A document describes work on the origin of Coriolis force and estimating Coriolis force and torque applied to the Ares-1 vehicle during its ascent, based on an internal ballistics model for a multi-segmented solid rocket booster (SRB).

The work estimates Coriolis force and torque applied to the vehicle during its ascent. Maveric flight simulation software was used to produce the required angular velocity data for the Coriolis force and torque computations. For the simulation of gas movement in SRB, software was developed using a dynamical model of internal ballistics of the five-segmented SRB. Also included in the work are a study and estimate of Coriolis force and torque applied to the rocket due to SRB nozzle movement. For calculation of internal ballistics, Coriolis force, and torque computations, MATLAB software was used.

Coriolis force and torque were calculated and applied to Ares-1 during its ascent. Two cases were considered: Coriolis force and torque applied to the rocket originating from gas movement in SRB, and Coriolis force and torque originating from exhaust gas movement in SRB nozzle. Coriolis force and torque are the largest during the first 20 seconds after the launch when rocket angular velocity is large. SRB Coriolis force is about 5.4 times larger than nozzle Coriolis force, and SRB Coriolis torque is about 2.8 times larger than the nozzle Coriolis torque at the time t=10 seconds. The inclusion of flexible rocket model does not provide a significant change to the results of Coriolis force and torque computations in comparison with a rigid rocket model.

This work was done by Ryan M. Mackey and Igor K. Kulikov of Caltech; Vadim Smelyanskiy and Dmitry Luchinsky of Ames Research Center; and Jeb Orr of BD Systems Inc. for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For more information, download the Technical Support Package (free white paper) at www.techbriefs.com/tsp under the Information Sciences category.

The software used in this innovation is available for commercial licensing. Please contact Daniel Broderick of the California Institute of Technology at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Refer to NPO-47326.



This Brief includes a Technical Support Package (TSP).
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Estimation of Coriolis Force and Torque Acting on Ares-1

(reference NPO-47326) is currently available for download from the TSP library.

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