centre on the Bristol harbourside, located next to Brunel's SS Great Britain. This building has been renamed the Bloodhound Technical Centre.The College of Engineering at Swansea University
Swansea University
Swansea University is a university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. Swansea University was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it changed its name to the University of Wales Swansea following structural changes...
has been heavily involved in the design of the vehicle from the start. Professor Oubay Hassan, Professor Ken Morgan and their team have used Computational Fluid Dynamics
Computational fluid dynamics
Computational fluid dynamics, usually abbreviated as CFD, is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical methods and algorithms to solve and analyze problems that involve fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required to simulate the interaction of liquids and gases with...
(CFD) in order to provide an understanding of the aerodynamic characteristics of the proposed shape, at all speeds, including predicting the likely vertical, lateral and drag forces on the vehicle and its pitch and yaw stability. This technology, originally developed for the aerospace industry, was validated for a land-going vehicle during the design of Thrust SSC. It was this involvement with the previous land speed record that prompted Richard Noble to approach Swansea in April 2007 to see if they could help with this latest challenge. Swansea University's School of the Environment and Society was also enlisted to help determine a new test site for the record as the test site for the Thrust SSC record attempt has become unsuitable.
A prototype Eurojet EJ200
Eurojet EJ200
|-See also:-External links:* * * * *...
jet engine developed for the Eurofighter and bound for a museum, was donated to the project. This will take the car to 300 mi/h, after which a bespoke hybrid rocket designed by Daniel Jubb
Daniel Jubb
Daniel Jubb is a British rocket scientist. In a November 17, 2008 article from the British newspaper The Times, he was named "one of the world's leading rocket scientists", by the Royal Air Force Wing Commander Andy Green...
(nicknamed "Rocket Dan"), 26, from Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, who built his first rocket at the age of 5, will boost the car up to 1000 mi/h. A third engine, an 800 hp 2.4 Litre Cosworth CA2010 F1 V8 petrol engine, is used as an auxiliary power unit
Auxiliary power unit
An auxiliary power unit is a device on a vehicle that provides energy for functions other than propulsion. They are commonly found on large aircraft, as well as some large land vehicles.-Function:...
and to drive the oxidiser pump for the rocket. The jet engine will provide nine tonnes of thrust and the rocket will add another 12. The Super Sonic Car will have roughly the same power as 180 F1 cars.
The four 36 inches (914.4 mm) diameter wheels will rotate at up to 10,500 rpm and will be machined from solid aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
to resist the 50,000 g
G force
The g-force associated with an object is its acceleration relative to free-fall.It may also refer to:* G-Force , a 2009 film by Disney** G-Force , a 2009 video game based on the film...
centrifugal force
Centrifugal force
Centrifugal force can generally be any force directed outward relative to some origin. More particularly, in classical mechanics, the centrifugal force is an outward force which arises when describing the motion of objects in a rotating reference frame...
s.
Construction
Engineers produced the scale model which was exhibited at the launch, and will integrate the engineering behind the car into its curriculum, working with design team, led by Mark Chapman. The car will be built at a site in BristolBristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. The site will include an educational centre. A full scale model was exhibited at the 2010 Farnborough International Airshow, when it was announced that Hampson Industries
Hampson Industries
Hampson Industries plc is a large British provider of engineering services to the aerospace and automotive industries. The Company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a former constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...
would begin to build the rear of the car in the first quarter of 2011 and that a deal for the manufacture of the front of the car was due. Chief Engineer Mark Chapman says, "We would hope to be able to shake down the vehicle on a runway in the UK either at the end of 2012 or at the beginning of 2013."
See also
- List of vehicle speed records
- North American Eagle Project
- The Bullet ProjectThe Bullet ProjectThe Bullet Project is a project that aims to stimulate the minds of Australia's future generations. This is to be achieved through the construction of a vehicle called The Silver Bullet RV-1...