Work Underway on Buckeye Bullet 3 with the Goal of Breaking 400mph

A team of engineering students at The Ohio State University’s (OSU) Center for Automotive Research (CAR) recently began running aerodynamics simulations at the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC), one of the first steps in the long and careful process of designing, building, and racing the third-generation electric land speed record vehicle, the Buckeye Bullet 3. 

"Driven by two custom-made electric motors designed and developed by Venturi, and powered by prismatic A123 batteries, the goal of the new vehicle will be to surpass all previous electric vehicle records,” said Giorgio Rizzoni, PhD, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and director of CAR.

In 2004, the team achieved distinction on the speedway at Bonneville Salt Flats in Wendover, Utah, by setting the U.S. electric land speed record at just over 314 mph with the original Buckeye Bullet, a nickel-metal hydride battery-powered vehicle.

Several years later, the team returned to the Salt Flats with the Buckeye Bullet 2, a completely new vehicle powered by hydrogen fuel cells, and set the international land speed record for that class at nearly 303 mph. The team then replaced the power source, once again, using the same frame and body with a new generation of lithium-ion batteries and set an international electric vehicle record in partnership with Venturi Automobiles and A123 Systems at just over 307 mph.

This spring, the Buckeye Bullet team, again in partnership with Venturi and A123 Systems, began the development process for a completely re-engineered vehicle designed to break the 400-mph mark.
Building the Buckeye Bullet 3 from the ground up relies heavily on the services and capabilities of the OSC.  Student engineers run aerodynamics simulations on OSC computer systems and use computational fluid dynamics to design and optimize the vehicle’s shape. 

The Buckeye Bullet team plans to complete the design process by the end of the summer and spend the upcoming academic year constructing and testing the vehicle. Then, in Fall 2012, the students intend to return to the Bonneville Speedway to unveil yet another record-setting Buckeye Bullet.

For full details, see the story in R&D Magazine.