A 13 psi pressure perturbation occurred at approximately 68 seconds on the right Redesigned Solid Rocket Motor (RSRM) during the STS-54 space shuttle mission. While pressure perturbations are a normal characteristic of RSRM operation, the magnitude of the STS-54 perturbation and the resulting thrust imbalance between the left and right motors was outside of flight experience. A joint Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and Thiokol Corporation (RSRM manufacturer) team soon narrowed the probable cause to a temporary nozzle restriction due to slag expulsion. In support of the team, Rockwell Aerospace performed fluid finite element simulations and vehicle flight dynamic correlations to investigate possible slag expulsion mechanisms responsible for pressure perturbations. Results of the simulations and analyses provided evidence that the combination of flight induced accelerations acting on accumulated slag and nozzle vectoring were the most probable cause of RSRM slag expulsion.
Space Shuttle solid rocket motor slag expulsion mechanisms
31st AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conferene and Exhibit ; 1995 ; San Diego, CA, United States
1995-07-12
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Keine Angabe
Englisch
Correlation of Slag Expulsion with Ballistic Anomalies in Shuttle Solid Rocket Motors
Online Contents | 1996
|