The design of BLOODHOUND SSC has undergone a thorough design development over the past 2 years. In this chart, we have captured the major changes that have occurred over this period, taking BLOODHOUND SSC from concept stage through to final design. Much of the exterior shape changes have been driven by the aerodynamic behaviour of each configuration predicted by the CFD team based at Swansea University.
Configuration 0
Initial concept (Aug07): staggered front wheels, twin intake, large delta fin containing rocket, no wheel rear wheel fairings
Configuration 1
Spring08: switch to parallel front wheels, single ‘rectangular’ intake, reduced size rear fin, rear wheel fairings
Configuration 2
Aug08: switch to ‘banana’ shape intake duct, winglet leading edges swept, ‘smoothing’ of rear car surfaces and accomodation for realistic rear suspension geometry
Configuration 3
Oct08: increase in intake ‘throat’ area, fin replaced for a ‘strake’ and introduction of rear suspension struts
Configuation 4
Nov08: intake throat area reduced, internal duct area distribution smoothing, study of two different rear wheel fairing design options: ‘a’ and ‘b’
Configuration 5
Jan09: investigation into fin position effects: fin pushed as far rearwards as possible without interfering with rocket, internal structural strake added to intake duct, further car body cross-sectional area distribution smoothing
Configuration 6
Mar-Jun09: extensive sudy of rear end behaviour to establish the cause of large supersonic lift at the back, a range of rear suspension and car body geometry combinations investigated
Configuration 7
hypothetical perfect behaviour
config7 never existed as a CAD or CFD model but was used as a config with assumed ‘perfect’ aerodynamic characteristics for performance calculation purposes
Configuration 8
Jul09: jet and rocket position switched to ‘jet over rocket’ and a pair of rear supersonic lift prevention devices (low delta strut & ventral strakes) studied given the lessons learnt from config6, large fin with T-tail added at rear
Configuration 9
Sept09: improved body surface smoothing of the ‘jet over rocket’ option with the low rear delta strut
Configuration 10
Oct/Nov09: work currently ongoing to determine the optimum rear wheel and suspension strut configuration and car body boat tailing
