Email RIS file
Bookmark
Report an Issue

Laboratory Simulation of the Effect of Rocket Thrust on a Precessing Space Vehicle

Author
Bausley, Henry
Published
May 22, 1990.
Physical Description
1 electronic document
Additional Creators
Cohen, Sam, Álvarez-Salazar, Oscar S. (Oscar Salvador), 1966-, Levitt, David, Furumoto, Gary, Walsh, Amy, Falcon-Martin, Miguel, and Horio, Asikin
Online Version

Availability

I Want It
I Want It

Finding items...

Restrictions on Access
Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available.
Free-to-read Unrestricted online access
Summary
Ground tests of solid propellant rocket motors have shown that metal-containing propellants produce various amounts of slag (primarily aluminum oxide) which is trapped in the motor case, causing a loss of specific impulse. Although not yet definitely established, the presence of a liquid pool of slag also may contribute to nutational instabilities that have been observed with certain spin-stabilized, upper-stage vehicles. Because of the rocket's axial acceleration, absent in the ground tests, estimates of in-flight slag mass have been very uncertain. Yet such estimates are needed to determine the magnitude of the control authority of the systems required for eliminating the instability. A test rig with an eccentrically mounted hemispherical bowl was designed and built which incorporates a follower force that properly aligns the thrust vector along the axis of spin. A program that computes the motion of a point mass in the spinning and precessing bowl was written. Using various RPMs, friction factors, and initial starting conditions, plots were generated showing the trace of the point mass around the inside of the fuel tank. The apparatus will incorporate future design features such as a variable nutation angle and a film height measuring instrument. Data obtained on the nutational instability characteristics will be used to determine order of magnitude estimates of control authority needed to minimize the sloshing effect.
Other Subject(s)
Collection
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) Collection.
Note
Document ID: 19900015866.
Accession ID: 90N25182.
NAS 1.26:186681.
NASA-CR-186681.
Terms of Use and Reproduction
No Copyright.
View MARC record | catkey: 15426154