(Image courtesy of Hyperloop Technologies.)
The SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Design Competition Weekend is coming up on January 29th and 30th, 2016, at Texas A&M University. Currently, more than 120 university teams representing 27 US states and 20 countries will be taking part in the competition weekend.
This weekend event centers around two competitions designed to encourage young engineers to develop simulations for Hyperloop pod designs.
The first is an overall design prize being awarded by Hyperloop Technologies, which has pledged $150,000 in prize money to the teams who present the strongest design concepts at the Pod Design Weekend. Hyperloop Tech plans to work with the selected teams to provide resources and to help offset the costs associated with building the pod.
The second competition is the ANSYS Simulation contest, in which Hyperloop Tech and ANSYS will collaborate to identify and reward individuals from the teams demonstrating the best use of ANSYS simulation in their pod designs.
Judging of the ANSYS competition will be divided into three categories based on the type of simulation used:
- Fluid and Aerodynamics
- Structural or Dynamic Analysis (mechanical)
- Electromagnetics (Maxwell)
Submissions will be judged on the design’s visual appeal, technical difficulty and innovative use of computer-aided engineering (CAE).
The winner in each category will be offered a summer internship position at Hyperloop Tech’s Innovation Campus in Los Angeles, California.
As one of the companies developing the Hyperloop system, Hyperloop Tech has collaborated with ANSYS since 2014 to incorporate its simulation solutions—including electromagnetic, structural and fluids software—across all aspects of the design process.
“Hyperloop Tech is thrilled to be a part of the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Design Weekend - it’s a fantastic opportunity to interact with the thousands of students working on the concept, as well as identify and reward exceptional engineering talent,” said Brogan BamBrogan, co–founder and CTO of Hyperloop Tech. “All of us on the team at Hyperloop Tech have designed and built hardware to solve big engineering challenges throughout our careers and we’re excited to be here onsite inspiring this generation of engineers.”
Josh Giegel, Hyperloop Tech’s vice president of design and analysis, added, “We’re creating designs that people have never seen before and using simulation software to prove they work before we build them. Talking with some of the brightest young engineers during the course of this design weekend, we hope to empower them with financial resources and integral tools such as the ANSYS software suite to help them as they perfect their designs and we collectively pursue realizing the Hyperloop concept.”
Winners of the Hyperloop Tech and ANSYS competition prizes will be announced at the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Design Weekend. The deadline for entries is January 25th, 2016.
To learn more about the Hyperloop concept, join Josh Giegel, VP Design and Analysis at Hyperloop Technologies and ENGINEERING.com for a live webinar, Hyperloop – Designing a New Form of Transportation, on January 27th, 2016 at 2pm ET.