Why?
In order to get an FAA level 1 certification(a certification that allows you to fly rockets), I must create a rocket that is successful and efficient. To make sure that my personal design of the rocket is at its highest peak at the lowest cost possible, I must create a outer layer design of the rocket to analyze its presence in air. There are three specific requirements that are needed to qualify for a level 1 certification: the rocket does not explode, it is not destroyed upon landing, and can be reused after flight. In this project, I will be tackling all these problems in depth with CFD simulator and modeling work using SOLIDWORKS.
How?
Prior to designing the rocket model into a CAD program, I had to ensure that my rocket parameters such as the nose cone, engine used, and fins will be able to work together. Thus, I used the OpenRocket program to help me simulate the flight and determine if it would fly or not and which engine to use.
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As illustrated in the image, I created the 2D model, and based on the simulation and analysis, the rocket is functional. However, that does not stop there. In order to create anything of high quality at the cheapest cost, one must go a step further of analyzing the rocket's aerodynamics. There are four important components here that really determine how aerodynamic a rocket is: the nose cone, payload tube, body tube, and last but not least the fins. Now we arrive at another important question, which CAD program to use? Many of the programs such as Fusion360 and AutoCAD will be doable, but not the most efficient. I need to create components that meet very specific parameters. Although Fusion360 does that, it does not have the spline equation tool. This an extremely important tool to use for the nose cone due to the fact that it is a tangent ogive shape, and that shape can easily be identified with an equation. Therefore, I decided to use SOLIDWORKS.
Results
After completing my 2D drawing, I used SOLIDWORKS to create a 3D model of the rocket. I broke the assembly into three components: the nose cone, payload tube, and body tube with fins. I created an equation for the shape of my nose cone using the tangent ogive equation. Subsequently, I created the payload tube and body tube with fins in there exact parameters. I then transferred the model into a CFD simulator to determine if the rocket is aerodynamic enough. The data obtained and the model are shown below.
Although the data looks intimidating, here I am only trying to recognize a pattern on how to potentially decrease the pressure. The CFD simulator also shows me which areas of the rocket produce the most drag(the downward force on the rocket). With that being said, I was able to recognize that the fins need more adjustments, such as changing the airfoil of the fin or decreasing the area to produce less induced drag!
