Challenges to the Structural Design of an Experimental Re-Entry Vehicle
- Paper number
IAC-07-C2.1.01
- Author
Mr. Taylan Toprak, MT Aerospace AG, Germany
- Coauthor
Mr. Armin Steinacher, MT Aerospace AG, Germany
- Coauthor
Mr. Klaus Stromer, MT Aerospace AG, Germany
- Year
2007
- Abstract
The Pre-X experimental re-entry vehicle, currently under development, is planned to have an aircraft-like light-weight aluminium structure. In the recently finished Phase B, MT Aerospace has been responsible for the overall design of the primary structure. In the first part of this paper the current status of the primary structure is presented. A design description is given, requirements are discussed, first analysis results are summarised and a mass breakdown is presented. The most driving design criteria for the development of Pre-X re-entry vehicle’s structure are - among many others - the required global stiffness of the vehicle clamped at the launcher interface, the required dismountability between the front and the aft part of the vehicle and the required gas tightness of the center section containing the hydrazine propellant tanks. In the design process integral versus differential design solutions were investigated and compared against each other. A summary of the performed trade-offs is presented. In the second part of this paper the emphasis is put on the description of the different design variants of typical hot-cold-interfaces and their impact on the structural design. On basis of the proposed design solution at the interface to the CMC body flaps the basic principles are demonstrated. This design solution is compared to the already realised design solution of the X-38 body flaps, which have been designed and qualified by MT Aerospace. The structure has multiple interfaces to Ceramic Matrix Composite (CMC) TPS components such as the CMC nose cap, CMC shingles or the CMC body flaps at the aft end of the vehicle. One major challenge of the structural design is to cope with these interfaces at which significant thermal loads are introduced into the structure. CMC parts reach temperatures up to 1600°C. For structural integrity reasons the aluminium structure must be limited to 150°C max. The enormous temperature gradients between the "hot" CMC structure and the "cold" structure must be taken into account for the design of these interfaces. MT Aerospace has a wide experience in the design of light-weight, load-carrying structures in general and in particular of hot-cold-interfaces for numerous CMC TPS components which has been successfully applied to the design and evolution of Pre-X experimental re-entry vehicle.
- Abstract document