The Next Contender in High Speed Transport Elon Musks Hyperloop

Abstract

Elon Musk, progressive futurist and business magnate has proposed a fifth mode of transportation called the Hyperloop. Just as he did with the resurrection of electric vehicle, and the privatization of space ight, Musk is taking the established concepts of the vactrain and maglev technology and is attempting to bring it back into the spotlight but with key improvements. This paper attempts to provide a brief historical literature review of High Speed Transport to Very High Speed Transit (VHST) and to discuss the limitations of the existing and theoretical technologies of Maglev trains and evacuated tube transport. The Hyperloop is proposed as the next contender in High Speed Transport, and a simplified energy analysis is performed to aid in evaluating the feasibility of the Hyperloop. This paper also attempts to highlight several features of the Hyperloop that distinguishes it from traditional vactrains and evacuated tube technologies by using capsules or pods to travel in a medium-pressure environment as opposed to a dicult-to-maintain vacuum environment. A diuser-compressor-nozzle system has also been proposed to overcome the Kantrowitz Limit. This paper reviews the Hyperloop concept and its specific advantages to the future development of a cost-eective and sustainable high-speed mass transport technology.