Brief Report| September 25, 2017 Inertial Forces from Earthquakes on a Hyperloop Pod Thomas H. Heaton Thomas H. Heaton aDepartment of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, California Institute of Technology, MC 104‐44, Pasadena, California 91125, heaton@caltech.edu Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Thomas H. Heaton aDepartment of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, California Institute of Technology, MC 104‐44, Pasadena, California 91125, heaton@caltech.edu Publisher: Seismological Society of America First Online: 27 Sep 2017 Online Issn: 1943-3573 Print Issn: 0037-1106 Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (2017) 107 (5): 2521–2524. https://doi.org/10.1785/0120170054 Article history First Online: 27 Sep 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Thomas H. Heaton; Inertial Forces from Earthquakes on a Hyperloop Pod. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 2017;; 107 (5): 2521–2524. doi: https://doi.org/10.1785/0120170054 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyBulletin of the Seismological Society of America Search Advanced Search Abstract High‐speed transit (1300 km/hr) using pods traveling in evacuated tubes has been proposed. This Short Note addresses how earthquake ground shaking is changed when it is experienced by a high‐speed pod that is confined to a track. In particular, earthquake motions can cause lateral deformations of the tube that cause centripetal forces in the pod. I discuss the nature of these forces for the cases of (1) a tube that crosses a fault offset, (2) a tube that is deformed by traveling waves in the Earth, and (3) a tube that resonates between fixed points (e.g., a simple bridge). I suggest several schemes to control the peak centripetal accelerations of the pod. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.