8/26/2014
BEIJING – Chinese scientists have moved a step forward to creating a supersonic submarine that would ultimately permit underwater travel at supersonic speed and could, in the long run, cover a hypothetical trip between Shanghai and San Francisco in just 100 minutes.
The South China Morning Post on Monday reported that new technology based on “supercavitation” – the creation of a bubble of air around the underwater vehicle that would allow travelling without friction by water – had been achieved after years of study by experts from the Harbin Institute of Technology, in the northeast of the country.
“We are very excited by the potential of the discovery,” said Li Fengchen, professor of Fluid Mechanics and Engineering at Harbin Institute.
Supercavitation began to be studied during the Cold War by the Soviet Union, using the concept of an underwater air “bubble” which propelled torpedoes at a much higher speed than that of conventional submarine missiles.
Although the new technology is still far from becoming a reality, in theory it would be possible to reach the speed of sound underwater, approximately 5,800 kilometers per hour.
This would then allow travel between the Chinese and American Pacific coast in just over an hour and a half.
There are still many technical difficulties for such travel, because, for example, in supercavitation it is impossible to use a rudder to control direction, so for now the only possible route is the straight line.
Although the only vehicles tested with this technology have been unmanned, mainly torpedoes, research is still going on so that in future unmanned submarines can be launched at supersonic speeds.
Other countries like the U.S. and Germany are also researching this new mode of transport, which in the future could revolutionize transatlantic travel.
source
BEIJING – Chinese scientists have moved a step forward to creating a supersonic submarine that would ultimately permit underwater travel at supersonic speed and could, in the long run, cover a hypothetical trip between Shanghai and San Francisco in just 100 minutes.
The South China Morning Post on Monday reported that new technology based on “supercavitation” – the creation of a bubble of air around the underwater vehicle that would allow travelling without friction by water – had been achieved after years of study by experts from the Harbin Institute of Technology, in the northeast of the country.
“We are very excited by the potential of the discovery,” said Li Fengchen, professor of Fluid Mechanics and Engineering at Harbin Institute.
Supercavitation began to be studied during the Cold War by the Soviet Union, using the concept of an underwater air “bubble” which propelled torpedoes at a much higher speed than that of conventional submarine missiles.
Although the new technology is still far from becoming a reality, in theory it would be possible to reach the speed of sound underwater, approximately 5,800 kilometers per hour.
This would then allow travel between the Chinese and American Pacific coast in just over an hour and a half.
There are still many technical difficulties for such travel, because, for example, in supercavitation it is impossible to use a rudder to control direction, so for now the only possible route is the straight line.
Although the only vehicles tested with this technology have been unmanned, mainly torpedoes, research is still going on so that in future unmanned submarines can be launched at supersonic speeds.
Other countries like the U.S. and Germany are also researching this new mode of transport, which in the future could revolutionize transatlantic travel.
source
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