CUBE CHARIOT

GENERAL DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
The peak altitude intended is 30000m. The payload is absent. But for the purpose of
recovery, trackers (GPS) are placed on the vehicle. The vehicle will be launched using the
launch lug. The vehicle will be propelled by solid rocket propellant. If commercially off
the shelf motors show the potential and give the required output in this case the total
thrust, specific impulse, burn time, then that will be cost effective, safe and less time
consuming option, compared to the indigenously made rocket motor. As this rocket is
going to be quite huge in size, a single monocoque structure will not work, as there will
be very large acceleration, which will be given by the rocket motors. A semi-monocoque
with necessary bulk heads can be a sound structure for the vehicle. The body section
having Carbon fibre will be enough, as it is cost effective and having high strength to
weight ratio compared to other materials showing similar properties.
As the vehicle will not be having any instruments in the vehicle, the stability has to be
provided with the use of the fins. Any light weight and less costly material like wood will
work for the fins. The cone section having a o-give, LD-Haack or conical can work, but
the LD-Haack will be better from the drag point of view, as it offers very less drag as
compared to other shapes.
The real issue is the dynamic stability, which is very critical. Very serious math is
required for its analysis. Static stability doesnt ensure that the vehicle is dynamically also
stable.
All of these issues and design of all the parts

OVERALL CONFIGURATION:
Nose LD-Haack series followed by cylindrical body section
Motor solid motor with fixed nozzle
Stabilizer fixed fins.

CUBE CHARIOT

A wide choice of motor sizes, methods of launching, attitude control, and coupling etc. is
available to the rocket designer. Any of the many combinations of these, results in a
vehicle differing from the others in cost, complexity of construction, performance,
reliability, etc.

PARTS

Nosecone:
The nosecone design selected is LD-Haack series
which falls in parabolic category. The length and diameter
are 60.2cm and 10.2cm respectively. For this Nosecone
design, theoretically from Barowmans analysis Cp=.5(L)
that is, CP=30.1cm which is exactly similar with software
simulations. The Aerodynamic normal forces of parabolic
nosecones is usually taken as 2. Therefore CP=30.1 and
CG=37.6. A piece of Blue foam which is of required length
and diameter is hand sanded into the desired LD-Haack Shape
carefully. Short strips of fibreglass has to be applied on the
mould and must be coated with epoxy and same must be done
for second layer.

Material
Blue Foam
Fibreglass
Epoxy

Cost
$768- .6*.3m 10mm thick
.6*.6m 2mm thickness-34$
per sheet
49.6 Pound-$457.06

Lenders
Wal mart
East Coast Fibreglass
Supplies
West Systems

Body tube:
Two pieces of body tube which are of 122cm long and diameter of 10.2 are to be
obtained for first and second stage. A PVC pipe of suitable length is purchased. Carbon
fibre is applied with epoxy. About 5 layers of coating is to be done to get into the design
we required. The PVC has to be pulled off after certain time. The model is then brought
into fine structure by sanding it.
Material
PVC
Carbo fibre

Cost
Lenders
110mm dia-$5.3 per 3m of
Leo Pipes and Fittings
length
.3*.3m .76mm-32$ per sheet Rock-West Composites

Fins:
1] First stage [3 number]
Root chord =20.4cm
Tip chord =10.6cm

2] Second stage [4 number]

Root chord=21.7cm
Tip chord=12.6cm

Fins are cut from the fin material layup based upon the chosen design.
Tab has to be added along the bottom of the fin, long enough to insert
through the body tube and rest against the motor mount tube. The fins
are to be sand first and a layer of carbon fibre can be added once all the
fins are lined up. The required symmetry has to be maintained while
attaching the fins to the body tube.

LAUNCH LUG:
Guides the rocket along the launching rod until sufficient speed is produced to
allow the fins to provide flight stability.

COUPLERS:
Couplers are for a split body rocket using an electronic bay or multiple parachutes.
They are used to connect two different sized parts of rocket. Here we use only one
coupler between first and second stage body tubes.

MOTOR MOUNTS:
A PVC tube based on the size of a motor is used. Diameter should be less than the
inner diameter of body tube. The length of motor mounts has to be chosen by considering
the space for recovery systems. Three plane ring are obtained by drawing the circles of
required dimensions on a plane sheet of birch and are cut. The rings are placed equally
throughout the length of body tube using five minute epoxy.

INTER STAGE COUPLING:

The first stage is attached to the second stage with three clamp-like joints. In the
drawing below, only one of these three clamps is shown. This clamp is in contact with
both stages and has an extension going into the rocket interior through semi-circular holes
in both stages. In this method, the second stage is on top of the first stage and the clamp
including its extension is able to move freely through the hole.
When the pyrotechnical device in the centre of the separation system is activated,
the piston, which is initially held in place by a fixation wire, is pushed upward. This
motion cuts the fixation wire in two places. Because of this, the clamps and their
extension rotate away freely. This action removes the clamp function completely and the
first and second stages are detached from each other
The rocket separation system before and after separation .

Light blue

First stage

Dark blue

Second stage

Yellow

Piston

Light Green

Clamp and extension

Dark Green

Pyro body

Grey

Fixation wire

Red

Pyro charge

STAGING:

There are two methods of staging rocket motor. They describe the way the upper
stage(s) are ignited. The easiest method is called "direct" staging, where the lower stage
motor ignites the upper motor. The second method is called indirect staging. In this
method, the upper stage motor is ignited by some other device like ignitors.
We shall go with Direct staging. Working is explained in following line.
i.

ii.
iii.

iv.

v.

vi.

Consider a two stage rocket. Two motors are located in the two-stage rocket. The
bottom stage contains a special Booster Stage motor that doesnt contain any
delay charge.
The igniter is inserted into the motor and starts booster stage burning.
The Black Powder rocket propellant is burned quickly inside the booster stage
motor. The pressure of the gases created by the burning propellant are squeezed
out of the nozzle and create thrust to push the rocket into the air.
When the thickness of the un-burnt propellant becomes very thin. It can no longer
contain the tremendous pressure inside the rocket engine. The remaining cap of
propellant bursts like a balloon and hot gases and small chunks of burning
propellant are pushed forward into the nozzle of the upper stage motor.
The upper stage motor is ignited by the extremely hot gases that are thrown
forward from the booster stage motor. The exhaust gases of the motor push the
lower stage away. The burning propellant also propels the upper stage higher and
faster into the sky.
When the propellant is fully consumed, the delay element starts burning. The
delay is slow burning composition that creates a lot of smoke but no thrust. During
the time that it burns, the rocket is coasting upward and slowing down. The smoke
helps make it easier to track the rockets path

RECOVERY SYSTEM:

Recovery is a term popularly used to identify the process of arresting a state of

motion and bringing to rest a valuable object (payload) by means of deployable
aerodynamic decelerator. Both minimal damage and retrieval are implied in the recovery
purpose and concept hence, recovery often incorporates provisions to soften the impact of
landing and to disconnect the decelerator after landing.

A. Descent
To allow for the payload and on-board avionics to survive landing, the rockets rate of
descent must be decreased significantly. There are three typical methods to decrease the
rate of a rocket by increasing overall drag.
1. The first method is using a feather effect much like a helicopter to generate lift
using a single spinning blade or wing.
2. The second method is to deploy a long streamer to increase the drag of the rocket
assembly.
3. The third method is to use a parachute to slow descent rate.
We will be opting for a Parachute as a recovery system.

B. Retrieval
For the recovery system to be effective, the rocket must be found and retrieved. There are
many methods of rocket retrieval including the application of GPS transmitters, radio
beacons, smoke signals, and audible sirens.
We will be opting for a GPS transmitter for the retrieval of the rocket.

C. Durability

The rocket must retain its structural integrity in order to survive launch and create a
stable flight. For the trap door recovery system this means avoiding any buckling,
bending, or deformation of any kind during launch. A general strength factor of safety
is applied to all mechanical parts to ensure that no part of the rocket will fail during
flight.

MOTOR:

STABILITY:
Static test:
Stability is paramount if a rocket is to fly straight. Stable flight is achieved when
the Center of pressure, Cp, is at least one body diameter behind the Center of gravity, CG.
If a rocket is unstable, it may fly out of control and hurt someone. If the C P is more than
2.5 body diameter behind the CG, the rocket becomes over stable. An over stable rocket
will turn into the wind during flight, increasing the aerodynamic forces on the structure,
and possibly causing the rocket to shred.
From the OPEN ROCKET Software for the rocket design the stability is found
to be 2.2 which is less than 2.5. It means the design is stable. And still the rocket can be
made stable by altering the area of the fins.

Dynamic test:
Using the same software, the simulation has been carried out. The results are as shown in
graph.

Fig. 3D skeleton model of Cube chariot

Fig: 3D complete model of Cube chariot

RESULT:
The maximum apogee of 30000m had been successfully achieved by the rocket
with in 73s. The Velocity range is shown in graph, the max. Velocity is noted to be 900m/s
which is almost close to Mach 3. The Max. Acceleration noted is 186m/s 2.