[AR] Re: Sounding Rocket Fin Analysis

From: Carl Tedesco <ctedesco@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2019 12:20:48 -0700

Charlie,

I think I may have saw this flight if it occurred this past Saturday.

As an aerospace educator I should have a reference, but unfortunately I do
not. I have used FinSim, but cannot say with 100% certainty that it is
accurate. A quick search found this… AEROELASTIC OPTIMIZATION OF SOUNDING
ROCKET FINS <https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a502110.pdf>
(complete with MatLab code).

I know plate fins are easier to fabricate, but I will say that I am a big
fan of tapered fits (thicker at the root than at the tip).

--- Carl

*From:* arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> *On
Behalf Of *Charlie Garcia
*Sent:* Thursday, July 11, 2019 2:53 PM
*To:* (AR) ocket List <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
*Subject:* [AR] Sounding Rocket Fin Analysis

Hi All!

I'm a member of a student engineering team. We recently launched a 'P'
motor powered rocket that (probably) lost a fin at about Mach 3 around
10,000 ft. We did some analysis on the expected fin loads before flight,
and added a healthy safety factor to account for the admittedly lackluster
composites manufacturing quality control process we have in place. Our
design was based off the one that USC's Rocket Propulsion Lab recently flew
to space.

We've been reading up on load analysis and design load cases for sounding
rocket fins, and we were wondering if anyone on this list has expertise or
favorite texts in this area that they'd be willing to share.

Sincerely,

Charlie Garcia

[image: Screen Shot 2019-07-08 at 12.23.00 AM.png]

References:
- [AR] Sounding Rocket Fin Analysis
  - From: Charlie Garcia

[AR] Re: Sounding Rocket Fin Analysis

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