Ecological Niche: Between small (up to 4 million tons) space stations and O'Neill Cylinders.
Size Range: 1,600 meters and 4,800 meters diameter, plus or minus.
Population Digits: 4 and 5.
Using some quick math, as opposed to perfectly correct math, I come up with this rule of thumb:
Population of a Stanford Torus by "World" Size as Diameter.
"Size" is a diameter code from 1 to 3, where 1.0 = 1600m, 2.0 = 3200m, and 3.0 = 4800m diameter. Fractional values are okay.
Pop approx = "Size"^3 x 20,000 people
[FONT=arial,helvetica]TL = "Size" + 8
[/FONT] Therefore:
Technological and Size Limits
Cirque assumes a TL of 10 and 11. Wikipedia notes that the original proposal can house "up to" 140,000 people. In Traveller terms, that's a Size 3 torus. Above that, other structures are preferable.
I propose that required TL = Size + 8. This allows "Size 0" tori at TL 8 (for the sake of the formula, they'd actually be fractional sizes, but fractions in World Sizes are always ignored).
Rings. Small rings (same diameters/size codes) may be buildable on this TL range. However, they are about 1000x larger in diameter and much wider. Benefits of the Stanford Torus over Rings have not yet been itemized. One in particular is that they can be built from a shipyard; Rings cannot.
Sloppy math follows
Size code equals ring diameter D, so Circumference C = pi x Size x 1600m.
Tube radius is estimated average of ring diameter D x 1.5 / 20, or Size x 120 meters.
Volume is therefore approx Size^3 x 72 million, in cubic meters,
Or Size^3 x 5 million tons.
Assuming 20,000 people per 5 million tons, based on numbers in Cirque, then:
Population = Size^3 x 20,000 people.
Cirque's Assumption
A 2000m diameter torus with a tube diameter of 150m can house 30,000 people.
V = 6280m (Circumference) x 75 x 75 x pi (tube section area) = 111 million m^3, or 8 million tons.
8 million tons for 30,000 people => 5 million tons for 18,750 people.
I round up to 20k because the error due to all of the various unknowns is absorbed.
Size Range: 1,600 meters and 4,800 meters diameter, plus or minus.
Population Digits: 4 and 5.
Using some quick math, as opposed to perfectly correct math, I come up with this rule of thumb:
Population of a Stanford Torus by "World" Size as Diameter.
"Size" is a diameter code from 1 to 3, where 1.0 = 1600m, 2.0 = 3200m, and 3.0 = 4800m diameter. Fractional values are okay.
Pop approx = "Size"^3 x 20,000 people
[FONT=arial,helvetica]TL = "Size" + 8
[/FONT] Therefore:
Code:
Size TL Pop Popul Tons Diameter Tube R
---- -- --- ------- ------ -------- ------
1 9 4 20 k 5 mt 1600 m 120
1 9 4 98 k 20 mt 2720 m 204
2 10 5 160 k 40 mt 3200 m 240
3 11 5 540 k 135 mt 4800 m 360
3 11 5 972 k 240 mt 5840 m 438
Technological and Size Limits
Cirque assumes a TL of 10 and 11. Wikipedia notes that the original proposal can house "up to" 140,000 people. In Traveller terms, that's a Size 3 torus. Above that, other structures are preferable.
I propose that required TL = Size + 8. This allows "Size 0" tori at TL 8 (for the sake of the formula, they'd actually be fractional sizes, but fractions in World Sizes are always ignored).
Rings. Small rings (same diameters/size codes) may be buildable on this TL range. However, they are about 1000x larger in diameter and much wider. Benefits of the Stanford Torus over Rings have not yet been itemized. One in particular is that they can be built from a shipyard; Rings cannot.
Sloppy math follows
Size code equals ring diameter D, so Circumference C = pi x Size x 1600m.
Tube radius is estimated average of ring diameter D x 1.5 / 20, or Size x 120 meters.
Volume is therefore approx Size^3 x 72 million, in cubic meters,
Or Size^3 x 5 million tons.
Assuming 20,000 people per 5 million tons, based on numbers in Cirque, then:
Population = Size^3 x 20,000 people.
Cirque's Assumption
A 2000m diameter torus with a tube diameter of 150m can house 30,000 people.
V = 6280m (Circumference) x 75 x 75 x pi (tube section area) = 111 million m^3, or 8 million tons.
8 million tons for 30,000 people => 5 million tons for 18,750 people.
I round up to 20k because the error due to all of the various unknowns is absorbed.
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