A faired and painted TITAN at the 2022 World Human Powered Speed Challenge.

TIITAN is a tandem, recumbent aerodynamic bicycle purpose-built for the World Human Powered Speed Challenge. TITAN set the record as the world's fastest tandem recumbent bicycle, when it reached a speed of 120 km/hr at the 2019 World Human Powered Speed Challenge. I was involved in this project from start to finish, including being a member of the race crew on the record-setting run. 

TITAN features a carbon sandwich panel faired outer shell, a hollow carbon fiber internal frame, carbon disc wheels, a largely customized drivetrain, and a bespoke electronics and vision system package.

Low frequency vibrations were dominant in the simulations as expected. These were expected as previous research had found that road-bourne vibration was usually below 1000 Hz, and the vibratory source I was interested in mitigating was from the road which the competition is run on. Foam pads were added in strategic areas to mitigate the vibration that TITAN experienced in its competition runs, one of which is shown in the video. 

TITAN at speed at the 2019 World Human Powered Speed Challenge.

The effect of the implemented vibratory mitigation strategy was evaluated in the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory at the University of Western Ontario in the summer 2022. A tuft test (see photo on left) was performed on the body of TITAN, and the location of the boundary layer was clearly located in the expected region, meaning the vibratory mitigation strategy did not affect the boundary layer transition point.