Dynamics and Simulation of Flexible Rockets

Flexible dynamics in launch vehicles have long been considered a disturbance for simulation purposes. Future launch vehicles may include real time estimation and possible real time control or attenuation of flexible dynamics. This is currently handled partially as part of gain-scheduled controllers, but future (slender) launch vehicles will require more detailed models and possibly actuation to control vibrational behavior. The engineer needs to know which parameters are critical and have confidence that all relevant features of the dynamics have been included so that the rocket will not encounter an unfavorable dynamic interaction. Dynamics and Simulation of Flexible Rockets provides a full state, multi-axis treatment of large flexible rockets with propellant slosh and provides the state equations in a format that can be readily coded into a simulation environment. Presenting a vector formulation of rocket dynamics that is suitable for modern computer analysis, equations of motion are derived for a flexible rocket with sloshing fuel and moving nozzles. Various forms of the mass matrix for this system are also presented. This book also discusses the nature of various forms of coupling, such as between the nozzle motions and the flexible dynamics. Covers everything the structural and control engineer needs to analyze or improve launch vehicle stability when facing flexible dynamics Provides the derivation of the linear dynamics using Lagrange's equation plus a separate nonlinear Newton/Euler derivation, allowing the reader to assess the importance of nonlinear terms Presents a method for making a smooth transition from one finite element model to the next

This book offers a unified presentation that does not discriminate between atmospheric and space flight. It demonstrates that the two disciplines have evolved from the same set of physical principles and introduces a broad range of critical concepts in an accessible, yet mathematically rigorous presentation. The book presents many MATLAB and Simulink-based numerical examples and real-world simulations. Replete with illustrations, end-of-chapter exercises, and selected solutions, the work is primarily useful as a textbook for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate-level students.

Volume is indexed by Thomson Reuters CPCI-S (WoS). The collection includes selected peer-reviewed papers from the 2012 International conference on Mechanics , Dynamic Systems and Material Engineering (MDSME2012) held November 24-25, 2012 in Guangzhou, China. The 70 papers are grouped into the following chapters: Chapter 1: Research on Mechanics and Dynamics of Systems in Mechanical Engineering, Chapter 2: Research on Material Engineering and Material Applications.

"This book describes how to build mathematical models of multibody systems with elastic components. Examples of such systems are the human body itself, construction cranes, cars with trailers, helicopters, spacecraft deploying antennas, tethered satellites, and underwater maneuvering vehicles looking for mines while being connected by a cable to a ship"--

As launch vehicle designs become more slender, the effects of bending vibration on control system stability could be dominant in control systems designed using rigid-body dynamics. Vibrational loads can also cause major damage to the launch vehicle, either in the form of vibrational fatigue or excitation of the structures resonant frequencies. This work investigates a novel method to control vibrations in real time using a real time control target with distributed strain measurements from FBG sensor arrays. Active control of the flexible structure will reduce vibration, which will decrease the chance of damaging the structure. A scaled test article representative of the structural dynamics associated with a slender launch vehicle is designed and built. Finite element analysis modeling methodology is developed to capture the most significant features of test specimen. A model for the entire test article is developed, including frequency response of the cantilever beam, thruster dynamics, and sensor conversion matrices. This research develops, models and provides experimental validation of the use of an array of cold gas thrusters for the real time control of the bending dynamics of a test article. Three separate control algorithms are developed to minimize vibration in the test article, using the FBG strain measurements to calculate required thrust. A classical control algorithm for benchmark purposes, a robust control algorithm and an adaptive control algorithm are implemented. The controller performance is investigated by simulation using the developed model, and these results are experimentally verified using the experimental setup. The performance comparison shows that classic controller is hard to implement experimentally due to decoupling issues, the robust controller achieves good vibration suppression in both simulations and experimental results, and the adaptive controller shows good results, with a potential to surpass the robust controller results in future research. Using the robust controller to control the continuous excited first and second resonant mode of the test setup, shows 94% and 80% reduction of peak-peak vibration respectively, when compared to the open loop response. This research also investigates using the same FBG sensor arrays to reduce the number of IMU sensing units in the launch vehicle.

Advanced Control of Aircraft, Spacecraft and Rockets introduces the reader to the concepts of modern control theory applied to the design and analysis of general flight control systems in a concise and mathematically rigorous style. It presents a comprehensive treatment of both atmospheric and space flight control systems including aircraft, rockets (missiles and launch vehicles), entry vehicles and spacecraft (both orbital and attitude control). The broad coverage of topics emphasizes the synergies among the various flight control systems and attempts to show their evolution from the same set of physical principles as well as their design and analysis by similar mathematical tools. In addition, this book presents state-of-art control system design methods - including multivariable, optimal, robust, digital and nonlinear strategies - as applied to modern flight control systems. Advanced Control of Aircraft, Spacecraft and Rockets features worked examples and problems at the end of each chapter as well as a number of MATLAB / Simulink examples housed on an accompanying website at http://home.iitk.ac.in/~ashtew that are realistic and representative of the state-of-the-art in flight control.

"Space Vehicle Dynamics and Control provides a solid foundation in dynamic modeling, analysis, and control of space vehicles. More than 200 figures, photographs, and tables are featured in detailed sections covering the fundamentals of controlling orbital, attitude, and structural motions of space vehicles. The textbook highlights a range of orbital maneuvering and control problems: orbital transfer, rendezvous, and halo orbit determination and control. Rotational maneuvering and attitude control problems of space vehicles under the influence of reaction jet firings, internal energy dissipation, or momentum transfer via reaction wheels and control moment gyros are treated in detail. The textbook also highlights the analysis and design of attitude control systems in the presence of structural flexibility and/or propellant sloshing. At the end of each chapter, Dr. Wie includes a helpful list of references for graduate students and working professionals studying spacecraft dynamics and control. A bibliography of more than 350 additional references in the field of spacecraft guidance, control, and dynamics is also provided at the end of the book. This text requires a thorough knowledge of vector and matrix algebra, calculus, ordinary differential equations, engineering mechanics, and linear system dynamics and control. The first two chapters provide a summary of such necessary background material. Since some problems may require the use of software for the analysis, control design, and numerical simulation, readers should have access to computational software (i.e., MATLAB) on a personal computer.

Issues for Oct. 1957-May 1958 include section, Missile electronics, v. 11, no. 1-7.