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Originally Posted by freebeard
Thanks for the interesting questions! I'll go with these in return: How much computing power (in petaflops) behind Autodesk Flow Design?
Is the posted design the one you tested?
You have a Tesla and a stack of 1" R-40 vacuum panels?  what dimensions? So... The shape — start with an ME-262. Overhang the windshield but not the nose. If you can't picture a trolley-top on 4-bars, just ask.
Here's a low-resolution-Templated armadillo shell:
Without more of a design brief, I'd only recommend retractable spider-leg camper jacks so you can drive out from under it. And consider basalt as an alternative to the carbon fiber. Lower cost and it bends instead of shattering. You can already get a Basalt Tesla body kit: |
Yes, I ran the design I posted and similar through Flow Design. No idea how many petaflops it takes; it is a realtime sim and the initial calculation takes a minute or two to resolve on my skylake i7.
My vacuum panels are 8x8x1-inch square. I plan to just tile the inside walls and ceiling, and the exterior bottom. They're aluminum skinned with an additional shrink-wrap plastic shell so they're pretty tough as long as they don't get a hole poked in them.
I think I actually just had a eureka moment. That shell design you posted; what if I simply made a flat door on the front and back of the shell that could be "kicked down" to fold flush against the floor. Then when I'm putting down serious highway miles it's just a big tube that the air can flow through; hardly any frontal area (assuming 8-foot radius with 1-inch thick sandwich panel plus 1-inch of insulation, that's 0.347222 of square feet frontal area by my math). If the furniture is folding carbon fiber tables and chairs, they can all be either stored in the Tesla or folded flush against the floor/walls.
I had researched basalt before; it seems like both the strength-to-weight and cost is supposed to be an intermediate between fiberglass and carbon. But I want to keep the strength-to-weight as high as possible since we're talking roof-mounted, plus I've already got a great deal for surplus carbon lined up; it's easier to get good deals on it because there's so much more in production. I've heard that adding a final layer of kevlar cloth to carbon is a good way to bolster the impact/abrasion resistance so I might try that for insurance against the odd tree branch; either that or I might try UHMWPE tape on the likely impact spots.