3 ms·
Moving the air through the tunnel addresses the capsule drag, but now you have drag between your moving air and the tunnel wall, which depending on the distance
by jws 14y ago
Moving the air through the tunnel addresses the capsule drag, but now you have drag between your moving air and the tunnel wall, which depending on the distance between vehicles is going to be a larger loss.
Yacht designers refer to the "wetted area" component of drag, and an entire tunnel wall is a heck of a lot of wetted area.
- jacquesm 14y agoWould it be possible to run a partial vacuum just in the space between the vehicle and the tunnel wall, for instance by having the vehicle body be slightly curved away from the wall except at the end points?