A technical Appreciation of

Launch Vehicle Mechanical Systems

By

CK KRISHNADASAN
Structural Engineering Entity
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre
Thiruvananthapuram

CONTENTS

Overview
Design load assessment
Materials
Design and analysis of structural systems
The path to prove Flight Worthiness
Materials
Types of structures

Composite structures in PSLV and GSLV

Future plans

Aerospace engineering in India

Aero-space engineering stream covers technical aspects
of aeronautical and space engineering streams.
Both air-transportation and space application sectors are
demanded by India. Great opportunity for the country for
production and employment.
The spinoffs of the R&D efforts in aerospace engineering
benefit various consumer product production, especially
automobile sector.

How India managed footing on to the space

technology?

In 1962:The team was steered by Dr

Vikram A Sarabhai with great deal of
support by Dr Homi Bhabha, then the
father of India's nuclear program
November 21, 1963: India's first venture in
space, Launch of a two-stage Nike
Apache sounding rocket [US] from
TERLS.
Today ISRO has capability to launch 3000
kg satellites in 200x36000 km GTO. And
further---

The scenario of the day

Major launchers of ISRO
POLAR SATELLITE LAUNCH VEHICLE, PSLV
GEOSYNCHRONOUS LAUNCH VEHICLE, GSLV
LAUNCH VEHICLE MARK III, LVM3
FUTURE LAUNCHER ON ANVIL
HLV with Semi cryo core and solid boosters

R&D EFFORTS ARE PROVEN ON for Reusable Launch

Vehicle[RLV] and air breathing propulsion [ABP].
Betterments are being explored.

Driving factors for space vehicle design

Staging need: Chemical Rockets need to carry fuel and
oxidizer for outer space missions. Once the propellant in
lower stage is burned out, the stage has to be dispensed
with.
The mass ratio that has to be minimized:
Structural / total mass of vehicle

The mass ratio that has to be maximimzed:

Payload / Total mass of vehicle

The launcher is self steered. External control is for its

destruction! Hence it has to be made intelligent and
healthy to sustain flight environment.

Criticalities of realizing space vehicle

hardware
1. Well studied and documented design and analysis
works.
2. Need of high strength / stiffness materials for fabrication.
3. Intricate material processing fabrication facilities and
control of the processes
4. Non-destructive evaluation needs
5. Qualification testing with sufficient instrumentation
6. Post test matching between analysis and test data
7. Preservation
8. Flight hardware assembly and preparation

Break down
view of a
launcher

Satellite Launch vehicles

PSLV

ARIANE-5

PSLV
- The work
horse of
ISRO

SOLID ROCKET MOTOR

LIQUID ENGINE

The liquid VIKAS

engine
Consumes
propellants @ 250
kg/s. Works 4
minutes producing
80t thrust.
Turbine-pump
power is ~ 2000
HP.
Tc=3000 K, Pc=58
Bar
Silica-phenolic
composite is used
for throat.

The VIKAS engine turbo-pump

ACCENT LOADS ON
LAUNCHER

Structural loads- LV as a free-free beam

Disturbances:
Aero loads [Drag, Lateral loads]
Thrust loads / Differential thrust/
Thrust misalignment
Liquid Slosh
Dynamic loads [GUST Loads,
Thrust transients, Buffetting ]

Corrective forces/ Steering

Control force in Pitch /Yaw / Roll

Inertial forces- Reactive

forces to external forces
Axial
Lateral

Input parameters used for core

body load estimation

Input parameters used for core body load

estimation
Aerodynamic coefficients:

CFD
Wind tunnel tests
+/- 3 Variation
Aerodynamic and Trajectory parameters:
Dynamic pressure and acceleration data from steering
program are used for Nominal and Off-nominal cases

Simulation results.
Control force : Trim or with 20 % over shoot over trim level for
each case are estimated and applied.

Factor to be revised based on trajectory simulation

runs.
DO flexible simulations
Cont..

a,
m/s2

Altitude,
m

a,
m/s2
Dyn.
Pre.
Pa

Dyn.
Pre.
Pa
Altitude,
m

ADD:
Thrust Time history of propulsion system
Buffet loads-Aeroelastic tests;
Flexibility of vehicle and its effects

Propulsion systems summary & thrust loads

Solid motors
High thrust,high structural mass
Moderate specific impulse
No thrust modulation feasible

Earth storable Liquid engines [ UDMH + N2O4}

Moderate thrust, low structural mass

Moderate specific impulse
Controllable thrust levels
Turbo-pump charged / pressure charged

Cryogenic engines [LH2+LOX]

Low thrust, high structural mass

High specific impulse
Controllable thrust levels
Turbo-pump charged

Semi cryogenic propulson [LOX+ Kerosene]

Ion propulsion/ nuclear propulsion / magneticelectric
propulsion

Acceleration history of PSLV

Typical shut-down thrust transients

of a liquid engine

Lateral loads and bending

moments

Aerodynamic force
intensity [lateral]
Bending moment
distribution

Drag

CP

Control force

CG

Vehicle is in free-free condition during ascend. Lateral aerodynamic

and drag will be present in atmospheric regime

Aerodynamic force
intensity [lateral]
Bending moment
distribution

CP

Control force

CG

Vehicle subjected to angle of attack deflects-Extreme case is

divergence

Cp
Cp

Xfwd

CNT
XCPT
CNC
XCPC

- Total lateral force of core

- Cp location
- CN of Core (integrated from
SDCN/Dx distribution of
Core body)
- Cp location of Core

CNT - CNC

Cp = [CNT * XCPT - CNC* XCPC ] / F

Xaft

Lumping of forces at PSOM attachment locations

Design and analysis of

structural systems

The path to
Prove Flight worthiness
1. Design stage
Specifying the structural functions, interfaces, flight loads (F.O.S
=1.25 for unmanned)
Choosing the materials and type of constriction
Design and analysis

2. Testing and proving

Structural load test upto Ultimate load level.
Dynamic tests, Separation tests if applicable

3. Compare test data with predictions & update

4. Flight readiness review: review of completion status of
1,2 and 3 & Assess the deviations of realized hardware

Fabrication Deviations & Impact analysis

Material issues
Heat treatment snags: Hardening/ Tempering
Joint defects: Welded/Riveted/bonded
errors in fabrication. High dimensional tolerance
required for most of the assemblies.

Fabrication errors
Interface errors
Tool digs/ cuts / lower thickness / erred heat
treatment--- Fasteners: Lower strength or ductility / sharp corner
radii/ wrong positions
Weld defects seen on Radiography, Ultrasonic tests,
die-penetrant tests, mismatch of joined objects

Materials for construction of structures

High strength steels: e.g. Maraging steel [For
motor cases : S139/ S200]. > 4 times stronger
than mild steel [ 1800 MPa UTS]
Light alloys with aluminium/ magnesium/
titanium as base materials. Equally or two
times stronger but lighter by 40-70% than M.S]
Fiber reinforced composite products [FRP]
Different types of fibers are used [Carbon FRP
called CFRP can be as strong as M250 but
75% lighter !].

Sandwich plates and shells

Two thin sheets bonded over a light thick core
Very efficient in bending/ buckling

Metals and Composites- A few

Material

%el

E, GPa

SpGr, r

Xt, MPa

PS, MPa

Maraging
STEEL

1800

1725

190

7.8

24

231

AA2014

460

420

70

2.8

25

164

Ti-6Al-4V

920

820

10

100

4.5

22

204

Kevlar /Epoxy
composite

1100

70

1.4

50

786

C-HI X/ Epoxy

2000

70

1.7

41

1176

C-HI E/ Epoxy

1000

320

1.7

188

588

E/r

Xt/r

# Properties at RT

Types of construction
Pressure vessels

Welded steel / Aluminium/ Titanium alloys

Composite shells (ARAMID, CFRP, GRP)
Metal+composite Hybrid
Issues: Weld mismatch, discontinuity stresses, Fracture
[K1c] ----

Inter-stage structures subjected to compression &

external pressure
Closely Stiffened shells
Concentrated loading
Spread-out loading

Monocoque shells
Bulk head stabilized shells

Pressure vessels with external loads

Usually monocoque / integrally stiffened

Maraging steel M250 grade

solid motor case + 6 Strap-ons

Segment joint
C/L

Orings

139000 kg
fuel inside
A CANTED
nozzle of
PSOMs

Strap-on motors
6 Nos, PSOMs

A Canted nozzle

Core base shroud and bottom segment

of I-stage motor

Six solid straon on motors. Thrust

= 800 kN, supported by CBS

The base structure

It supports the whole stack
above it during pre-launch
operations.
In many cases it transfer the
thrust load of strapped
bodies
What is the type of load for a
typical h/w
Pre launch compression =
220 ton (2200 kN) and BM
= 300 t.m (3000 kN.m)
Attachment load on each
PSOM joint = 900 kN

Closely Stiffened shells

Instability of stiffened shells

Local buckling
Crippling
Panel buckling
General
instability
Knock-down factor
needed to derate the
theoretically
assessed buckling
capability of shells

Internally stiffened structure

STIFFENED SHELLS

Sandwich plates and shells

FE model of a typical upper stage structure

The second stage- 40 ton liquid

propellant charge
The aluminium
alloy propellant
tank
The 800 kN liquid
VIKAS engine

Inter stages

A composite motor
KEVLAR motor case to house
8 ton propellant
Stress on fiber is ~ 800
MPa .

Density of KEVLAR
composite is only 20% of
that of steel.
62 Bar pressure
Dia= 2m

Thrust = 25 t
CFRP adapter [thrust transfer
structure]
As stiff as steel
Density is 22% of steel

The 2.5 t propellant, twin engines, Titanium tank

and Equipment Bay

CFRP Pay load adapter of PSLV

Bonded here

Pay Load Adapter PSLV

C/L

Composite structures
Laminated
[Laminate
sequence]

Multi directional
fibers

Thermo-structural issues
Thermal stress over cryogenic tankages and
inter skirts
Radiatively cooled nozzles
Nozzle liners: To keep integrity under
Fast heating : as high as 1000 K / s
Charring / debonding from metallic / FRP backup
Keeping insulation characteristics throughout the
propulsion regime.
Re-heating issues during restart

COMPOSITE PRODUCTS

Composites in
PSLV & GSLV

Static analysis of Reusable Launch Vehicle wing

Elements : 296000
Nodes
: 302000
Dofs
> 18 Lakhs

GSLV

GSLV/LVM3 are s/c

launchers.
RLV-TD and ATV are
for technology proving

SOME IMMEDIATE FUTURE

DEVELOPMENTS

The semi-cryogenic engines

SEMI CRYOGENIC
ENGINES: 200t thrust
LO2 at -200 K and
kerosene at Room
temperature

Large propellant tanks for TSTO

Typical: Shuttle propellant tank

waffle construction

Cryogenic propellant tanks

Issues:
High thermal gradiants
Thermal contractions
Large conduction of heat
and evapoartion of
LH2/LOX
Need heavy insulation

Conclusion
Design and analysis are to be done with
fundamental understanding about optimization
needs. In Space vehicles mass minimization is
always main part of optimization needs.
Reliability being of primary importance for LVs,
flight worthiness has to be proven mandatorily
In Space vehicle realization, New technologies
of materials and fabrication are being adopted to
achieve these objectives.

Thank you

MOMENTUM BALANCE FOR A ROCKET

Rocket mass X Acceleration = Thrust Drag -gravity effect

dVr
Mr
FT g sin Fdrag
dt

 With staging, the delta-v of each stage can

be calculated via the Tsiolkovsky rocket
equation and summed:
Where Ve is exhaust velocity of jet