Rockets & Missiles

Unit-II

Drag Estimation & Rocket Dispersion

G.Dinesh Kumar
Assistant Professor(S.G)
gdineshk@hindustanuniv.ac.in
 UNIT- II
AERODYNAMICS OF ROCKETS AND MISSILES
Airframe Components of Rockets and Missiles - Forces Acting on a Missile While
Passing Through Atmosphere - Classification of Missiles - methods of Describing
Aerodynamic Forces and Moments- Lateral Aerodynamic Moment - Lateral
Damping Moment and Longitudinal Moment of a Rocket - lift and Drag Forces -
Drag Estimation - Body Up wash and Downwash in Missiles - Rocket Dispersion.
-Numerical Problems.

.
 What is Drag ?
Drag includes a “pressure” force and a “frictional” force
• High pressure when acting on the front of a moving object
• Low pressure (suction) at the back of a moving object
• Friction along the body of the object
Friction
Direction of
Motion

High pressure pushes Low pressure on the back

on the front of the of the rocket tries to suck
rocket – tends to the rocket backwards –
slow the rocket tends to slow the rocket
down. down.

Drag always acts to slow down the rocket

Getting a “Feel” for Drag
The rocket disturbs the air as it moves through it. This
disturbance is “drag”…
 The Drag Equation

Drag = ½ x Air Density x Velocity2 x CD x

Reference Area
• Air Density decreases as altitude increases (it’s variable…).

• Velocity tends to be variable also. Drag is a function of the

“square” of the velocity.

• The Drag Coefficient (CD) is the “shape factor” that characterizes

the drag nature of the object.

• The reference area (usually the “body tube” area when viewed
from the end) allows the drag to be scaled relative to the size of
the object.

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 The Impact of Drag…
Recall the expanded version of Newton’s Second
Law of Motion…
Thrust - Drag - Weight
Acceleration = --------------------------------------
Mass

• Acceleration becomes smaller (and maybe negative) as

drag becomes larger
• A lower acceleration translates into a lower velocity…
Integrate a smaller acceleration and you get a smaller
velocity…
• A lower velocity means the rocket will not fly as high

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 Increased Rocket
Performance through
Drag Reduction

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Reduce High Pressure on Front by
adding a Nose Cone

High Low
Pressure Pressure

Direction of
Motion

Low
Pressure

Less High
Pressure Direction of
Motion
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 Nose Drag

A blunt nose will create a higher pressure force, and will

cause the flow to separate at the forward end of the body
tube, which creates more drag.

Better Configuration

While the long nose cone will have more surface area and
thus more skin friction drag, the flow is much smoother
around the front of the rocket, which reduces drag overall. 10
 Base Drag

The wide base of this rocket causes flow separation and high
pressure drag at the back of the rocket.

Better Configuration

Tapering the back of the rocket allows the flow to curve around
more easily and reduces the size of the low pressure area
behind the rocket. The tapered section is know as a “boat tail”,
and they can be a little tricky to construct… 11
 Make Your Rocket Smooth and
Streamlined
Fins that are too large
and not sanded smooth
Launch lug that
is too big

Poor paint job

with bubbles Higher
and runs total
drag

Better Configuration

Make fins only as large as they need to be for stability. Sand fins
smooth and maybe sand “fuzz” off the body tube. Cover the rocket
with a even coat of paint to give a smooth, slick finish.
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 Smooth Surface = More Laminar
Flow = Less Drag

Rough Rocket Skin

Smooth Rocket Skin =

Less Drag
A turbulent flow interacts with the rocket skin more and thus creates
more drag. Drag is reduced if the flow can be kept smooth…

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 Reduce Interference Drag

The flow around

Add Fillets to
the fins “interferes”
Make a Smooth
with the flow along
Transition from
the body – and visa
Fin to Body Tube
versa

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 Total Drag Coefficient
CdTotal = CdSF + CdB + Cdw + CdI

CdSF = Skin Friction Drag Coefficient

CdB = Base Drag Coefficient
Cdw = wave Drag Coefficient
CdI = Interference Drag Coefficient

The Total Drag Coefficient is derived by taking the sum of

CD’s calculated for the various major elements of the
rocket.

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 DRAG ESTIMATION
WAVE DRAG:
 Wave is mainly due to the presence of shock waves and dependent on the Mach
number.
 The wave drag is connected with the shock wave, and hence occurring only at
supersonic speeds.
1. The amount of wave drag for the conical body is estimated as,

where, θ is the half cone angle in radians.

2. The wave drag of an isolated, rectangular wing span, b, with a double wedge
profile is estimated as,

Where, θ is the half wedge angle. Both wave drag coefficients are strongly
dependent on θ and decrease with increasing Mach numbers.
 VISCOUS DRAG
The viscous drag is formed due to friction. It is the main drag component at subsonic
speeds. It can be estimated by considering the friction drag coefficient CDf, for a flat plate
of equal length and equal wetted area as a rocket vehicle. For a laminar boundary layer
we may estimate,

For a turbulent boundary layer we may estimate as,

These coefficients are based on the wetted area as a reference area. For most large
rockets, one may assume the boundary layer to be turbulent. Transition from laminar to
turbulent takes place around Re=106 based on body length, so that for small vehicles, still
a major portion of the boundary layer may be laminar. Surface roughness may cause a
transition from laminar to turbulent at lower Reynolds number.
 INDUCED DRAG
Induced drag is a result of the development of lift.
In a subsonic case, the induced drag, based on the projected wing area, Sw, is

At supersonic speed, it can be well approximated by,

 BASE DRAG
Base drag is strongly affected by the shape of the vehicle, and the presence of a jet.
The total drag is found by the addition of all components. It turns out that the total drag
coefficient can be well approximated for preliminary calculations by,

INTERFERENCE DRAG:
Interference drag is due to the interaction of various flow fields.

ROUGHNESS DRAG:
It is mainly due to the surface roughness such as rivets and welds.
 ROCKET DISPERSION
Dispersion is defined as the measure of deviation of the rocket’s trajectory from the
standard nominal trajectory.
For a rocket, dispersion arises from three different sources. They are,
1. Events that occur at launching,
2. Events during burning after launching, and
3. Events after burning.
For rockets, most of the dispersion arises during the burning period after launching.

FACTORS CAUSING DISPERSION:

The factors that induce dispersion of rocket’s trajectory are,
 The propellant mass and composition Inaccuracy
 The rocket total mass, axial and lateral Moments of inertia and resultant centre of
gravity Inaccuracies
 Launcher deflection
 The thrust force of the rocket engine: because of the tolerance in rocket engine design,
propellant properties, and manufacturing
 Thrust and fin misalignments: It is an important source of dispersion in case of unguided
rockets.
 Atmospheric disturbances such as wind profile, tail wind, cross wind, and gusts, variation in
atmospheric density
 METHODS TO ESTIMATE DISPERSION
There are some methods to estimate the dispersion of trajectory for a rocket. They are,
Root Mean Square Method
Monte Carlo method
Method of covariance matrix

1. The Root Mean Square Method:

The Root Mean Square Method simulates the rocket trajectory perturbing one
parameter at time and the results are compared with the nominal results. The sum of squares
deviations for all parameters is square of total deviation.
2. Monte Carlo method:
Monte Carlo method of dispersion removes smaller dispersion parameters.
Each input parameter is selected randomly in the defined ranges and used in the simulation of
trajectory

3. The Method of covariance matrix:

In probability theory and statistics, covariance is a measure of how much two variables
change together. A covariance matrix is a matrix whose element in the i, j position is the
covariance between the i th and j th elements of a random vector (that is, of a vector of
random variables). Each element of the vector is a scalar random variable, either with a finite
number of observed empirical values or with a finite or infinite number of potential values
specified by a theoretical joint probability distribution of all the random variables.
TYPES OF ROCKET DISPERSION:
There are two types of rocket dispersion, such as
I. In plane dispersion (or) Range dispersion
II. Lateral dispersion (or) Out of plane dispersion

IN-PLANE DISPERSION (or) RANGE DISPERSION:

In the absence of perturbing forces giving rise to rocket dispersion, the trajectory of the
rocket would lie in the launch plane. But practically such factors are generally active and try
to produce that cause. The dispersion of the rocket, which may be of any type sometimes the
rocket, can suffer both types.

LATERAL DISPERSION (or) OUT OF PLANE DISPERSION:

If the perturbing forces are active, the axis of the rocket will deviate from the target to
the trajectory of the mass centre by an angle known as angle of attack. Since the thrust is
directed along the axis of the rocket, the deviation gives rise to a thrust component normal to
the trajectory. The trajectory thus departs from the intended path and put the rocket away
from the target.
MINIMIZATION OF ROCKET DISPERSION:

For trajectory vehicles, dispersion can be minimized by means of a special

guidance system. The guided system is thought to be known as the brain of a rocket
or a missile.

The distinct tasks of a guidance system are as follows:

1. It maintains the missile in proper attitude. Using instruments like gyros, the
control system correct the problems experienced through rotation and translation
motion of a rocket.

2. The control guidance system also helps in tracking the positions, computing the
tracking information, correcting the signals and then steering the rocket in a correct
orbit and thus helps in minimizing the dispersion.