Just over a year from now, the European International Submarine Races (EISR) will take place and among its many entrants will be a team from the University of Warwick. They have ambitions of breaking the human-powered submarine speed record.
And yes, the human-powered submarine speed record is apparently a real thing.
Currently, said thing belongs to the students of Montreal’s École de Technologie Supérieure. Rocketing through the water at a speed of 8.09 miles per hour, the Canadian team won the 2012 EISR competition.
To beat this time and reclaim the seas for the language that rightfully owns them, the eight-student Warwick team has been working in collaboration with other students from Bath University on their design. However, according to Warwick team member Cole Soutter, “There are a multitude of challenges we face in the design, manufacture and testing of the submarine as well as organizational aspects such as sponsorship and costing. But the biggest challenge is putting it all together to produce a submarine that has both speed and maneuverability to take on competitors whilst having the agility to navigate the slalom course.”
Interestingly, the students have decided that their sub won’t be watertight. To get around what would seem to be a rather significant design problem, the sub’s pilot will be outfitted with full scuba gear. The overall shape of the sub was created through an iterative design process. In the end, the team arrived at a tear-drop shaped design that fits between a sub’s ideal 4:1 – 8:1 length : width ratio.
Now that the overall design has been established, the team is in the process of selecting materials for their final model. Aluminum alloys and thermoplastic resin are high on the team’s list, however, they’re also considering using more environmentally friendly materials as well.
To round out the sub’s design the team has also been working diligently to make the sub as safe as possible. In the event of a catastrophic problem the sub is armed with an escape hatch and an alert buoy so that the pilot can escape from the craft and their location can be easily identified.
With their design set, the only thing the Warwick team lacks is funding to get their project built. If you’re interested in sponsoring a World Record setting attempt, give the boys at Warwick a call.
Image Courtesy of University of Warwick
