4 ms·

You know, a hypothetical 400m long dirigible, made out of modern materials, could carry up to 3000 tonnes of cargo: https://erik-engheim.medium.com/calculating-

by _hypx 5y ago

You know, a hypothetical 400m long dirigible, made out of modern materials, could carry up to 3000 tonnes of cargo: https://erik-engheim.medium.com/calculating-lifting-capacity-of-airships-48df5cd7d147 https://erik-engheim.medium.com/calculating-lifting-capacity... That would give it a cargo capacity of around 100 FEUs. Which isn't bad. Trains usually top out at around 200 or so. For ocean crossings where trains are either impossible or impractical (assuming tunnels/bridges), a large enough dirigible could really be competitive.

dredmorbius 5y ago
FEU? Do you mean TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units)? I find a 3,000 ton capacity difficult to believe. I suspect operationally you'd find it difficult to ballast for when offloading. The article you cite is giving theoretical values based on a very simple physical model, not either a tested or even realistic engineering design. The largest capacity proposed designs I've seen (that is, not actually developed) are for capacities in the 100--600 tonne range, from CargoLifter (defunct) and Aerosmena, at 160 and 600 tons respectively. That's about the weight of 1.6 to 6 coal hopper cars on a railroad. Among the heavier rail loads is coal, with a single hopper car carrying about 100 tons. Total trainset weight ranges from 4,000 to 20,000 tons typically, and have been reported over 100,000 tons (682 car iron ore trainset in Australia, with 8 locomotives). https://trainconductorhq.com/how-much-does-a-train-weigh/ https://trainconductorhq.com/how-much-does-a-train-weigh/ https://weightofstuff.com/list-of-the-10-heaviest-trains-in-the-world-with-images/ https://weightofstuff.com/list-of-the-10-heaviest-trains-in-...
- _hypx 5y ago
  AFAIK, the weight difference between TEU and FEU (forty-foot equivalent unit) isn’t that big. You probably won’t be hauling heavy things in one of these things anyways. Likely only high-value stuff will be hauled on an airship. This is just the theoretical calculation of an airship the size of a cargo ship. It would have pretty incredibly capacity if built, but of course no one has built anything like it.

by _hypx 5y ago

dredmorbius 5y ago

FEU? Do you mean TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units)? I find a 3,000 ton capacity difficult to believe. I suspect operationally you'd find it difficult to ballast for when offloading. The article you cite is giving theoretical values based on a very simple physical model, not either a tested or even realistic engineering design. The largest capacity proposed designs I've seen (that is, not actually developed) are for capacities in the 100--600 tonne range, from CargoLifter (defunct) and Aerosmena, at 160 and 600 tons respectively. That's about the weight of 1.6 to 6 coal hopper cars on a railroad. Among the heavier rail loads is coal, with a single hopper car carrying about 100 tons. Total trainset weight ranges from 4,000 to 20,000 tons typically, and have been reported over 100,000 tons (682 car iron ore trainset in Australia, with 8 locomotives). https://trainconductorhq.com/how-much-does-a-train-weigh/ https://trainconductorhq.com/how-much-does-a-train-weigh/ https://weightofstuff.com/list-of-the-10-heaviest-trains-in-the-world-with-images/ https://weightofstuff.com/list-of-the-10-heaviest-trains-in-...

_hypx 5y ago
AFAIK, the weight difference between TEU and FEU (forty-foot equivalent unit) isn’t that big. You probably won’t be hauling heavy things in one of these things anyways. Likely only high-value stuff will be hauled on an airship. This is just the theoretical calculation of an airship the size of a cargo ship. It would have pretty incredibly capacity if built, but of course no one has built anything like it.