Posted Aug 29, 2020, 2:42 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Calgary
Posts: 1,703
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Quote:
Originally Posted by milomilo
There are a number of reasons Hyperloop obviously is not what is claimed:
Cost:
Hyperloop is claimed to be cheaper than HSR and anyone with half a brain should be able to see this is nonsense straight off the bat. It's a more complicated, new technology that requires a straighter alignment. It is simply impossible that the infrastructure could be cheaper than HSR, and that destroys most of the case.
Expansion:
A steel tube will lengthen by hundreds of metres over the 300km of track between Calgary - Edmonton when undergoing the ~70C temperature swings it will be subject to. Adding expansion joints capable of withstanding that while sealing a vacuum is not going to be easy and there is no indication any thought has been put into this.
Safety:
One puncture, like from a rifle, and the entire system is destroyed and everyone dies.
Energy efficiency:
First, there's the fluff about solar panels. You could do this just the same with roads and railways, so that claim is trash. And how much energy are we talking to depressurize 600km of tube?
To name a few. And the technology has regressed - the claims to begin with are now less impressive than they were 8 years ago. Despite multiple test tracks being built.
I don't think Hyperloop is impossible (though maybe above surface it practically is), but I do believe it impossible to do in a way that is even close to cost competitive with HSR, or maglev for that matter. If maglev can't compete with HSR on cost, there's no chance Hyperloop could.
I give posts the level of respect they deserve. Anyone that laps up obvious BS like hyperloop is the type that would have believed Bitcoin, Theranos or solar freaking roadways.
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I think the Hollywood fallacy of catastrophic explosion/implosion can be removed from your list. A steel cylinder designed for full vacuum and capable of supporting it's own weight is not going to implode from a bullet hole any more than a pressurized cylinder is going to explode from a bullet hole. All that will happen is air will leak in or air will leak out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkhtTPU9KjM
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