Flight Simulations

One of the biggest questions on a beast like this is how to calculate stability? While I would bet that the boosters provide some stability, without good, concrete evidence, it's best to ignore them. We also decided to add fins as, unlike NASA, we don't have active guidance. The question was how much fin? We assumed that anything inside the radius of the boosters wasn't effective in guidance, so the following RockSim file was generated, assuming the booster nosecones to be a transition to a tube the diameter of the outside area of the boosters. At the worst case, we've added too much fine, which is very preferable to too little!

A rough first simulation follows. Note that this is missing some final weights and as such is just a "draft".

- Simulation results

Engine selection
[L559WW-0   ,L559WW-0   -2   ,L1688AB-0   ,L559WW-0   ,L559WW-0   -2   ,
L1688AB-0   ,L559WW-0   ,L559WW-0   -2   ,L1688AB-0   ,P6831SPR-0   ]

Simulation control parameters
Resolution: 800 samples / second.
Simulation method: Explicit Euler.
Simulation execution time: 0.948 Sec.

Launch conditions
Altitude: 1350.000 Ft.
Relative humidity: 60.000 %
Temperature: 75.000 Deg. F
Pressure: 29.921 In. Hg.
Wind speed model: No wind
Wind turbulence: Fairly constant speed (0.01)
Launch guide angle: 0.000 Degrees from vertical
Latitude: 1.571 Degrees

Launch guide data:
Launch guide length: 120.000 In.
Velocity at launch guide departure: 53.809 ft / s
The launch guide was cleared at : 0.469 Seconds
User specified minimum velocity for stable flight: 43.999 ft / s
Minimum velocity for stable flight reached at: 82.697 In.

Max data values:
Maximum acceleration: Vert: 174.570 Ft./s/s , Horz: 0.000 Ft./s/s , Magnitude: 174.570 Ft./s/s
Maximum velocity: Vert: 767.428 ft / s , Horz: 0.000 ft / s , Magnitude: 767.428 ft / s
Maximum range from launch site: 0.000 Ft.
Maximum altitude: 8834.615 Ft.

Engine ejection charge data:

Conditions at engine ejection charge:
   Using a delay time of : 0.000 Seconds
      Velocity: 765.582 ft / s
      Altitude: 3345.371 Ft.

Recovery system data
   P:  Upper Parachute  Deployed at : 24.401 Seconds
   Velocity at deployment: 0.017 ft / s
   Altitude at deployment: 8834.615 Ft.
   Range at deployment: 0.000 Ft.

   P:  Lower Parachute  Deployed at : 24.401 Seconds
   Velocity at deployment: 0.017 ft / s
   Altitude at deployment: 8834.615 Ft.
   Range at deployment: 0.000 Ft.


Time data
Time to burnout: 7.251 Sec.
Time to apogee: 24.401 Sec.
Optimal ejection delay: 17.150 Sec.